Polylogarithms,multiple zeta values and superstring amplitudes

A formalism is provided to calculate tree amplitudes in open superstring theory for any multiplicity at any order in the inverse string tension. We point out that the underlying world‐sheet disk integrals share substantial properties with color‐ordered tree amplitudes in Yang‐Mills field theories. In particular, we closely relate world‐sheet integrands of open‐string tree amplitudes to the Kawai‐Lewellen‐Tye representation of supergravity amplitudes. This correspondence helps to reduce the singular parts of world‐sheet disk integrals – including their string corrections – to lower‐point results. The remaining regular parts are systematically addressed by polylogarithm manipulations.     

Pomerons and BCFW recursion relations for strings on D-branes

We derive pomeron vertex operators for bosonic strings and superstrings in the presence of D-branes. We demonstrate how they can be used in order to compute the Regge behavior of string amplitudes on D-branes and the amplitude of ultrarelativistic D-brane scattering. After a lightning review of the BCFW method, we proceed in a classification of the various BCFW shifts possible in a field/string theory in the presence of defects/D-branes. The BCFW shifts present several novel features, such as the possibility of performing single particle momentum shifts, due to the breaking of momentum conservation in the directions normal to the defect. Using the pomeron vertices we show that superstring amplitudes on the disc involving both open and closed strings should obey BCFW recursion relations. As a particular example, we analyze explicitly the case of 1→1$1\to 1$ scattering of level one closed string states off a D-brane. Finally, we investigate whether the eikonal Regge regime conjecture holds in the presence of D-branes.     

Absence of hexagon gauge anomalies in higher loop superstring amplitudes

It is shown that there are no gravitational, Yang-Mills, local supersymmetry hexagon anomalies in higher genus amplitudes of type II superstring and heterotic string theory in ten dimensions. The nonrenormalization theorem for massless parity-violating higher genus amplitudes is also proved.     

Scattering amplitudes in open superstring theory

This review is concerned with scattering amplitudes in open superstring theories. In particular, we introduce two different formalisms to compute tree level amplitudes – the Ramond Neveu Schwarz‐ (RNS‐) and the Pure Spinor (PS‐) formalism. The RNS approach proves to be flexible in describing compactifications from ten to four flat spacetime dimensions. We solve the technical problems due to the underlying interacting conformal field theory on the worldsheet. This is exploited to extract phenomenologically relevant scattering amplitudes of gluons and quarks as well as production‐ and decay rates of massive vibration modes which have already been identified as virtual exchange particles at the massless level. In case of a TeV string scale, string specific signatures in parton collisions might be observed at the LHC experiment in the near future and constitute the first experimental evidence for string theory. These statements apply to a wide class of string vacua and therefore bypass the so‐called landscape problem of string theory. The PS formalism allows for a manifestly supersymmetric treatment of scattering amplitudes in ten spacetime dimensions with sixteen supercharges. We introduce a family of superfields which arises in tree amplitudes of massless open string states and can be naturally identified with diagrams made of cubic vertices. We firstly achieve a compact superspace representation of multiparticle field theory amplitudes and moreover express the complete n point superstring amplitude as a minimal linear combination of partial field theory amplitudes and hypergeometric functions. The latter carry the stringy effects and are analyzed from different perspectives.     

Non-commutative superstring worldsheet

In this paper we consider the worldsheet of the superstring as a non-commutative space. Some additional terms can be added to the superstring action, such that for an ordinary worldsheet they are zero. The expansion of this extended action up to the first order of the non-commutativity parameter leads to the new supersymmetric action for the string. For the closed superstring, we obtain the boundary state that describes a brane. From the open string point of view, the new boundary conditions on the worldsheet bosons generalize the non-commutativity of spacetime. Finally, we suggest some definitions for the non-commutativity parameter of the superstring worldsheet. Received: 19 April 2002 / Published online: 18 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: kamani@theory.ipm.ac.ir     

