Crystallising the Depth Rule for WZNW Fusion Coefficients

Motivated by a formula (due to Zelobenko) for finite Lie algebra tensor products, we propose a reformulation of the Gepner-Witten depth rule. Implementation of this rule remains difficult, however, since the basis states convenient for calculating tensor product coefficients do not have a well-defined depth. To avoid this problem, we present a `crystal depth rule', that gives a lower bound for the minimum level at which a WZNW fusion appears. The bound seems to be quite accurate for $su(N>3),$ and for $su(3)$ the rule is proven to be exact. (Talk presented by M.W. at the XIXth International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics.)