The quantum group structure of 2D gravity and minimal models I

On the unit circle, an infinite family of chiral operators is constructed, whose exchange algebra is given by the universalR-matrix of the quantum groupSL(2) _q . This establishes the precise connection between the chiral algebra of two dimensional gravity or minimal models and this quantum group. The method is to relate the monodromy properties of the operator differential equations satisfied by the generalized vertex operators with the exchange algebra ofSL(2) _q . The formulae so derived, which generalize an earlier particular case worked out by Babelon, are remarkably compact and may be entirely written in terms of q-deformed factorials and binomial coefficients.