Electric/magnetic deformations of S3 and AdS3, and geometric cosets

We analyze asymmetric marginal deformations of SU(2)_k and SL(2,ℝ)_k WZW models. These appear in heterotic string backgrounds with non‐vanishing Neveu–Schwarz three‐forms plus electric or magnetic fields, depending on whether the deformation is elliptic, hyperbolic or parabolic. Asymmetric deformations create new families of exact string vacua. The geometries which are generated in this way, deformed S³ or AdS₃, include in particular geometric cosets such as S², AdS₂ or H₂. Hence, the latter are consistent, exact conformal sigma models, with electric or magnetic backgrounds. We discuss various geometric and symmetry properties of the deformations at hand as well as their spectra and partition functions, with special attention to the supersymmetric AdS₂ × S² background. We also comment on potential holographic applications.     

Superstrings in Curved Ramond-Ramond Backgrounds

We discuss the main issues related to understanding closed string spectrum in Ramond-Ramond backgrounds on the example of AdS₅ × S ⁵ and and its special limit – the maximally supersymmetric plane-wave background with constant null 5-form field strength. As we describe, in the latter case the spectrum can be found explicitly. We compare the plane-wave string spectrum with the expected form of the light-cone gauge spectrum of the AdS₅ × S ⁵ superstring and comment on the tensionless string limit.     

Type IIB string theory on AdS5×T

We study Kaluza-Klein spectrum of type IIB string theory compactified on AdS₅×T^nn′ in the context of AdS/CFT correspondence. We examine some of the modes of the complexified 2 form potential as an example and show that for the states at the bottom of the Kaluza-Klein tower the corresponding d=4 boundary field operators have rational conformal dimensions. The masses of some of the fermionic modes in the bottom of each tower as functions of the R charge in the boundary conformal theory are also rational. Furthermore the modes in the bottom of the towers originating from q forms on T¹¹ can be put in correspondence with the BRS cohomology classes of the c=1 non critical string theory with ghost number q.     

Hadron potentials within the gauge/string correspondence

It is known, since the 70s, that the large N 't Hooft limit of gauge theories is related to string theories. In 1998, J. M. Maldacena identified precisely such a relation: the so-called AdS/CFT correspondence which speculates a duality between a large N strongly-coupled supersymmetric and conformal Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions and a weakly-coupled string theory defined in a five-dimensional anti-de Sitter AdS₅ space-time. This review aims at introducing concepts and methods used to derive, in the framework of the gauge/string correspondence, the interaction potentials of mesons and baryons at zero and finite temperature. The dual string configurations associated with the different kinds of hadrons are described and their behaviours at short and large distances are understood. Although the application of Maldacena's AdS/CFT conjecture to QCD is not straightforward, QCD being neither supersymmetric nor conformal, the AdS/QCD correspondence approach attempts to identify the dual theory of QCD. Especially, the study of heavy quark-antiquark bound-states leads to establish general dual criteria for the confinement.     

Integrability of a family of quantum field theories related to sigma models

A method is introduced for constructing lattice discretizations of large classes of integrable quantum field theories. The method proceeds in two steps: The quantum algebraic structure underlying the integrability of the model is determined from the algebra of the interaction terms in the light-cone representation. The representation theory of the relevant quantum algebra is then used to construct the basic ingredients of the quantum inverse scattering method, the lattice Lax matrices and R-matrices. This method is illustrated with four examples: The sinh-Gordon model, the affine sl(3) Toda model, a model called the fermionic sl(2|1) Toda theory, and the N=2 supersymmetric sine-Gordon model. These models are all related to sigma models in various ways. The N=2 supersymmetric sine-Gordon model, in particular, describes the Pohlmeyer reduction of string theory on AdS₂×S², and is dual to a supersymmetric non-linear sigma model with a sausage-shaped target space.     

Type IIB Green-Schwarz superstrings in AdS 5 × S 5 from the supercoset approach

We consider superstrings moving in the AdS ₅ × S ⁵ space-time and find their Green-Schwarz action using the supercoset approach based on the supergroup PSU(2, 2|4). We describe several parametrizations of the relevant supercoset and present the action in different κ-symmetry gauges. In particular, we discuss a gauge where all the fermionic coordinates corresponding to the conformal (S) supercharges are gauged away and also a light-cone type gauge where half of the Q and S supercoordinates are gauged away. The resulting action contains terms that are quadratic and quartic in fermions. In the flat-space limit, it reduces to the standard light-cone Green-Schwarz action. We comment on the possibility of fixing the bosonic light-cone gauge and of reformulating the action in terms of two-dimensional Dirac spinors.     

