Stringy differential geometry for double field theory, beyond Riemann

Abstract

While the fundamental object in Riemannian geometry is a metric, closed string theories call for us to put a two-form gauge field and a scalar dilaton on an equal footing with the metric. Here we propose a novel differential geometry which treats the three objects in a unified manner, manifests not only diffeomorphism and one-form gauge symmetry but also O(D, D) T-duality, and enables us to rewrite the known low energy effective action of them as a single term. We comment that the notion of cosmological constant naturally changes.