The polyakov path integral over bordered surfaces

The geometrical approach to the functional integral over Faddeev-Popov ghost fields is developed and applied to construct the BRST extension of the off-shell closed string amplitudes in the constant curvature gauge. In this gauge the overlap path integral for off-shell amplitudes is evaluated. It leads to the nonlocal sewing procedure generating all off-shell amplitudes from the cubic interaction vertex. The general scheme of the reconstruction of a covariant closed string field theory from the off-shell amplitudes is discussed within the path integral framework.     

Scattering amplitudes of QCD string in the worldline formalism

I review the derivation of large-N QCD meson scattering amplitudes in the Regge regime, where the effective theory of long strings applies in d = 4. A special attention is payed to the reparametrization path integral which plays a crucial role in the consistency of off-shell amplitudes. I show how the linear Reggeon trajectory is obtained for QCD string in the mean-field approximation, which turns out to be exact for the Nambu-Goto string, and discuss the interrelation with perturbative QCD.     

Off-shell closed string amplitudes: Towards a computation of the tachyon potential

We derive an explicit formula for the evaluation of the classical closed string action for any off-shell string field, and for the calculation of arbitrary off-shell amplitudes. The formulae require a parametrization, in terms of some moduli space coordinates, of the family of local coordinates needed to insert the off-shell states on Riemann surfaces. We discuss in detail the evaluation of the tachyon potential as a power series in the tachyon field. The expansion coefficients in this series are shown to be geometrical invariants of Strebel quadratic differentials whose variational properties imply that closed string polyhedra, among all possible choices of string vertices, yield a tachyon potential which is as small as possible order by order in the string coupling constant. Our discussion emphasizes the geometrical meaning of off-shell amplitudes.     

The Polyakov path integral over bordered surfaces (the open string amplitudes)

We use the Feynman functional quantization scheme adapted to the gauge theories with reparametrization invariance to the functional covariant first quantization of the open bosonic BDHP string in a position representation. The consistent functional integral representation of the open string propagator is derived and evaluated. This result is used as a starting point for two kinds of constructions of the off-shell multiloop open string amplitudes. The general idea of the presented approach is to consider the off-shell amplitudes as functionals on the space of contours endowed with an intrinsic metric or on the space /₊.     

On a modification of the boundary-state formalism in off-shell string theory

We examine the application of boundary states in computing amplitudes in off-shell open string theory. We find a straightforward generalization of a boundary state which produces the correct matrix elements with on-shell closed string states.     

Off shell states in the dual model

We present a class of Lorentz invariant, gauge invariant off-shell amplitudes for the ordinary Veneziano and Ramond-Neveu-Schwarz dual models. They correspond to interactions with the string which are local in space-time.     

Path integral over reparametrizations: Lévy flights versus random walks

We investigate the properties of the path integral over reparametrizations (or the boundary value of the Liouville field in string theory). Discretizing the path integral, we apply the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm to numerical simulations of a proper (subordinator) stochastic process and find that typical trajectories are not Brownian but rather have discontinuities of the type of Lévy's flights. We study a fractal structure of these trajectories and show that their Hausdorff dimension is zero. We confirm thereby previous results on QCD scattering amplitudes by analytical and numerical calculations. We also perform Monte Carlo simulations of the path integral over reparametrization in the effective string ansatz for a circular Wilson loop and discuss their subtleties associated with the discretization of Douglas' functional.     

Reciprocal space-time and momentum-space singularities in the narrow resonance approximation

A general scheme is proposed which makes explicit the relationship between the singularities of off-shell amplitudes in position-space and momentum-space in the narrow resonnace approximation. In some ways this may be viewed as a duality scheme for amplitudes involving external quarks, in which narrow resonances in certain channels build the Fourier transform of power singularities in x² (x^μ being a position vector). This scheme is made precise by dual string off-shell amplitudes. As well as highlighting possible connections between the general dual framework and the structure of confined field theories we are able to pinpoint certain grave shortcomings of present dual models.     

Point-like structure and off-shell dual strings

We argue that in a consistent off-shell dual formalism the amplitude for the emission of a scalar off-shell state by a string consists of two components. One of these contains the particle poles in the off-shell leg and the other is intimately related to the insertion of a point-like energy density on the string. As a result, the amplitude for a string to emit a zero momentum scalar state into the vacuum (which may be relevant for spontaneous symmetry breaking) is described by the amplitude for a finite fraction of the energy in the string to collapse to a spatial point at some time (this fraction and its space-time position being integrated over). The off-shell amplitudes have an elegant formulation in terms of a set of “confined modes” which can be assigned quark flavour quantum numbers to reproduce the Chan-Paton scheme.We suggest the dual model be modified by allowing for the coupling of scalar closed strings to the vacuum and the resulting effect on the space-time structure of dual Green functions is described.We find that even the emission of a single zero-momentum closed string modifies the elastic amplitude in a significant manner, leading to a power-behaved fixed-angle cross section in contrast to the usual exponential decrease of the dual model. This arises from point-like scattering between energy densities accumulating in the colliding strings. The relationship between the fixed angle and Regge limits is discussed. The fixed angle behaviour is found to be the asymptotic limit in momentum transfer of a fixed pole that arises in the Regge limit.     