Gauge fields and D-branes

We prove that self-dual gauge fields in type I superstring theory are equivalent to configurations of Dirichlet 5-branes, by showing that the world-sheet theory of a Dirichlet 1-brane moving in a background of 5-branes includes an “ADHM sigma model”. This provides an explicit construction of the equivalent self-dual gauge field. We also discuss type II.     

Self-Dual Strings in Six Dimensions: Anomalies,the <Emphasis Type="Italic">ADE</Emphasis>-Classification,and the World-Sheet <Emphasis Type="Italic">WZW</Emphasis>-Model

We consider the (2,0) supersymmetric theory of tensor multiplets and self-dual strings in six space-time dimensions. Space-time diffeomorphisms that leave the string world-sheet invariant appear as gauge transformations on the normal bundle of the world-sheet. The naive invariance of the model under such transformations is however explicitly broken by anomalies: The electromagnetic coupling of the string to the two-form gauge field of the tensor multiplet suffers from a classical anomaly, and there is also a one-loop quantum anomaly from the chiral fermions on the string world-sheet. Both of these contributions are proportional to the Euler class of the normal bundle of the string world-sheet, and consistency of the model requires that they cancel. This imposes strong constraints on possible models, which are found to obey an ADE-classification. We then consider the decoupled world-sheet theory that describes low-energy fluctuations (compared to the scale set by the string tension) around a configuration with a static, straight string. The anomaly structure determines this to be a supersymmetric version of the level one Wess-Zumino-Witten model based on the group      

Superstring propagation in curved superspace in the presence of background super Yang-Mills fields

A gauge invariant action is presented which describes the propagation of the superstring in curved superspace in the presence of background super Yang-Mills fields. It is shown that this action posseses the local fermionic world-sheet symmetry needed for a consistent coupling of the string to background fields. Some other aspects of the superspace non-linear σ-model described by this action are also discussed.     

Effects of superstrings in collisions

Superstring theory in d = 10 dimensions after Calabi—Yau compactification yields a minimum low-energy gauge group SU(3)_C × SU(2)_L × U(1)_Y × U(1)_E. The low-energy theory includes particles with the quantum numbers of 27 representations of E₆, each of which contains an extra neutrino ν^c conventionally called a “right-handed neutrino”. The contributions of ν and ν^c to through Z⁰ and Z_E mixing is calculated. Small contributions are found of the new right-handed neutrino and of the superstring boson Z_E to σ(e⁺e⁻ → γ + nothing).     

On the equivalence of the Lagrangians of massless dirac and supersymmetrical particles

The classical equivalence between the Lagrangians of massless spinning and supersymmetrical particles presented in terms of u _A and Grassmannian _A Weyl spinor variables is established. It is shown that the condition of the inverse Higgs effect for a spinor invariant superform leads to the extension of the Penrose representation and the realization of fermionic string variables in terms of superstring variables. New superfield formulations of the actions for particles and strings invariant under local (world-sheet) and global (spacetime) supersymmetrics are suggested.     

Non-Abelian vortex in four dimensions as a critical superstring

We discuss recent progress in describing a certain non-Abelian vortex string as a critical superstring on a conifold and clarify some subtle points. This particular solitonic vortex is supported in four-dimensional supersymmetric QCD with the gauge group, N _f = 4 quark flavors and the Fayet–Iliopoulos term. Under certain conditions, the non-Abelian vortex can become infinitely thin and can be interpreted as a critical ten-dimensional superstring. In addition to four translational moduli, the non-Abelian vortex under consideration carries six orientational and size moduli. The vortex moduli dynamics are described by a twodimensional sigma model with the target space ?⁴ × Y ₆, where Y ₆ is a non-compact Calabi–Yau conifold. The closed string states that emerge in four dimensions (4D) are identified with hadrons of 4D bulk N= 2 QCD. It turns out that most of the states arising from the ten-dimensional graviton spectrum are non-dynamical in 4D. A single dynamical massless hypermultiplet associated with the deformation of the complex structure of the conifold is found. It is interpreted as a monopole–monopole baryon of the 4D theory (at strong coupling).     

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.     

