Dual formulation of classicalW-algebras

By extending the concept of Maurer-Cartan equations, a dual formulation of (classical) nonlinear extensions of the Virasoro algebra is introduced. This dual formulation is closely related to three-dimensional actions which are analogous to a Chern-Simons action. An explicit construction in terms of superfields of theN = 2 superW₄-algebra is presented.