We perform an in-depth analysis of the transformation rules under duality for couplings of theories containing multiple scalars, $p$-form gauge fields, linearized gravitons or $(p,1)$ mixed symmetry tensors. Following a similar reasoning to the derivation of the Buscher rules for string background fields under T-duality, we show that the couplings for all classes of aforementioned multi-field theories transform according to one of two sets of duality rules. These sets comprise the ordinary Buscher rules and their higher counterpart; this is a generic feature of multi-field theories in spacetime dimensions where the field strength and its dual are of the same degree. Our analysis takes into account topological theta terms and generalized $B$-fields, whose behavior under duality is carefully tracked. For a 1-form or a graviton in 4D, this reduces to the inversion of the complexified coupling or generalized metric under electric/magnetic duality. Moreover, we write down an action for linearized gravity in the presence of $θ$-term from which we obtain previously suggested on-shell duality and double duality relations. This also provides an explanation for the origin of theta in the gravitational duality relations as a specific additional sector of the linearized gravity action.
We examine the proposal that the dimensional reduction of the effective action of perturbative string theory on a circle, should be invariant under T-duality transformations. The T-duality transformations are the standard Buscher rules plus some higher covariant derivatives. By explicit calculations at order $α'$ for metric, dilaton and B-field, we show that the T-duality constraint can fix both the effective action and the higher derivative corrections to the Buscher rules up to an overall factor. The corrections depend on the scheme that one uses for the effective action. We have found the e…
We study T-duality with non-zero components of NSNS two form field along directions we dualize with the help of canonical formalism. As a result of this procedure we determine generalized Buscher's rules. We also apply the same procedure to the case of non-relativistic string.
We use compatibility of the $D$-dimensional effective actions for diagonal metric and for dilaton with the T-duality when theory is compactified on a circle, to find the the $D$-dimensional couplings of curvatures and dilaton as well as the higher derivative corrections to the $(D-1)$-dimensional Buscher rules at orders $ α' $ and $α'^2$. We observe that the T-duality constraint on the effective actions fixes the covariant effective actions at each order of $α'$ up to field redefinitions and up to an overall factor. Inspired by these results, we speculate that the $D$-dimensional effective act…
We continue our study of the Lorentz breaking string theories. These theories are defined as string theory with modified Hamiltonian constraint which breaks the Lorentz symmetry of target space-time. We analyze properties of this theory in the target space-time that possesses isometry along one direction. We also derive the T-duality rules for Lorentz breaking string theories and show that they are the same as that of Buscher's T-duality for the relativistic strings.
In bosonic string theory, it is known that the Buscher rules for the T-duality transformations receive quantum corrections at order $α'$. In this paper, we use the consistency of the gravity couplings on the D-brane effective action at order $α'$, with the above T-duality transformations to find the B-field and the dilaton couplings. We show that these couplings are fully consistent with the corresponding disk-level S-matrix elements in string theory.
We give a precise formulation of T-duality for Ramond-Ramond fields. This gives a canonical isomorphism between the "geometrically invariant" subgroups of the twisted differential K-theory of certain principal torus bundles. Our result combines topological T-duality with the Buscher rules found in physics.
We develop the duality transformation rules in two-dimensional theories in the superfield formalism. Even if the chiral superfield which we dualize involves an F-term, we can dualize it by virtue of the property of chiral superfields. We apply the duality transformation rule of the neutral chiral superfield to the ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ gauged linear sigma model for five-branes. We also investigate the duality transformation rule of the charged chiral superfield in the ${\cal N} = (4,4)$ gauged linear sigma model for the $A_1$-type ALE space. In both cases we obtain the dual Lagrangians in the super…
We consider a theory of an open string moving in a weakly curved background, composed of a constant metric and a linearly coordinate dependent Kalb-Ramond field with an infinitesimal field strength. We find its T-dual using the generalized Buscher procedure developed for the closed string moving in a weakly curved background, and the fact that solving the boundary conditions, the open string theory transforms to the effective closed string theory. So, T-dualizing the effective theory along all effective directions we obtain its T-dual theory and resume the open sting theory which has such an e…
We start by describing two of the main proposals for duality in Abelian gauge theories, namely $F$(ield strength)-duality approach and the $S$% -duality formalism. We then discuss how $F$-duality and $S$-duality can be applied to the case of linearized gravity. By emphasizing the similarities and differences between these two type of dualities we explore the possibility of combining them in just one duality formalism.