Topological sigma models

A variant of the usual supersymmetric nonlinear sigma model is described, governing maps from a Riemann surface to an arbitrary almost complex manifoldM. It possesses a fermionic BRST-like symmetry, conserved for arbitrary, and obeyingQ ²=0. In a suitable version, the quantum ground states are the 1+1 dimensional Floer groups. The correlation functions of the BRST-invariant operators are invariants (depending only on the homotopy type of the almost complex structure ofM) similar to those that have entered in recent work of Gromov on symplectic geometry. The model can be coupled to dynamical gravitational or gauge fields while preserving the fermionic symmetry; some observations by Atiyah suggest that the latter coupling may be related to the Jones polynomial of knot theory. From the point of view of string theory, the main novelty of this type of sigma model is that the graviton vertex operator is a BRST commutator. Thus, models of this type may correspond to a realization at the level of string theory of an unbroken phase of quantum gravity.On leave from Department of Physics, Princeton University. Supported in part by NSF Grants No. 80-19754, 86-16129, 86-20266     

Locally supersymmetric σ-model with Wess-Zumino term in two dimensions and critical dimensions for strings

We construct an N = 1 locally supersymmetric σ-model with a Wess-Zumino term coupled to supergravity in two dimensions. If one takes the σ-model manifold to be the product of d-dimensional Minkowski space M^d and a group manifold G, and if the radius of G is quantized in appropriate units of the string tension, then the model describes a Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond (NSR)-type string moving on M_d × G. (Our model generalizes earlier work of refs. [1,2] which do not contain a Wess-Zumino term and that of refs. [5,6] which is not locally supersymmetric.) The zweibein and the gravitino field equations yield constraints which generalize those of the NSR model to the case of a non-abelian group manifold. In particular, the fermionic constraint contains a new term trilinear in the fermionic fields. We quantize the theory in the light-cone gauge and derive the critical dimensions. We compute the mass spectrum of a closed string moving on M_d × G and show that massless fermions do not arise for non-abelian G for the spinning string, in agreement with the result of Friedan and Shenker [22].     

Light-cone gauge formulation for AdS 4 × ℂℙ3 superstring

We review the Type IIA superstring on the AdS ₄ × ??³ background in the κ-symmetry light-cone gauge characterized by the choice of the light-like directions from the D = 3 Minkowski boundary of AdS ₄ both in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations.     

Spinor-vector duality in heterotic string vacua

Classification of the N=1 space–time supersymmetric fermionic Z₂×Z₂ heterotic-string vacua with symmetric internal shifts, revealed a novel spinor-vector duality symmetry over the entire space of vacua, where the S_t↔V duality interchanges the spinor plus anti-spinor representations with vector representations. In this paper we demonstrate that the spinor-vector duality exists also in fermionic Z₂ heterotic string models, which preserve N=2 space–time supersymmetry. In this case the interchange is between spinorial and vectorial representations of the unbroken SO(12) GUT symmetry. We provide a general algebraic proof for the existence of the S_t↔V duality map. We present a novel basis to generate the free fermionic models in which the ten-dimensional gauge degrees of freedom are grouped into four groups of four, each generating an SO(8) modular block. In the new basis the GUT symmetries are produced by generators arising from the trivial and non-trivial sectors, and due to the triality property of the SO(8) representations. Thus, while in the new basis the appearance of GUT symmetries is more cumbersome, it may be more instrumental in revealing the duality symmetries that underly the string vacua.     

4d fermionic superstrings with arbitrary twists

We present the rules for systematically constructing all consistent four-dimensional string theories, using free world-sheet fermions which pick up arbitrary phases when parallel transported around the string. These rules are necessary and sufficient for multi-loop modular invariance. They lead to theories with general Z_N (GSO-type) projections, whose merits for model-building we discuss. We classify all boundary conditions yielding massless space-time spinors. We show that, in contrast to the case of only real 2d fermions, all possible realizations of world-sheet supersymmetry are now allowed. This opens the way for the construction of a new class of supersymmetric string models.     

Global Gauge Anomalies in Two-Dimensional Bosonic Sigma Models

We revisit the gauging of rigid symmetries in two-dimensional bosonic sigma models with a Wess-Zumino term in the action. Such a term is related to a background closed 3-form H on the target space. More exactly, the sigma-model Feynman amplitudes of classical fields are associated to a bundle gerbe with connection of curvature H over the target space. Under conditions that were unraveled more than twenty years ago, the classical amplitudes may be coupled to the topologically trivial gauge fields of the symmetry group in a way which assures infinitesimal gauge invariance. We show that the resulting gauged Wess-Zumino amplitudes may, nevertheless, exhibit global gauge anomalies that we fully classify. The general results are illustrated on the example of the WZW and the coset models of conformal field theory. The latter are shown to be inconsistent in the presence of global anomalies. We introduce a notion of equivariant gerbes that allow an anomaly-free coupling of the Wess-Zumino amplitudes to all gauge fields, including the ones in non-trivial principal bundles. Obstructions to the existence of equivariant gerbes and their classification are discussed. The choice of different equivariant structures on the same bundle gerbe gives rise to a new type of discrete-torsion ambiguities in the gauged amplitudes. An explicit construction of gerbes equivariant with respect to the adjoint symmetries over compact simply connected simple Lie groups is given.