On loop corrections to string theory effective actions

We make some comments concerning the structure of loop corrections to the effective action (EA) for massless fields of a string. The singular part of the α′→0 limit of the one-loop EA in the open (super)string theory is studied and is shown to be in correspondence with the ultraviolet divergent part of the one-loop effective action in the (super) Yang-Mills theory. In particular, we reproduce the known result about the absence of Λ^D−4 F_μν² one-loop infinities in D = 26 Yang-Mills theory starting from the open Bose string theory. We also discuss the path integral representation for EA (EA = generalized partition function for the σ-model) and use it to compute the open string theory EA on the disc and the annulus.