Operator content of the Ashkin-Teller quantum chain, superconformal and Zamolodchikov-Fateev invariance. I. Free boundary conditions

Based on numerical analysis, the authors conjecture the operator content of the finite-size limit of the spectra of the Ashkin-Teller model with free boundary conditions. The same operator content is obtained from a Hamiltonian with a four-fermion interaction and a U(1) Kac-Moody Sugawara structure. For some special values of the coupling constant the model exhibits N=2 superconformal and Zamolodchikov-Fateev invariance. The operator content in these cases is expressed in terms of irreducible representations of the corresponding algebras.