The heterotic string is a soliton

It is shown that the Type IIA superstring compactified on K3 has a smooth string soliton with the same zero mode structure as the heterotic string compactified on a four-torus, thus providing new evidence for a conjectured exact duality between the two six-dimensional string theories. The chiral worldsheet bosons arise as zero modes of Ramond-Ramond fields of the IIA string theory and live on a signature (20,4) even, self-dual lattice. Stable, finite loops of soliton string provide the charged Ramond-Ramond states necessary for enhanced gauge symmetries at degeneration points of the K3 surface. It is also shown that Type IIB strings toroidally compactified to six dimensions have a multiplet of string solutions with Type II worldsheets.     

Topologically non-trivial gauge configurations and the heterotic string

The contribution to the heterotic string of topologically non-trivial gauge configurations is studied. In the σ-model approach, it is proved that this kind of gauge configuration does not contribute to gauge anomalies. The ß = 0 condition is also analyzed.     

Covariant superstring fermion amplitudes from the sum over fermionic surfaces

Covariant fermion amplitudes in the NSR string are obtained from the sum over fermionic surfaces with marked points, world sheet fermionic fields being double valued at these points. It is shown that under such boundary conditions one cannot choose a superconformal gauge when the number N = 2p + 4 of marked points is more than 4. The gauge unequivalent supermetrics on a string world sheet are parametrized by grassmannian parameters (supermoduli) and the integration over them produces the transformation of p vertices into the form with the opposite ghost charge. The ghost contribution to the amplitudes is also computed.     

Progress in lattice gauge theory

Two topics of lattice gauge theory are reviewed. They include string tension and β-function calculations by strong coupling Hamiltonian methods for SU(3) gauge fields in 3 + 1 dimensions, and a 1/N-expansion for discrete gauge and spin systems in all dimensions. The SU(3) calculations give solid evidence for the coexistence of quark confinement and asymptotic freedom in the renormalized continuum limit of the lattice theory. The crossover between weak and strong coupling behavior in the theory is seen to be a weak coupling but non-perturbative effect. Quantitative relationships between perturbative and non-perturbative renormalization schemes are obtained for the O(N) nonlinear sigma models in 1 + 1 dimensions as well as the range theory in 3 + 1 dimensions. Analysis of the strong coupling expansion of the β-function for gauge fields suggests that it has cuts in the complex 1/g²-plane. A toy model of such a cut structure which naturally explains the abruptness of the theory's crossover from weak to strong coupling is presented. The relation of these cuts to other approaches to gauge field dynamics is discussed briefly.The dynamics underlying first order phase transitions in a wide class of lattice gauge theories is exposed by considering a class of models-P(N) gauge theories - which are soluble in the N → ∞ limit and have non-trivial phase diagrams. The first order character of the phase transitions in Potts spin systems for N #62; 4 in 1 + 1 dimensions is explained in simple terms which generalizes to P(N) gauge systems in higher dimensions. The phase diagram of Ising lattice gauge theory coupled to matter fields is obtained in a $\text{1}\text{N}$ expansion. A one-plaquette model (1 time-0 space dimensions) with a first-order phase transitions in the N → ∞ limit is discussed.     

Noncommutative two-dimensional gauge theories

We elaborate on the dynamics of noncommutative two-dimensional gauge field theories. We consider U(N) gauge theories with fermions in either the fundamental or the adjoint representation. Noncommutativity leads to a rather non-trivial dependence on theta (the noncommutativity parameter) and to a rich dynamics. In particular the mass spectrum of the noncommutative U(1) theory with adjoint matter is similar to that of ordinary (commutative) two-dimensional large-NSU(N) gauge theory with adjoint matter. The noncommutative version of the ?t Hooft model receives a non-trivial contribution to the vacuum polarization starting from three-loops order. As a result the mass spectrum of the noncommutative theory is expected to be different from that of the commutative theory.     

Exactly solvable string compactifications on manifolds of SU(N) holonomy

A variety of heterotic string compactifications on the K3 surface, manifolds of SU(3) holomony, and higher holomony manifolds, are solved exactly. An example of the quintic hypersurface in CP₄ is worked out in detail. It is conjectured, and demonstrated in part, that any supersymmetric compactification of the heterotic string with an N=2 superconformal theory is equivalent to a compactification on a manifold of SU(N) holonomy, and in particular an arbitrary gluing of the discrete models with c=9 gives a solvable heterotic string compactification on some Calabi-Yau manifold. Calabi-Yau compactifications are seen to be exact vacua of string theory, retaining their topological and geometrical characteristics. Previously unknown enhanced gauge symmetries are found to arise for certain backgrounds.     

