Logarithmic tensor product theory for generalized modules for a conformal vertex algebra, Part I

Abstract

We generalize the tensor product theory for modules for a vertex operator algebra previously developed in a series of papers by the first two authors to suitable module categories for a ``conformal vertex algebra'' or even more generally, for a "Möbius vertex algebra.'' We do not require the module categories to be semisimple, and we accommodate modules with generalized weight spaces. As in the earlier series of papers, our tensor product functors depend on a complex variable, but in the present generality, the logarithm of the complex variable is involved. This first part is devoted to the study of logarithmic intertwining operators and their role in the construction of the tensor product functors. Part II of this work will be devoted to the construction of the appropriate natural associativity isomorphisms between triple tensor product functors, to the proof of their fundamental properties, and to the construction of the resulting braided tensor category structure. This work includes the complete proofs in the present generality and can be read independently of the earlier series of papers.