Superstring theory

Dual string theories, initially developed as phenomenological models of hadrons, now appear more promising as candidates for a unified theory of fundamental interactions. Type I superstring theory (SST I), is a ten-dimensional theory of interacting open and closed strings, with one supersymmetry, that is free from ghosts and tachyons. It requires that an SO(n) or Sp(2n) gauge group be used. A light-cone-gauge string action with space-time supersymmetry automatically incorporates the superstring restrictions and leads to the discovery of type II superstring theory (SST II). SST II is an interacting theory of closed strings only, with two D = 10 supersymmetries, that is also free from ghosts and tachyons. By taking six of the spatial dimensions to form a compact space, it becomes possible to reconcile the models with our four-dimensional perception of spacetime and to define low-energy limits in which SST I reduces to N = 4, D = 4 super Yang-Mills theory and SST II reduces to N = 8, D = 4 supergravity theory. The superstring theories can be described by a light-cone-gauge action principle based on fields that are functionals of string coordinates. With this formalism any physical quantity should be calculable. There is some evidence that, unlike any conventional field theory, the superstring theories provide perturbatively renormalizable (SST I) or finite (SST II) unifications of gravity with other interactions.     

Scattering of massive open strings in pure spinor

In Park (2008) [4], it was proposed that the D-brane geometry could be produced by open string quantum effects. In an effort to verify the proposal, we consider scattering amplitudes involving massive open superstrings. The main goal of this paper is to set the ground for two-loop “renormalization” of an oriented open superstring on a D-brane and to strengthen our skill in the pure spinor formulation of a superstring, an effective tool for multi-loop string diagrams. We start by reviewing scattering amplitudes of massless states in the 2D component method of the NSR formulation. A few examples of massive string scattering are worked out. The NSR results are then reproduced in the pure spinor formulation. We compute the amplitudes using the unintegrated form of the massive vertex operator constructed by Berkovits and Chandia (2002) [15]. We point out that it may be possible to discover new Riemann type identities involving Jacobi ?-functions by comparing a NSR computation and the corresponding pure spinor computation.     

On the absence of large‐order divergences in superstring theory

The genus‐dependence of multi‐loop superstring amplitudes is estimated at large orders in perturbation theory using the super‐Schottky group parameterization of supermoduli space. Restriction of the integration region to a subset of supermoduli space and a single fundamental domain of the super‐modular group suggests an exponential dependence on the genus. Upper bounds for these estimates are obtained for arbitrary N‐point superstring scattering amplitudes and are shown to be consistent with exact results obtained for special type II string amplitudes for orbifold or Calabi‐Yau compactifications. The genus‐dependence is then obtained by considering the effect of the remaining contribution to the superstring amplitudes after the coefficients of the formally divergent parts of the integrals vanish as a result of a sum over spin structures. The introduction of supersymmetry therefore leads to the elimination of large‐order divergences in string perturbation theory, a result which is based only on the supersymmetric generalization of the Polyakov measure and not the gauge group of the string model.     

Relativistic string in a pulse

I study a relativistic open string coupling through its endpoints to a plane wave with arbitrary temporal profile. The string’s transverse oscillations respond linearly to the external field. This makes it possible to solve the classical equations, and to calculate the quantum-mechanical S-matrix in closed form. I analyze the dynamics of the string as the characteristic frequency and duration of the pulse are continuously varied. I derive, in particular, the multipole expansion in the adiabatic limit of very long wavelengths, and discuss also more violent phenomena such as shock waves, cusps, and null brane intersections. Apart from their relevance to the study of time-dependence in superstring theory, these results could have other applications, such as the teleportation of gravitational wave bursts by cosmic strings.     

Matrix theory interpretation of discrete light cone quantization string worldsheets

We study the null compactification of type-IIA string perturbation theory at finite temperature. We prove a theorem about Riemann surfaces establishing that the moduli spaces of infinite-momentum-frame superstring worldsheets are identical to those of branched-cover instantons in the matrix-string model conjectured to describe M theory. This means that the identification of string degrees of freedom in the matrix model proposed by Dijkgraaf, Verlinde, and Verlinde is correct and that its natural generalization produces the moduli space of Riemann surfaces at all orders in the genus expansion.     

Higher level string resonances in four dimensions

We study higher level Regge resonances of open superstrings, focusing on the universal part of the Neveu-Schwarz sector common to all D-brane realizations of the standard model. For Regge states with masses far above the fundamental string scale, we discuss the spin-dependence of their decay rates into massless gauge bosons. Extending our previous work on lowest level string excitations, we study the second mass level at which spins range from 0 to 3. We construct the respective vertex operators and compute the amplitudes involving one massive particle and two or three gauge bosons. To illustrate the use of Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten (BCFW) recursion relations in superstring theory, we build the four-gluon amplitude from on-shell amplitudes involving string resonances and gauge bosons.     