New principles for string/membrane unification

The target space theory of the N = (2,1) heterotic string may be interpreted as a theory of gravity coupled to matter in either 1 + 1 or 2 + 1 dimensions. Among the target space theories in 1 + 1 dimensions are the bosonic, type II, and heterotic string world-sheet field theories in a physical gauge. The (2 + 1)-dimensional version describes a consistent quantum theory of supermembranes in 10 + 1 dimensions. The unifying framework for all of these vacua is a theory of (2 + 2)-dimensional self-dual geometries embedded in 10 + 2 dimensions. There are also indications that the N = (2,1) string describes the strong-coupling dynamics of compactifications of critical string theories to two dimensions, and may lead to insights about the fundamental degrees of freedom of the theory.     

Conformal gravity and the bosonic string

We show that the Callan et al. effective equations of motion for the bosonic closed string in a non-trivial background may not be derived only from the bosonic part of theN=1 supergravity action of Manton and Chapline, but also from just a general conformally invariant theory of gravity. In our scheme the invariance under gauge transformations of the antisymmetric tensor field turns out to be a consequence of the metricity condition.     

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.     

BRST quantization in the Siegel gauge

From a formal generalization to N copies of the free open string field theory BRST-quantized in the Siegel gauge we reproduce the BRST quantization of the free closed bosonic string field theory and obtain the one of massless higher spin field theories.     

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.     

Strings on pp-waves and massive two-dimensional field theories

We find a general class of pp-wave solutions of type IIB string theory such that the light cone gauge worldsheet Lagrangian is that of an interacting massive field theory. When the light cone Lagrangian has (2,2) supersymmetry we can find backgrounds that lead to arbitrary superpotentials on the worldsheet. We consider situations with both flat and curved transverse spaces. We describe in some detail the background giving rise to the N=2 sine Gordon theory on the worldsheet. Massive mirror symmetry relates it to the deformed CP¹ model (or sausage model) which seems to elude a purely supergravity target space interpretation. To cite this article: J. Maldacena, L. Maoz, C. R. Physique 4 (2003).     

Semi-local cosmic strings and the cosmological constant problem

We study the cosmological constant problem in a three-dimensional N = 2 supergravity theory with gauge groupSU (2)_global × U(1)_local. The model we consider is known to admit string-like configurations, the so-called semi-local cosmic strings. We show that the stability of these solitonic solutions is provided by supersymmetry through the existence of a lower bound for the energy, even though the manifold of the Higgs vacuum does not contain non-contractible loops. Charged Killing spinors do exist over configurations that saturate the Bogomol'nyi bound, as a consequence of an Aharonov-Bohm-like effect. Nevertheless, there are no physical fermionic zero modes on these backgrounds. The exact vanishing of the cosmological constant does not imply, then, Bose-Fermi degeneracy. This provides a non-trivial example of the recent claim made by Witten on the vanishing of the cosmological constant in three dimensions without unphysical degeneracies.     

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.     

Nonlocal instantons and solitons in string models

We study a class of nonlocal systems which can be described by a local scalar field diffusing in an auxiliary radial dimension. As examples p-adic, open and boundary string field theory are considered on Minkowski, Friedmann–Robertson–Walker and Euclidean metric backgrounds. Starting from distribution-like initial field configurations which are constant almost everywhere, we construct exact and approximate nonlocal solutions. The Euclidean p-adic lump is interpreted as a solitonic brane, and the Euclidean kink of supersymmetric open string field theory as an instanton. Some relations between solutions of different string theories are highlighted also thanks to a reformulation of nonlocal systems as fixed points in a renormalization group flow.     

Lorentz-invariant ensembles of vector backgrounds

We consider gauge field theories in the presence of ensembles of vector backgrounds. While Lorentz invariance is explicitly broken in the presence of any single background, here, the Lorentz invariance of the theory is restored by averaging over a Lorentz-invariant ensemble of backgrounds, i.e., a set of background vectors that is mapped onto itself under Lorentz transformations. This framework is used to study the effects of a non-trivial but Lorentz-invariant vacuum structure or mass dimension two vector condensates by identifying the background with a shift of the gauge field. Up to now, the ensembles used in the literature comprise configurations corresponding to non-zero field tensors together with such with vanishing field strength. We find that even when constraining the ensembles to pure gauge configurations, the usual high-energy degrees of freedom are removed from the spectrum of asymptotic states in the presence of said backgrounds in Euclidean and in Minkowski space. We establish this result not only for the propagators to all orders in the background and otherwise at tree level but for the full propagator.