Lattice regularizations of the bosonic string allow no tachyons. This has often been viewed as the reason why these theories have never managed to make any contact to standard continuum string theories when the dimension of spacetime is larger than two. We study the continuum string theory in large spacetime dimensions where simple mean field theory is reliable. By keeping carefully the cutoff we show that precisely the existence of a tachyon makes it possible to take a scaling limit which reproduces the lattice-string results. We compare this scaling limit with another scaling limit which reproduces standard continuum-string results. If the people working with lattice regularizations of string theories are akin to Gulliver they will view the standard string-world as a Lilliputian world no larger than a few lattice spacings.
In string-inspired effective actions, representing the low-energy bulk dynamics of brane/string theories, the higher-curvature ghost-free Gauss-Bonnet combination is obtained by local field redefinitions which leave the (perturbative) string amplitudes invariant. We show that such redefinitions lead to surface terms which induce curvature on the brane world boundary of the bulk spacetime.
We review the study, on the lattice, of the Green-Schwarz gauge-fixed string action describing worldsheet fluctuations about the minimal surface holographically dual to the null cusp Wilson loop, useful to evaluate the cusp anomaly of N = 4 super Yang-Mills (sYM). We comment on discretization, numerical explorations and challenges for the non-perturbative study of this benchmark model of gauge-fixed worldsheet actions.
We consider brane-world scenarios embedded into string theory. We find that the D-brane backreaction induces a large increase in the open string's proper length. Consequently the stringy nature of elementary particles can be detected at distances much larger than the fundamental string scale. As an example, we compute the gravitational potential between two open strings ending on backreacting D3-branes in four-dimensional compactifications of type II string theory. We find that the Newtonian potential receives a correction that goes like 1/r but that is not proportional to the inertial masses …
We study de Sitter configurations in ten-dimensional string models where supersymmetry is either absent or broken at the string scale. To this end, we derive expressions for the cosmological constant in general warped flux compactifications with localized sources, which yield no-go theorems that extend previous works on supersymmetric cases. We frame our results within a dimensional reduction and connect them to a number of Swampland conjectures, corroborating them further in the absence of supersymmetry. Furthermore, we construct a top-down string embedding of de Sitter brane-world cosmologie…
We perform canonical analysis of non-relativistic string theory with non-relativistic world-sheet gravity. We determine structure of constraints and symplectic structure of canonical variables.
The partition function of the $4D$ lattice Abelian Higgs theory is represented as the sum over world sheets of Nielsen--Olesen strings. The creation and annihilation operators of the strings are constructed. The topological long--range interaction of the strings and charged particles is shown to exist; it is proportional to the linking number of the string world sheet and particle world trajectory.
The model of the bosonic string with the noncommutative world-sheet geometry is proposed in the framework of Fedosov's deformation quantization. The re-interpretation of the model in terms of bosonic string coupled to infinite multiplet of background fields is given and the link to the W-symmetry is discussed. For the case of d=4 Euclidean target space, the stringy counterparts of the Yang-Mills instantons are constructed in both commutative and noncommutative regimes.
Various studies have attempted to extend the Witten's cubic open string field theory to the cubic closed string field theory, which may describe Einstein gravity in the low energy sector consistently. In the present study we propose a cubic closed string field theory, introducing a double layer to describe the closed string world-sheet as an extension of the open string world-sheet of the Witten's cubic open string. We mapped the closed string world-sheet onto the complex plane, of which the lower half plane is completely covered by the extended part of the string world-sheet. Using the Green'…
This note is devoted to the study of the classical solutions on the bosonic string with euclidean world-sheet in AdS(5)xS(5). We generalize solutions presented in arXiv:0707.4254 [hep-th] to the case where we include the dynamics of the string on S(5) as well.
