Exact non-abelian duality

Abstract

We investigate non-abelian gaugings of WZNW models. When the gauged group is semisimple we are able to present exact formulae for the dual conformal field theory, for all values of the level $k$. The results are then applied to non-abelian target space duality in string theory, showing that the standard formulae are quantum mechanically well defined in the low energy limit if the gauged group is semisimple.