Abstract:This is the first part of the revised versions of the notes of three consecutive expository lectures given by Chongying Dong, Haisheng Li and Yi-Zhi Huang in the conference on Monster and vertex opera...This is the first part of the revised versions of the notes of three consecutive expository lectures given by Chongying Dong, Haisheng Li and Yi-Zhi Huang in the conference on Monster and vertex operator algebras at the Research Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto, September 4-9, 1994. In this part we review the definitions of vertex operator algebras and twisted modules, and discuss examples.Read More