An alternative for moduli stabilisation

The one-loop vacuum energy is explicitly computed for a class of perturbative string vacua where supersymmetry is spontaneously broken by a T-duality invariant asymmetric Scherk–Schwarz deformation. The low-lying spectrum is tachyon-free for any value of the compactification radii and thus no Hagedorn-like phase-transition takes place. Indeed, the induced effective potential is free of divergence, and has a global anti-de Sitter minimum where geometric moduli are naturally stabilised.     

Model building on asymmetric Z3 orbifolds: Non-supersymmetric models

Four-dimensional string models arising in the asymmetric Z₃ orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string are studied. A mechanism for supersymmetry breaking that gives rise to chiral models in four dimensions is presented, and some typical models are discussed. A formalism for calculating one-loop partition functions in Z₃ models is developed. One partition function is constructed that may correspond to a non-supersymmetric, tachyon-free theory, with a vanishing cosmological constant as a consequence of Atkin-Lehner symmetry. The negative result of a search for the model corresponding to this partition function is reported.     

Non-supersymmetric orientifolds of Gepner models

Starting from a previously collected set of tachyon-free closed strings, we search for N=2$N=2$ minimal model orientifold spectra which contain the standard model and are free of tachyons and tadpoles at lowest order. For each class of tachyon-free closed strings – bulk supersymmetry, automorphism invariants or Klein bottle projection – we do indeed find non-supersymmetric and tachyon free chiral brane configurations that contain the standard model. However, a tadpole-cancelling hidden sector could only be found in the case of bulk supersymmetry. Although about half of the examples we have found make use of branes that break the bulk space–time supersymmetry, the resulting massless open string spectra are nevertheless supersymmetric in all cases. Dropping the requirement that the standard model be contained in the spectrum, we find chiral tachyon and tadpole-free solutions in all three cases, although in the case of bulk supersymmetry all massless spectra are supersymmetric. In the other two cases we find truly non-supersymmetric spectra, but a large fraction of them are nevertheless partly or fully supersymmetric at the massless level.     

A modular subgroup invariance in a four-dimensional string

A four-dimensional closed supersymmetric string theory is constructed from the left-moving Neveu-Schwarz bosonic string and the right-moving superstring. The gauge group [SU(2)]⁶ arises from an algebraic compactification involving a new affine Kac-Moody construction in terms of Neveu-Schwarz operators. The theory is Lorentz-invariant, tachyon-free and has four-point one-loop amplitudes invariant under a subgroup of the modular group.     

A relation between gauge-invariant formulation of QCD and string theory in two dimensions

We have studied the explicit relation between the gauge-invariant path-ordered operator (POO) and a string field in two dimensions. For this purpose, we use the hamiltonian of two-dimensional quantum chromodynamics reformulated in terms of POO. POO is expanded in a power series of a non-local bosonic operator. We show that such a bosonic operator describes Bars and Hanson's free string field in the second quantization. Interactions among bosonic operators are treated in perturbation theory. The coupling constant is proportional to 1/√N_c.     

On second-quantized open superstring theory

The SO(32) theory, in the limit where it is an open superstring theory, is completely specified in the light-cone gauge as a second-quantized string theory in terms of a “matrix string” model. The theory is defined by the neighborhood of a 1 + 1-dimensional fixed point theory, characterized by an Abelian gauge theory with type IB Green-Schwarz form. Non-orientability and SO(32) gauge symmetry arise naturally, and the theory effectively constructs an orientifold projection of the (weakly coupled) matrix type IIB theory (also discussed herein). The fixed point theory is a conformal field theory with boundary, defining the free string theory. Interactions involving the interior of open and closed strings are governed by a twist operator in the bulk, while string endpoints are created and destroyed by a boundary twist operator.     

Catoptric tadpoles

Fermionic string perturbation theory is known to suffer from an ambiguity in the form of a total derivative in the moduli space. For a class of backgrounds (including R¹⁰, orbifolds and theories with no U(1) factors in gauge group) we show that these ambiguities for the partition function of heterotic string theory at any genus are proportional to massless physical tadpoles in the theory at lower genera and hence vanish in stable vacua. We also find that in R¹⁰ the cosmological constant at a given genus is proportional to the cosmological constant at lower genera. This enables us to give an inductive argument for the vanishing of the cosmological constant in R¹⁰ to all orders in string perturbation theory. We also address the ambiguity and finiteness of n-point functions. Our results indicate that in R¹⁰ the ambiguity can be absorbed by a renormalization of the string coupling constant and the string tension. The expected sources of divergence in the n-point function in arbitrary tachyon-free backgrounds, besides the usual infrared divergences for d ≤ 4, are shown to be proportional to tadpoles of physical massless fields. For type II strings in arbitrary backgrounds, we show by explicit calculations that the ambiguity vanishes at g = 2.     

Yang-Mills string theories

It is shown that the addition of a “colored” Yang-Mills supermultiplet to the locally supersymmetric spinning string Lagrangian does not yield a viable new string model, even though supersymmetry is preserved. However, a Yang-Mills extension of the Veneziano string that yields the color singlet sector of the Bardakçi-Halpern model is constructed.     

