Instantons and W-algebras

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Y. Tachikawa, Instantons and W-algebras
Fine Hall 314

In this talk I will explain the observation that Nekrasov's instanton partition function, which is a certain equivariant integral over the framed instanton moduli, gives the conformal block of W-algebras, including Virasoro algebra. This strongly suggests that the equivariant cohomology of the instanton moduli has the structure of Verma module of W-algebras. This is based on my joint work with L. F. Alday and D. Gaiotto.