We show that the string backgrounds AdS2 x S2 x T6 and AdSd x Sd x Sd x T{10 - 3d} (d = 2, 3) are self-dual under a series of bosonic and fermionic T-dualities. We do this using the fermionic Buscher rules derived by Berkovits and Maldacena, thus working at the level of the supergravity fields. This allows us to explicitly track the behaviour of the RR fields, from which we see that we need T-duality along some torus directions. For the AdS x S x S cases, which contain cosets of D(2,1;alpha), it is necessary to perform bosonic T-duality along some complexified Killing spinors in one of the sph…
We clarify the role of the dual coordinates as described from the perspectives of the Buscher T-duality rules and Double Field Theory. We show that the T-duality angular dual coordinates cannot be identified with Double Field Theory dual coordinates in any of the proposals that have been made in the literature for patching the doubled spaces. In particular, we show with explicit examples that the T-duality angular dual coordinates can have non-trivial transition functions over a spacetime and that their identification with the Double Field Theory dual coordinates is in conflict with proposals …
In one of our previous papers we generalized the Buscher T-dualization procedure. Here we will investigate the application of this procedure to the theory of a bosonic string moving in the weakly curved background. We obtain the complete T-dualization diagram, connecting the theories which are the result of the T-dualizations over all possible choices of the coordinates. We distinguish three forms of the T-dual theories: the initial theory, the theory obtained T-dualizing some of the coordinates of the initial theory and the theory obtained T-dualizing all of the initial coordinates. While the…
We derive a manifestly duality-symmetric formulation of the action principle for conformal gravity linearized around Minkowski space-time. The analysis is performed in the Hamiltonian formulation, the fourth-order character of the equations of motion requiring the formal treatment of the three-dimensional metric perturbation and the extrinsic curvature as independent dynamical variables. The constraints are solved in terms of two symmetric potentials that are interpreted as a dual three-dimensional metric and a dual extrinsic curvature. The action principle can be written in terms of these fou…
We find the T-duality transformation rules for 2-dimensional (2,1) supersymmetric sigma-models in (2,1) superspace. Our results clarify certain aspects of the (2,1) sigma model geometry relevant to the discussion of T-duality. The complexified duality transformations we find are equivalent to the usual Buscher duality transformations (including an important refinement) together with diffeomorphisms. We use the gauging of sigma-models in (2,1) superspace, which we review and develop, finding a manifestly real and geometric expression for the gauged action. We discuss the obstructions to gauging…
Asymmetric heterotic orbifolds are discussed from the worldsheet perspective. Starting from Buscher's gauging of a theory of D compact bosons the duality covariant description of Tseytlin is obtained after a non-Lorentz invariant gauge fixing. A left-over of the gauge symmetry can be used to removed the doubled constant zero modes so that D physical target space coordinate remain. This can be thought of as the worldsheet realization of the strong constraint of double field theory. The extension of this description to the heterotic theory is straightforward as all results are written in terms o…
Target space duality is one of the most profound properties of string theory. However it customarily requires that the background fields satisfy certain invariance conditions in order to perform it consistently; for instance the vector fields along the directions that T-duality is performed have to generate isometries. In the present paper we examine in detail the possibility to perform T-duality along non-isometric directions. In particular, based on a recent work of Kotov and Strobl, we study gauged 2D sigma models where gauge invariance for an extended set of gauge transformations imposes w…
We revisit universal features of duality in linear and nonlinear relativistic scalar and Abelian 1-form theories with single or multiple fields, which exhibit ordinary or generalized global symmetries. We show that such global symmetries can be interpreted as generalized Killing isometries on a suitable, possibly graded, target space of fields or its jet space when the theory contains higher derivatives. This is realized via a generalized sigma model perspective motivated from the fact that higher spin particles can be Nambu-Goldstone bosons of spontaneously broken generalized global symmetrie…
Known as a symmetry of vacuum Maxwell equations, the electric-magnetic duality can be lifted actually to a symmetry of an action. The Lagrangian of this action is written in terms of two vector potentials, one electric and one magnetic, and while it is manifestly invariant under duality rotations, it is not manifestly Lorentz covariant. This duality symmetry exists also in linearized gravity in four dimensions, and can be lifted off shell too. In $d$ dimensions, the link between linearized gravity and its dual can also be seen from the point of view of a parental action. This is defined by a f…
It has been speculated in the literature that the effective actions of string theories at any order of $α'$ should be invariant under the Buscher rules plus their higher covariant derivative corrections. This may be used as a constraint to find effective actions at any order of $α'$, in particular, the metric, the B-field and the dilaton couplings in supergravities at order $α'^3$ up to an overall factor. For the simple case of zero B-field and diagonal metric in which we have done the calculations explicitly, we have found that the constraint fixes almost all the seven independent Riemann cur…
We explore dualities and solution-generating transformations in various contexts. Our focus is on the T-duality invariant form of supergravity known as double field theory, the $SL(5)$-invariant M-theory extended geometry, and metrics dual under the fluid/gravity correspondence to an incompressible Navier-Stokes fluid. In double field theory (DFT), a wave solution is shown to embed both the F1 string and the pp-wave. For the former, the Goldstone mode dynamics reproduce the duality symmetric string introduced by Tseytlin. We consider solution-generating techniques in DFT in the presence of an …