The Kerr geometry is represented as being created by a source moving along an analytical complex world-line. The equivalence of this complex world-line and an Euclidean version of complex strings (hyperbolic strings) is discussed. It is shown that the complex Kerr source satisfies the corresponding string equations. The boundary conditions of the complex Euclidean strings require an orbifold-like structure of the world-sheet. The related orbifold-like structure of the Kerr geometry is discussed.
It is shown that brane world gravity produces an attractive force between cosmic strings, in contrast to conventional Einstein gravity. This force is sufficient for stable bound states of Type II strings (which normally repel each other) to form. There is a small separation between the strings, giving them a rope-like structure. At astronomical scales these `cosmic ropes' resemble higher winding number strings, and so all brane world cosmic strings are effectively Type I.
String duality suggests a fascinating juxtoposition of world-volume and target-space dynamics. This is particularly apparent in the $D$-brane description of stringy solitons that forms a major focus of this article (which is {\it not} intended to be a comprehensive review of this extensive subject). The article is divided into four sections: 1. The oligarchy of string world-sheets 2. $p$-branes and world-volumes 3. World-sheets for world-volumes 4. Boundary states, $D$-branes and space-time supersymmetry [This article is based on a talk presented at the CERN Workshop on String Duality (Decembe…
We study some properties of target space strings constructed from (2,1) heterotic strings. We argue that world-sheet complexification is a general property of the bosonic sector of such target world-sheets. We give a target space interpretation of this fact and relate it to the non-gaussian nature of free String Field Theory. We provide several one loop calculations supporting the stringy construction of critical world-sheets in terms of (2,1) models. Using finite temperature boundary conditions in the underlying (2,1) string we obtain non-chiral target space spin structures, and point out som…
In the light of $ϕ$-mapping topological current theory, the structure of cosmic strings are obtained from the Abelian Higgs model, which is an effective description to the brane world cosmic string system. In this topological description of the cosmic string, combining the result of decomposition of U(1) gauge potential, we analytically reach the familiar conclusions that in the brane world scenario the magnetic flux of the cosmic string is quantized and the RR charge of it is screened.
We study Born-Infeld strings in a six dimensional brane world scenario recently suggested by Giovannini, Meyer and Shaposhnikov (GMS). In the limit of the Einstein-Abelian-Higgs model, we classify the solutions found by GMS. Especially, we point out that the warped solutions, which lead to localisation of gravity, are the - by the presence of the cosmological constant - deformed inverted string solutions. Further, we construct the Born-Infeld analogues of the anti-warped solutions and determine the domain of existence of these solutions, while a analytic argument leads us to a "no-go" hypothes…
We revisit the construction of the tensionless limit of closed bosonic string theory in the covariant formulation in the light of Galilean conformal symmetry that rises as the residual gauge symmetry on the tensionless worldsheet. We relate the analysis of the fundamentally tensionless theory to the tensionless limit that is viewed as a contraction of worldsheet coordinates. Analysis of the quantum regime uncovers interesting physics. The degrees of freedom that appear in the tensionless string are fundamentally different from the usual string states. Through a Bogoliubov transformation on the…
We discuss the target-space interpretation of the world-sheet logarithmic operators in string theory. These operators generate the normalizable zero modes (discrete states) in target space, which restore the symmetries of the theory broken by the background. The problem of the recoil in string theory is considered, as well as some general properties of string amplitudes containing logarithmic operators.
We show how the multiloop bosonic Green function of closed string theory reduces to the world-line Green function as defined by Schmidt and Schubert in the limit where the string world-sheet degenerates into a $Φ^3$ particle diagram. To obtain this correspondence we have to make an appropriate choice of the local coordinates defined on the degenerate string world sheet. We also present a set of simple rules that specify, in the explicit setting of the Schottky parametrization, which is the corner of moduli space corresponding to a given multiloop $Φ^3$ diagram.
The effect of world-sheet boundaries on the temperature-dependence of bosonic string theory is studied to first order in string perturbation theory. The high- temperature behaviour of a theory with Dirichlet boundary conditions has features suggestive of the high-temperature limit of the confining phase of large-$n$ $SU(n)$ Yang--Mills theory, recently discussed by Polchinski.
