Andrews–Gordon type identities from combinations of Virasoro characters

For p∈{3,4} and all p′>p, with p′ coprime to p, we obtain fermionic expressions for the combination χ _1,s ^p,p′+q ^Δ χ _p−1,s ^p,p′ of Virasoro (W ₂) characters for various values of s, and particular choices of Δ. Equating these expressions with known product expressions, we obtain q-series identities which are akin to the Andrews–Gordon identities. For p=3, these identities were conjectured by Bytsko. For p=4, we obtain identities whose form is a variation on that of the p=3 cases. These identities appear to be new. The case (p,p′)=(3,14) is particularly interesting because it relates not only to W ₂, but also to W ₃ characters, and offers W ₃ analogues of the original Andrews–Gordon identities. Our fermionic expressions for these characters differ from those of Andrews et al. which involve Gaussian polynomials. BF is partially supported by grant number RFBR 05-01-01007, and OF by the Australian Research Council (ARC).