Coulomb Gas Representations and Screening Operators of the N=4 Superconformal Algebras

Abstract

The Coulomb gas representations are presented for the ${\rm SU(2)}$$_k$-extended $N$=4 superconformal algebras, incorporating the Feigin-Fuchs representation of the\break ${\rm SU(2)}$$_k$ Kac-Moody algebra with {\sl arbitrary} level $k$. Then the long-standing problem of identifying the whole set of charge-screening operators for the $N$=4 superconformal algebras is solved and their explicit expressions are given. The method of achieving a rigorous proof of the $N$=4 Kac determinant formulae following Kato and Matsuda is suggested. The complete proof for them will be given elsewhere. Our results for the screening operators also provide the basis for studying the BRST formalism of the $N$=4 superconformal algebras ${\sl {\grave a}\ la}$ Felder.