Direct production of lightest Regge resonances

We discuss direct production of Regge excitations in the collisions of massless four-dimensional superstring states, focusing on the first excited level of open strings ending on D-branes extending into higher dimensions. We construct covariant vertex operators and identify “universal” Regge states with the internal parts either trivial or determined by the world-sheet SCFT describing superstrings propagating on an arbitrary Calabi–Yau manifold. We evaluate the amplitudes involving one such massive state and up to three massless ones and express them in the helicity basis. The most important phenomenological applications of our results are in the context of low-mass string (and large extra dimensions) scenarios in which excited string states are expected to be produced at the LHC as soon as the string mass threshold is reached in the center-of-mass energies of the colliding partons. In order to facilitate the use of partonic cross sections, we evaluate them and tabulate for all production processes: gluon fusion, quark absorbing a gluon, quark–antiquark annihilation and quark–quark scattering.     

Truncations of the D9-brane action and type-I strings

The low-energy effective action of type-I superstring theory in ten dimensions is obtained performing a truncation of type-IIB supergravity in a background where D9-branes are present. The open sector corresponds to the first order in the low-energy expansion of the D9-brane action in a type-I background. In hep-th/9901055 it was shown that there are two ways of performing a type-I truncation of the D9-brane action, and the resulting truncated action was obtained in a flat background. We extend this result to a generic type-I background, and argue that the two different truncations are in correspondence with the open sector of the low-energy effective action of the two different consistent ten-dimensional type-I string theories, namely the SO(32) superstring and the USp(32) non-supersymmetric string.     

Background formalism for superstring field theory

In the framework of the background formalism we analyse possible versions of the Witten-type NSR superstring field theory. We find the picture for string fields to be uniquely fixed by the requirement that the perturbative classical solutions are well-defined. This uniquely defined picture and the corresponding action are different from the ones in Witten's theory and coincide with the ones proposed from different reasons in our previous paper. Following the same background method we calculate the tree-level scattering amplitudes for the new action and argue that in contrast to the ones in Witten's original theory, the amplitudes are singularity-free and hence there is no need to add any tree-level counterterms. We also prove the amplitudes to reproduce correctly the first quantized results.     

Conformal field theory representation and background-independent action for superstring field theory

The two-dimensional conformal field theory representation of Witten's open superstring field theory is discussed. We argue that the previously suggested cubic action for the superstring is actually dependent on the spacetime background, and suggest a modification which formally removes this dependence. The transformation from the new version of the superstring cubic action to Witten's action for open string states is discussed. A class of linearized solutions to the equations of motion of the open superstring cubic action are exhibited. These solutions are in one-to-one correspondence with the physical excitations (both massless and massive) of the open and closed type I superstrings.     

One loop partition functions in a compactified open bosonic string theory

We calculate the one loop partition functions of a toroidally compactified open bosonic string (fromD=26 toD=10) in the path integral formalism. By a certain combination of the compactified sectors it is shown that the partition functions of a compactified open bosonic string vanish in both annulus and Möbius strip topologies as in the open superstring case. We also discuss the consistency requirement for the equivalence between the compactified open bosonic string and the open superstring with the gauge groups (SO(8192) andSO(32), respectively.     

Holomorphic Factorization of Superstring Scattering Amplitudes

The holomorphic factorization of the superstring partition function is verified at arbitrary genus. The evaluation of scattering amplitudes and the implications of genus-dependent estimates on the string coupling are given.     

Non-archimedean string dynamics

Explicit formulas for the N-point tree amplitudes of the non-archimedean open string are derived. These amplitudes can be generated from a simple non-local lagrangian involving a single scalar field (the tachyon) in ambient space-time. This lagrangian is studied and is found to possess a tachyon free vacuum with no “particles” but with soliton solutions. The question of generalizing the adelic product formular to N-point amplitudes is taken up. The infinite product of 5-point amplitudes is shown to converge in a suitably chosen kinematic region whence it can be analytically continued. Though the precise form of the product formula for the 5-point (and N-point)amplitudes is not found, it is shown that the product is not equal to one as it is for the 4-point amplitudes but rather involves the famous zeros of the Riemann zeta function. Chan-Paton rules for non-archimedean open strings are given. A string over the (global) field of rational numbers is constructed. Other problems that are addressed are the introduction of supersymmetry, the nature of a p-adic string lagrangian, and the possibility of strings over other locally compact fields.