This paper considers interactions between closed strings and open strings satisfying either Neumann or constant (point-like) Dirichlet boundary conditions in a BRST formalism in the critical dimension. With Neumann conditions this reproduces the well-known stringy version of the Higgs mechanism. With Dirichlet conditions the open-string states correspond to either auxiliary or Lagrange multiplier target-space fields and their coupling to the closed-string sector leads to constraints on the closed-string spectrum.
We suggest a new model of string theory with world-sheet supersymmetry. It possesses an additional global fermionic symmetry which is similar in many ways to BRST symmetry. The spectrum consists of massless states of Rarita-Schwinger fields describing infinite tower of half-integer spins.
We study dynamical effects of introducing noncommutativity on string worldsheets by using a matrix model obtained from the zero-volume limit of four-dimensional SU($N$) Yang-Mills theory. Although the dimensionless noncommutativity parameter is of order 1/N, its effect is found to be non-negligible even in the large $N$ limit due to the existence of higher Fourier modes. We find that the Poisson bracket grows much faster than the Moyal bracket as we increase $N$, which means in particular that the two quantities do not coincide in the large $N$ limit. The well-known instability of bosonic worl…
The tensionless limit of string theory has recently been formulated in terms of worldsheet Rindler physics. In this paper, by considering closed strings moving in background Rindler spacetimes, we provide a concrete exemplification of this phenomenon. We first show that strings probing the near-horizon region of a generic non-extremal blackhole become tensionless thereby linking a spacetime Carroll limit to a worldsheet Carroll limit. Then, considering strings in $d$-dimensional Rindler spacetime we find a Rindler structure induced on the worldsheet. Novelties, including folds, appear on the c…
It is reviewed how space-time supersymmetry is realized nonlinearly in open superstring theory without making the GSO projection. We show that the world-sheet string dualities, viz. dualities of open-closed strings and of open-open strings, play crucial roles for the existence of 10 dimensional N=2 supersymmetry in a spontaneously broken phase. We also speculate on a possible mechanism of the restoration of supersymmetry from the viewpoint of world-sheet dynamics.
We continue our study of open string perturbation theory on the lightcone worldsheet lattice, which is an $M\times N$ rectangular grid. Here $M$ is the number of $P^+$ units and $N$ is the number of $ix^+$ units. We extend our previous analysis to the bosonic open string one planar loop self-energy. We find that, when all open string coordinates satisfy Neumann conditions, the ultraviolet worldsheet divergences associated with the closed string tachyon and boundary effects can be cancelled by renormalization of bulk ($AM^1$) and boundary ($BM^0$) worldsheet "cosmological constants". The bulk d…
The scaling limit used recently to derive matrix models, and a certain analyticity assumption, are invoked to argue that the agreement between some matrix model calculations and supergravity is a consequence of string world sheet duality.
We investigate string-phenomenological questions of Hull's exotic superstring theories with Euclidean strings/branes and multiple times. These are known to be plagued by pathologies like the occurrence of ghosts. On the other hand, these theories exhibit de Sitter solutions. Our special focus lies on the question of the coexistence of such de Sitter solutions and ghost-free brane worlds. To this end, the world-sheet CFT description of Euclidean fundamental strings is generalized to include also the open string/D-brane sector. Demanding that in the "observable" gauge theory sector the gauge fie…
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 …
We investigate classical solutions of string field theory proposed by Takahashi and Tanimoto in the case of even order polynomial functions. The BRS charge and the Feynman propagator of open string field theory expanded around the solution are specified by Jenkins-Strebel quadratic differential, which describes geometry of the string worldsheet. We show that the solution becomes nontrivial when two second order poles of the quadratic differential coincide each other on the unit disk. In this case, an open string boundary shrinks to a point.