Generalization and applications of the Sasakawa theory

The Sasakawa theory of scattering is phrased in the form of a Fredhohn reduction technique for integral equations possessing a fixed-point singularity in their kernels. This permits the generalization of this theory to a large variety of scattering integral equations. Some specific applications include the two-particle off-shell and multichannel scattering problems. In the first instance a rank-three approximation to the fully off-shell transition matrix is derived which is exact on and half-off shell, satisfies off-shell unitarity, and which possesses no unphysical singularities. In the second problem it is shown how the method leads to the generation of a unitary approximation to the multichannel amplitudes.     

Generalization of boson-fermion equivalence and Fay's addition theorem

Generalizations of Fay's addition theorem for Abel functions are obtained by using generalized boson-fermion equivalence of off-shell string amplitudes. A simple example of such generalizations is presented explicitly which relates derivatives of a Riemann -function to its determinant.     

Evaluation of the one loop string path integral

We evaluate Polyakov's path integral for the sum over all closed surfaces with the topology of a torus, in the critical dimensiond = 26. The result is applied to the partition function and cosmological constant of the free bosonic string, and to tachyon scattering amplitudes.     

J/gy suppression as evidence for high densities in nuclear collisions

It is shown that the scattering amplitudes of some degenerate massive string states can be expressed in terms of that of higher spin states at the same mass level. This phenomenon is discussed from σ-model point of view and demonstrated explicitly by using massive Ward identities generated by zero-norm states atD=26. The subtlety of the scalar propagating state is briefly pointed out. We also compare our on-shell gauge symmetry derived from σ-model with off-shell gauge symmetry of covariant string field theory.     

Off-mass-shell dual amplitudes without ghosts

A new approach to the construction of off-shell dual amplitudes and hadronic currents is presented. The guiding principle in this work is the manifest incorporation of the Virasoro gauge conditions. This requirement is so stringent that we are only able to find a solution for a particular dimension of spacetime: 16 in the case of an off-shell scalar in the Veneziano model. Furthermore, the amplitude for one off-shell state and an arbitrary number of on-shell states turns out to be given by a logarithmically divergent integral, although it is quite well-behaved in all other respects. It is suggested that the divergence problem might not occur for a ghost-free model with α(0) < 1, and that suitable modification of the model can bring the dimension selected by the currents into coincidence with the critical dimension. These requirements could lead a long way toward determining a unique model.     

Amplitudes for the Bosonic String with Boundaries

We deal with the problem of the computation of amplitudes for the bosonic Polyakov string with boundaries and show that both conformal invariance and reparametrisation invariance are maintained in critical dimensional d = 26 as the case without boundaries. The amplitudes of the bosonic, closed oriented Polyakov string with boundaries are formulated aa integral over moduli space with respect to the Weil-Petersson measure.     

Recursion relations and scattering amplitudes in the light-front formalism

The fragmentation functions and scattering amplitudes are investigated in the framework of light-front perturbation theory. It is demonstrated that, the factorization property of the fragmentation functions implies the recursion relations for the off-shell scattering amplitudes which are light-front analogs of the Berends–Giele relations. These recursion relations on the light-front can be solved exactly by induction and it is shown that the expressions for the off-shell light-front amplitudes are represented as a linear combinations of the on-shell amplitudes. By putting external particles on-shell we recover the scattering amplitudes previously derived in the literature.     

Locality and currents for the dual string

We wish to describe the coupling of a local current to the dual string as the amplitude for the string to collapse to a point. At the quantum level we note that states which are localized in the transverse directions are forced by the gauge constraints to have longitudinal extension. The best we can do in the conventional model is, therefore, to construct off-shell states which have zero helicity (but no unique spin). We calculate the propagator for such states and compare it with the model of Schwarz. In their respective critical dimensions (26 for the string and 16 for the off-shell model of Schwarz) the two results become identical. We also calculate the Green functions for the coupling of one of our off-shell states to any number of on-shell particles by means of the functional formalism. Our results have a close connection with the previous models of Schwarz and Wu and of Corrigan and Fairlie.     

Negative mode of Schwarzschild black hole from the thermodynamic instability

The thermodynamic instability, for example the negative heat capacity, of a black hole implies the existence of off-shell negative mode(s) (unstable perturbation(s)) around the black hole geometry in the Euclidean path integral formalism of quantum gravity. We explicitly construct an off-shell unstable perturbation inspired from the negative heat capacity in the case of Schwarzschild black hole with/without a cosmological constant. We carefully check the boundary conditions, i.e. the regularity at the horizon, the traceless condition, and the normalizability.     

On the analytic properties of non-relativistic two-body off-shell amplitudes: (I). Spectral function methods

Spectral function methods introduced in field theoretic schemes, are used for the study of nonrelativistic two-body off-shell amplitudes taken in a l-wave and generated by Yukawa-type interactions. The analytic properties of the basic components of such amplitudes are specified in a detailed way, which can provide a useful guide line for their parametrisations. Related integral equations are also examined, as well as some discrepancies with independent results concerning the half-shell case. The connections of such an approach with other r- and p-space formalisms are fully recognised in paper II, in which further unitary representations related with this analysis, are also considered.     

Nuclear β-decay. I

In order to clarify the validity of the theory of nuclearβ-transition a new formulation is given. The nuclear properties are contained in form factors, arising from a decomposition of the matrix element of the V-A operator for nuclear states. The connection of these form factors with nuclear physics matrix elements is tabulated. The total transition amplitude can be written as an integral over these form factors folded with off-shell amplitudes for elastic and inelastic electron scattering on nuclei.