Stationary spinning strings and symmetries of classical spacetimes

We explore the symmetries of classical stationary spacetimes in terms of the dynamics of a spinning string described by a worldsheet supersymmetric action. We show that for stationary configurations of the string, the action reduces to that for a pseudo-classical spinning point particle in an effective space, which is a conformally scaled quotient space of the original spacetime. As an example, we consider the stationary spinning string in the Kerr–Newman spacetime, whose motion is equivalent to that of the spinning point particle in the three-dimensional effective space. We present the Killing tensor as well as the spin-valued Killing vector of this space. However, the nongeneric supersymmetry corresponding to the Killing–Yano tensor of the Kerr–Newman spacetime is lost in the effective space.     

Kähler spinning particles

We construct the U(N) spinning particle theories, which describe particles moving on Kähler spaces. These particles have the same relation to the N = 2 string as usual spinning particles have to the NSR string. We find the restrictions on the target space of the theories coming from supersymmetry and from global anomalies. Finally, we show that the partition functions of the theories agree with what is expected from their spectra, unlike that of the N = 2 string in which there is an anomalous dependence on the proper time.     

String field theory with spacetime supersymmetry

The gauge-invariant field theory of the free spinning strings with spacetime supersymmetry is presented. The supersymmetry is realized by making use of the fermion-emission vertex operator constructed by Friedan, Shenker, and Martinec and by Knizhnik. This model reproduces the spectra of the Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond model to all orders of excitation levels. It is explained in detail how to deal with the zero mode of the commuting ghost coordinates which emerges in the Ramond sector.     

From the first to the second quantized string theory

Starting from the hamiltonian formulation of the bosonic string we calculate the Feynman transition amplitude D. Inverting D we get the kinetic operator and thus the free field action.     

Supersymmetrical dual string theory

It is proved that the physical states of the open-string sector of the ten-dimensional string theory form supersymmetry multiplets. The proof is achieved by first constructing a new formulation of the spectrum generating algebra, and then forming the supersymmetry operator (as well as associated operators) and demonstrating that it transforms as a spinor under Lorentz transformations and has the correct anticommutation relations. The results can be interpreted either in terms of a covariant formulation or in terms of a light-cone gauge formulation. In the former case certain formulas are not completely proved, although they are in the latter. When interpreted in four dimensions (by dimensional reduction) the string theory provides an interacting theory of an infinite number of massive representations of N = 4 supersymmetry involving particles of arbitrarily high spin.     

Spin content of string models

A previous analysis of the spin content of the bosonic string is extended to other string models. For the case of the spinning string, the O(D − 1) representation counting functions are expanded in terms of GL (∞|∞) supergroup characters.     

Cosmological sector for localized mass and spin in 2+1 dimensional topologically massive gravity

The cosmological sector to the full non-linear topologically massive gravity (TMG) is obtained for localized sources of mass m and spin σ besides the asymptotically spinning conical flat sector previously obtained [A. Edery, M.B. Paranjape, gr-qc/9606029, to be published]. In a small region near but outside the sources, the metric resembles the spinning conical flat metric but we find that the mass m creates a negative deficit angle of 3m as opposed to m. Furthermore, it is not possible to recover the results of pure Einstein gravity in the limit μ→∞ unlike the flat sector.     

On the associativity anomaly in open string field theory

The associativity anomaly in the star algebra of the open bosonic string is demonstrated by a simple oscillator calculation. In an associative algebra, formal arguments require that the “half string” BRST operator Q_L be nilpotent; however, we show that associativity is actually violated by computing Q_L² in an explicit operator representation of the star algebra.     

Three-point function in perturbed Liouville gravity

Three-point correlation function in perturbed conformal field theory coupled to two-dimensional quantum gravity (perturbed Liouville gravity) is explicitly computed by using the free field approach. The representation considered here is the one recently proposed in [G. Giribet, Nucl. Phys. B 737 (2006) 209] to describe the string theory in AdS₃${\mathit{AdS}}_3$ space. Consequently, this computation extends previous results which presented free field calculations of particular cases of string amplitudes, and confirms that the free field approach leads to the exact result. Remarkably, this representation allows to compute winding violating three-point functions without making use of the spectral flow operator.     

Schnabl's solution and boundary states in open string field theory

We discuss that Schnabl's solution is an off-shell extension of the boundary state describing a D-brane in the closed string sector. It gives the physical meaning of the gauge-invariant overlaps for the solution in our previous paper and supports Ellwood's recent proposal in the operator formalism.     

A non-perturbative study of regularized bosonic string amplitudes

The Wick-rotated, light-cone gauge U(n) Veneziano model of open and closed strings is examined in the limit as n → ∞, with g₀²n fixed. The amplitudes in both the “pomeron sector” (whose graphs are cylinders with holes punched out) and the “reggeon sector” (whose graphs are rectangles with holes punched out) are regularized using the lattice method of Giles and Thorn, as well as an alternative method. It is found that this string model is trivial. When the cut-off is removed, the pomeron and reggeon sector spectra are those of the free closed and open strings, respectively. This result is independent of the choice of g₀²n. A possible extension to fermionic strings, and the implications for large-n gauge theories are briefly discussed.     

Evaluation of a zero intercept dual model by rational functions

A ghost-free zero-intercept dual model constructed by Gervais and Neveu is found to be Regge-behaved but not st symmetric in the four-point function. If the s-channel is taken to be tachyon-free, a tachyon appears in the t-channel.