We extend Gopakumar's prescription for constructing closed string worldsheets from free field theory diagrams with adjoint matter to open and closed string worldsheets arising from free field theories with fundamental matter. We describe the extension of the gluing mechanism and the electrical circuit analogy to fundamental matter. We discuss the generalization of the existence and uniqueness theorem of Strebel differentials to open Riemann surfaces. Two examples are computed of correlators containing fundamental matter, and the resulting worldsheet OPE's are computed. Generic properties of Go…
An analysis of the generalised Raychaudhuri equations for string world sheets is shown to lead to the notion of focusing of timelike worldsheets in the classical Nambu-Goto theory of strings. The conditions under which such effects can occur are obtained . Explicit solutions as well as the Cauchy initial value problem are discussed. The results closely resemble their counterparts in the theory of point particles which were obtained in the context of the analysis of spacetime singularities in General Relativity many years ago.
For a superstring theory in four spacetime dimensions, we propose a modification of the Born-Infeld action that possesses a well-defined tensionless limit. We interpret this as describing the effective target space dynamics of null strings on a D3-brane. We argue that such a modification can be induced by nonperturbative contributions from instantons in the worldsheet sigma-model describing string propagation on the brane.
We outline how QED with spinor matter can be described by the tensionless limit of spinning strings with contact interactions. The strings represent electric lines of force with charges at their ends. The contact interaction is constructed from a delta-function on the world-sheet which, although off-shell, decouples from the world-sheet metric. Integrating out the string degrees of freedom with fixed boundary generates the super-Wilson loop that couples spinor matter to electromagnetism in the world-line formalism. World-sheet and world-line, but not spacetime, supersymmetry underpin the model…
We study the stochastic motion of a relativistic trailing string in black hole AdS_5. The classical string solution develops a world-sheet horizon and we determine the associated Hawking radiation spectrum. The emitted radiation causes fluctuations on the string both above and below the world-sheet horizon. In contrast to standard black hole physics, the fluctuations below the horizon are causally connected with the boundary of AdS. We derive a bulk stochastic equation of motion for the dual string and use the AdS/CFT correspondence to determine the evolution a fast heavy quark in the strongly…
Most of the non-Abelian string-vortices studied so far are characterized by two-dimensional \cpn models with various degrees of supersymmetry on their world sheet. We generalize this construction to "composite" non-Abelian strings supporting the Grassmann $\mathcal{G}(L,M)$ models (here $L+M=N$). The generalization is straightforward and provides, among other results, a simple and transparent way for counting the number of vacua in ${\mathcal N}=(2,2)$ Grassmannian model.
We study the one loop correction to the closed bosonic string propagator, including the possibile presence of D-branes, by discretizing the light cone worldsheet on an M times N rectangular lattice, with M proportional to P^+ and N+1 proportional to ix^+. The integrals over the moduli then become sums which we evaluate numerically. The main purpose of this study is to assess the reliability of the worldsheet lattice as a regulator of the divergences in string perturbation theory. There are two natural geometrical counterterms for the lightcone worldsheet, one proportional to the area of the wo…
We describe heterotic string and M-theory realizations of the Randall-Sundrum (RS) scenario with $\cx N=2$ and $\cx N=1$ supersymmetry in the bulk. Supersymmetry can be broken only on the world brane, a scenario that has been proposed to account for the smallness of the cosmological constant. An interesting prediction from string duality is the generation of a warp factor for conventional type II Calabi--Yau 3-fold compactifications. On the other hand we argue that an assumption that is needed in the RS explanation of the hierarchy is hard to satisfy in the string theory context.