We consider type-A higher-spin gravity in AdS_4, holographically dual to a free U(N) vector model on the boundary. We study the linearized version of the Didenko-Vasiliev "BPS black hole", which we view as this theory's equivalent of the fundamental string. The Didenko-Vasiliev solution consists of gauge fields of all spins generated by a particle-like source along a bulk geodesic, and is holographically dual to a bilocal boundary operator at the geodesic's endpoints. Our first main result is a new gauge for this solution, which makes manifest its behavior under the boundary field equation. It…
This thesis reviews the conjectured holographic relation between entanglement and gravity due to Mark van Raamsdonk and collaborators. It is accounted how the linearized Einstein equations both with and without matter in a d+1-dimensional AdS background can be derived from the first law of entanglement entropy in a d-dimensional CFT. This derivation builds on the Ryu-Takayanagi formula that relates entanglement entropy for CFT subsystems to extremal surfaces in the AdS bulk. The relation between gravity and entanglement is also corroborated by a qualitative investigation of the duality between…
A formulation of linearized gravity which is manifestly invariant under electric-magnetic duality rotations in the internal space of the metric and its dual, and which contains both metrics as basic variables (rather than the corresponding prepotentials), is derived. In this bimetric formulation, the variables have a more immediate geometrical significance, but the action is non-local in space, contrary to what occurs in the prepotential formulation. More specifically, one finds that: (i) the kinetic term is non-local in space (but local in time); (ii) the Hamiltonian is local in space and in …
We derive a manifestly duality-invariant formulation of the action principle for linearized gravity on anti de Sitter background. The analysis is based on the two-potential formalism, obtained upon resolution of the constraints in the Hamiltonian formulation. We discuss the relevance of our result in the context of holography.
We propose an alternative representation for linear quantum gravity. It is based on the use of a structure that bears some resemblance to the Abelian loop representation used in electromagnetism but with the difference that space of extended object on which waves functions take values have a structure of commutative monoid instead of Abelian group. The generator of duality of the theory is realized in this representation and a geometrical interpretation is discussed.
In $D=2+1$ dimensions there are two dual descriptions of parity singlets of helicity $\pm 1$, namely the self-dual model of first-order (in derivatives) and the Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory of second-order. Correspondingly, for helicity $\pm 2$ there are four models $S_{SD\pm}^{(r)}$ describing parity singlets of helicities $\pm 2$. They are of first-, second-,third- and fourth-order ($r=1,2,3,4$) respectively. Here we show that the generalized soldering of the opposite helicity models $S_{SD+}^{(4)}$ and $S_{SD-}^{(4)}$ leads to the linearized form of the new massive gravity suggested by Bergs…
The linearized Einstein equations in D spacetime dimensions can be written as twisted self-duality equations expressing that the linearized curvature tensor of the graviton described by a rank-two symmetric tensor, is dual to the linearized curvature tensor of the "dual graviton" described by a tensor of (D-3,1) Young symmetry type. In the case of 4 dimensions, both the graviton and its dual are rank-two symmetric tensors (Young symmetry type (1,1)), while in the case of 11 space-time dimensions relevant to M-theory, the dual graviton is described by a tensor of (8,1) Young symmetry type. We p…
We propose a Lorentz invariant version of Tseytlin's doubled worldsheet theory that makes T-duality covariance of the string manifest. This theory can be derived as a gauge fixed version of Buscher's gauging procedure, in which the left-over gauge field component acts as a Lagrange multiplier. This description can naturally account for fractional linear O(D,D) transformations of the metric and b-field. It is capable of describing non-geometric backgrounds; geometric and non-geometric fluxes are encoded in the doubled anti-symmetric tensor field strength.
The concept of electric-magnetic duality can be extended to linearized gravity. It has indeed been established that in four dimensions, the Pauli-Fierz action (quadratic part of the Einstein-Hilbert action) can be cast in a form that is manifestly invariant under duality rotations in the internal 2-plane of the spacetime curvature and its dual. In order to achieve this manifestly duality-invariant form, it is necessary to introduce two "prepotentials", which form a duality multiplet. These prepotentials enjoy interesting gauge invariance symmetries, which are, for each, linearized diffeomorphi…
For the free massless spin-one and spin-two field theories one may write the action in a form which is manifestly invariant under electric-magnetic duality. This is achieved by introducing new potentials through solving the constraints of the Hamiltonian formulation. The price for making electric-magnetic duality invariance manifest through this direct procedure is losing manifest Lorentz invariance. Both theories admit supersymmetric extensions, which make the bosonic fields and their corresponding fermionic partners to be parts of the same geometrical object, a supermultiplet. We present in …
We present a unified analysis of the self-dual, second order, topologically massive and the recently introduced fourth order models of massive gravity in 3D. We show that there is a family of first order actions which interpolate between these different single excitation models. We show how the master actions are related by duality transformation. We construct by the same method the master action which relates the fourth order new massive model with two excitations and the usual second order model with Fierz-Pauli mass. We show that the more general model obtained by adding a Chern-Simons term…
