Superspace analysis of local Lorentz and gauge anomalies in the heterotic string theory

Local Lorentz and gauge anomalies in the sigma model describing the propagation of the heterotic string in an arbitrary background field are discussed in the superspace formulation. An expression for these anomalies is written down in terms of the superfields, and is shown to cancel against an anomalous variation of the antisymmetric tensor field. World-sheet supersymmetry is manifest throughout this analysis.     

New geometrical approach to Rainich-Misner-Wheeler theory

We introduce a new principal fiber bundle, the bundle of biframes, associated with the geometry of bivectors on spacetime. It is shown that the biframe bundle is a natural geometric arena for modeling the already unified theory of Rainich, Misner, and Wheeler (RMW). The structure equations for the bitorsion inherent in the biframe bundle lead to a generalization of Rainich's algebraic conditions for electromagnetic-type stress tensors which includes sources in a natural way. Besides the usual complexion vector of the RMW theory, an additional new complexion-type vector is found. The generalized algebraic conditions reduce to the usual RMW conditions in the special case of no sources.     

The geometrical form for the string space-time action

In the present article, we derive the space-time action of the bosonic string in terms of geometrical quantities. First, we study the space-time geometry felt by a probe bosonic string moving in antisymmetric and dilaton background fields. We show that the presence of the antisymmetric field leads to space-time torsion, and the presence of the dilaton field leads to space-time non-metricity. Using these results we obtain the integration measure for space-time with stringy non-metricity, requiring its preservation under parallel transport. We derive the Lagrangian depending on stringy curvature, torsion and non-metricity.     

Generalization of the relativistic string model in the geometrical approach

We present a model of a one-dimensional extended relativistic object, whose motion is defined by the requirement that its time track in Minkowski space is a surface of the constant mean curvature H. The world surface of the relativistic string is a particular case of such surfaces, namely, a minimal surface with H=0. By differential-geometry methods the theory of the proposed object moving in three-dimensional space-time is reduced to one nonlinear equation – = Hsh. In the theory under consideration, there naturally arises the pair of Lax's operators needed to solve this nonlinear equation by the inverse scattering method.     

Matrix string theory

Via compactification on a circle, the matrix mode] of M-theory proposed by Banks et a]. suggests a concrete identification between the large N limit of two-dimensional N = 8 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and type IIA string theory. In this paper we collect evidence that supports this identification. We explicitly identify the perturbative string states and their interactions, and describe the appearance of D-particle and D-membrane states.     

Feigenbaum universality in string theory

Brane-like vertex operators, defining backgrounds with ghost-matter mixing in NSR superstring theory, play an important role in the world-sheet formulation of D-branes and M theory as creation operators for extended objects in the second quantized formalism. In this paper, we show that the dilaton beta function in ghost-matter mixing backgrounds becomes stochastic. The renormalization group (RG) equations in ghost-matter mixing backgrounds lead to non-Markovian Fokker-Planck equations whose solutions describe superstrings in curved space-times with brane-like metrics. We show that the Feigenbaum universality constant δ=4.669..., describing transitions from order to chaos in a huge variety of dynamical systems, appears analytically in these RG equations. We find that the appearance of this constant is related to the scaling of relative space-time curvatures at fixed points of the RG flow. In this picture, the fixed points correspond to the period doubling of Feigenbaum iteration schemes.     

Tadpole resummations in string theory

While R–R tadpoles should be canceled for consistency, string models with broken supersymmetry generally have uncanceled NS–NS tadpoles. Their presence signals that the background does not solve the field equations, so that these models are in “wrong” vacua. In this Letter we investigate, with reference to some prototype examples, whether the true values of physical quantities can be recovered resumming the NS–NS tadpoles, hence by an approach that is related to the analysis based on String Field Theory by open–closed duality. We show that, indeed, the positive classical vacuum energy of a Dp-brane of the bosonic string is exactly canceled by the negative contribution arising from tree-level tadpole resummation, in complete agreement with Sen's conjecture on open-string tachyon condensation and with the consequent analysis based on String Field Theory. We also show that the vanishing classical vacuum energy of the SO(8192) unoriented bosonic open-string theory does not receive any tree-level corrections from the tadpole resummation. This result is consistent with the fact that this (unstable) configuration is free from tadpoles of massless closed-string modes, although there is a tadpole of the closed string tachyon. The application of this method to superstring models with broken supersymmetry is also discussed.     

Non-perturbative superpotentials in string theory

The non-perturbative superpotential can be effectively calculated in M-theory compactification to three dimensions on a Calabi-Yau four-fold X. For certain X, the superpotential is identically zero, while for other X, a non-perturbative superpotential is generated. Using F-theory, these results carry over to certain Type IIB and heterotic string compactifications to four dimensions with N = 1 supersymmetry. In the heterotic string case, the non-perturbative superpotential can be interpreted as coming from space-time and world-sheet instantons; in many simple cases contributions come only from finitely many values of the instanton numbers.     

Small instantons in string theory

A long-standing puzzle about the heterotic string has been what happens when an instanton shrinks to zero size. It is argued here that the answer at the quantum level is that an extra SU(2) gauge symmetry appears that is supported in the core of the instanton. Thus in particular the quantum heterotic string has vacua with higher rank than is possible in conformal field theory. When k instantons collapse at the same point, the enhanced gauge symmetry is Sp(k). These results, which can be tested by comparison to Dirichlet five-branes of Type I superstrings and to the ADHM construction of instantons, give the first example for the heterotic string of a non-perturbative phenomenon that cannot be turned off by making the coupling smaller. They have applications to several interesting puzzles about string duality.     

Tachyon dynamics in string theory

We summarize the recent developments in the study of time dependent solutions describing the rolling of a tachyon on a non-BPS D-brane system.     

Exotic branes in string theory

Besides the familiar D-branes, string theory contains a vast number of other non-perturbative objects. While a complete classification is lacking, many of these objects are related to each other through various dualities. Codimension two objects play a special role, because their charges are no longer additive but are instead expressed in terms of holonomies of scalar fields, which is given by an element of the relevant duality group. In this paper we present a detailed exposition of these “exotic” objects, the charges they carry, and their connection to non-geometric compactifications. Despite the name “exotic branes”, these objects are in fact ubiquitous in string theory, as they can automatically appear when describing bound states of conventional branes, and as such may be of particular importance in describing the microscopic degrees of freedom of black holes.     

Localized gravity in string theory

We propose a string realization of the AdS4 brane in AdS5 that is known to localize gravity. Our theory is M D5 branes in the near horizon geometry of N D3 branes, where M and N are appropriately tuned.