Vertex Algebras and Mirror Symmetry

Abstract

Mirror Symmetry for Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in toric varieties is by now well established. However, previous approaches to it did not uncover the underlying reason for mirror varieties to be mirror. We are able to calculate explicitly vertex algebras that correspond to holomorphic parts of A and B models of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces and complete intersections in toric varieties. We establish the relation between these vertex algebras for mirror Calabi-Yau manifolds. This should eventually allow us to rewrite the whole story of toric Mirror Symmetry in the language of sheaves of vertex algebras. Our approach is purely algebraic and involves simple techniques from toric geometry and homological algebra, as well as some basic results of the theory of vertex algebras. Ideas of this paper may also be useful in other problems related to maps from curves to algebraic varieties. This paper could also be of interest to physicists, because it contains explicit descriptions of A and B models of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces and complete intersection in terms of free bosons and fermions.