A New Deformation of W-Infinity and Applications to the Two-loop WZNW and Conformal Affine Toda Models

Abstract

We construct a centerless W-infinity type of algebra in terms of a generator of a centerless Virasoro algebra and an abelian spin-1 current. This algebra conventionally emerges in the study of pseudo-differential operators on a circle or alternatively within KP hierarchy with Watanabe's bracket. Construction used here is based on a special deformation of the algebra $w_{\infty}$ of area preserving diffeomorphisms of a 2-manifold. We show that this deformation technique applies to the two-loop WZNW and conformal affine Toda models, establishing henceforth $W_{\infty}$ invariance of these models.