We examine, in the context of certain string compactifications resulting in five dimensional brane worlds the mechanisms of (self) tuning of the cosmological constant and the recovery of standard cosmological evolution. We show that self tuning can occur only as long as supersymmetry is unbroken (unless additional assumptions are made) and that the adjustment of the cosmological constant to zero after supersymmetry breaking and the recovery of standard evolution are the same problem verifying previously made statements in the context of general i.e. not necessarily string theoretic brane world…
Using the ambitwistor string, we complete the list of celestial OPE coefficients for supersymmetric theories. This uses the ambitwistor string worldsheet CFT to dynamically generate the OPE coefficients for maximally supersymmetric gauge theory, gravity and Einstein-Yang-Mills theories, including all helicity and orientation configurations. This extends previous purely bosonic results to include supersymmetry and provides explicit formulas which are, to the best of our knowledge, not in the literature. We also examine how the supersymmetric infinite dimensional soft algebras behave compared to…
Starting with a new bosonization scheme for the βγCFT of the super-conformal ghosts, vertex operators are constructed for massless open string states in the intersecting D-brane world. These vertex operators satisfy all requirements for a consistent RNS formulation of superstring theories, so GSO projections can be properly taken.
We extend the lightcone worldsheet lattice approach to string theory, proposed in 1977 by Giles and me, to allow for coincident D-branes. We find a convenient lattice representation of Dirichlet boundary conditions, which the open string coordinates transverse to the D-branes satisfy. We then represent the sum over all planar open string multi-loop diagrams by introducing an Ising spin system on the worldsheet lattice to keep track of the presence or absence of fluctuating boundaries. Finally we discuss a simple mean field treatment of the resulting coupled Ising/coordinate worldsheet system. …
We extend the string model building rules for the construction of chiral supersymmetric Type I compactifications on smooth Calabi-Yau manifolds. These models contain stacks of D9-branes endowed with general stable U(n) bundles on their world-volume and D5-branes wrapping holomorphic curves on the Calabi-Yau.
We argue that traditional methods of compactification of string theory make it very difficult to understand how the cosmological constant becomes zero. String inspired models can give zero cosmological constant after fine tuning but since string theory has no free parameters it is not clear that this is allowed. Brane world scenarios on the other hand while they do not answer the question as to why the cosmological constant is zero do actually allow a choice of integration constants that permit flat four space solutions. In this paper we discuss gauged supergravity realizations of such a world…
We use supersymmetric localization techniques to study the low-energy dynamics of BPS vortex-strings in four-dimensional N=2 theories. We focus on theories with SU(Nc)xU(1) gauge group and Nf hypermultiplets, all in the fundamental representation of SU(Nc) but with general U(1) charges. Recently, we proposed a condition that determines whether the low-energy string dynamics is captured by a two-dimensional worldsheet theory that decouples from the bulk. For strings for which this decoupling applies, we propose a prescription for extracting the two-sphere partition function of the string worlds…
Orbifold branes in string theory are investigated, and the general field equations on the branes are given explicitly for type II and heterotic string. It is shown that the effective cosmological constant on each of the two branes can be easily lowered to its current observational value, using large extra dimensions. This is also true for type I string. The radion stability is studied by using the Goldberger-Wise mechanism, and shown explicitly that it is stable. Therefore, brane world of string theory provides a viable and built-in mechanism for solving the long-standing cosmological constant…
The covariant canonical method of quantization based on the De Donder-Weyl covariant canonical formalism is used to formulate a world-sheet covariant quantization of bosonic strings. To provide the consistency with the standard non-covariant canonical quantization, it is necessary to adopt a Bohmian deterministic hidden-variable equation of motion. In this way, string theory suggests a solution to the problem of measurement in quantum mechanics.
We consider branes embedded in spacetimes of codimension one and two, with a warped metric tensor for the subspace parallel to the brane. We study a variety of brane-world solutions arising by introducing a Schwarzschild-like black hole metric on the brane and we investigate the properties of the corresponding higher-dimensional spacetime. We demonstrate that normalizable bulk modes lead to a vanishing flow of energy through the naked singularities. From this point of view, these singularities are harmless.
We construct the tensionless limit of bosonic string theory in terms of a family of worldsheets with increasing acceleration and show that the null string emerges in the limit of infinite acceleration when the Rindler horizon is hit. We discover a novel phenomenon we call null string complementarity, which gives two distinct observer dependent pictures of the emergence of open string physics from closed strings in the tensionless limit. The closed string vacuum as observed by the inertial worldsheet turns into a D-instanton in the tensionless limit, while in the complementary picture from the …
We show that relativistic strings of open and closed types in Minkowski space-time of dimension 3 and 4 have topologically stable singular points. This paper describes the structure of singularities, derives their normal forms, and introduces a local characteristic of singularity (topological charge), possessing a global law of conservation. Two other types of solutions (breaking and exotic strings) are also considered, which have singularities at arbitrary value of dimension.
Quark confinement is proposed to be a dual Meissner effect of nonAbelian kind. Important hints come from physics of strongly-coupled infrared-fixed-point theories in N=2 supersymmetric QCD, which turn into confining vacua under a small relevant perturbation. The quest for the semiclassical origin of the nonAbelian monopoles, ubiquitous as the infrared degrees of freedom in supersymmetric gauge theories, motivates us to study the quantum dynamics of 2D CP(N-1)model defined on a finite-width worldstrip, with various boundary conditions. The model is found to possess a unique phase ("confinement …
Using the black string between two branes as a model of a brane-world black hole, we compute the gravity wave perturbations and identify the features arising from the additional polarizations of the graviton. The standard four-dimensional gravitational wave signal acquires late-time oscillations due to massive modes of the graviton. The Fourier transform of these oscillations shows a series of spikes associated with the masses of the Kaluza-Klein modes, providing in principle a spectroscopic signature of extra dimensions.
Celestial operator product expansions (OPEs) arise from the collinear limit of scattering amplitudes and play a vital role in celestial holography. In this paper, we derive the celestial OPEs of massless fields in string theory from the worldsheet. By studying the worldsheet OPEs of vertex operators in worldsheet CFT and further examining their behaviors in the collinear limit, we find that new vertex operators for the massless fields in string theory are generated and become dominant in the collinear limit. Mellin transforming to the conformal basis yields exactly the celestial OPEs in celest…
We propose boundary conditions on a two dimensional 6-vertex model, which is defined on the lightcone lattice for an open string worldsheet. We show that, in the continuum limit, the degrees of freedom of this 6-vertex model describe a target space coordinate compactified on a circle of radius R, which is related to the vertex weights. This conclusion had already been established for the case of a 6-vertex model on the worldsheet lattice for the propagator of a closed string. This exercise illustrates how the Bethe ansatz works in the presence of boundaries, at least of this particular type.
We show that twisted doubled tori can be used to construct a general class of worldsheet models describing non-geometric string backgrounds. By employing a first order formulation of interacting chiral bosons, we first refine the analysis on the general conditions of worldsheet Lorentz invariance and then prove that twisted doubled tori provide good duality symmetric backgrounds. Subsequently we apply our general analysis to several examples which enable us to gain new insight on the difference between geometric, locally geometric and genuine non-geometric backgrounds.
Even at tree level, the first quantized string theory suffers from apparent short distance singularities associated with collision of vertex operators that prevent us from straightforward numerical computation of various quantities. Examples include string theory S-matrix for generic external momenta and computation of the spectrum of string theory under a marginal deformation of the world-sheet theory. The former requires us to define the S-matrix via analytic continuation or as limits of contour integrals in complexified moduli space, while the latter requires us to use an ultraviolet cut-of…
We study brane-world models with variable brane tension and compute corrections to the horizon of a black string along the extra dimension. The four-dimensional geometry of the black string on the brane is obtained by means of the minimal geometric deformation approach, and the bulk corrections are then encoded in additional terms involving the covariant derivatives of the variable brane tension. Our investigation shows that the variable brane tension strongly affects the shape and evolution of the black string horizon along the extra dimension, at least in a near-brane expansion. In particula…
