Closed String Theory Research Articles

Pions from higher-dimensional gluons: general realizations and stringy models

In this paper we revisit the general phenomenon that scattering amplitudes of pions can be obtained from “dimensional reduction” of gluons in higher dimensions in a more general context. We show that such “dimensional reduction” operations universally turn gluons into pions regardless of details of interactions: under such operations any amplitude that is gauge invariant and contains only local simple poles becomes one that satisfies Adler zero in the soft limit. As two such examples, we show that starting from gluon amplitudes in both superstring and bosonic string theories, the operations produce “stringy” completion of pion scattering amplitudes to all orders in α′, with leading order given by non-linear sigma model amplitudes. Via Kawai-Lewellen-Tye relations, they give closed-stringy completion for Born-Infeld theory and the special Galileon theory, which are directly related to gravity amplitudes in closed-string theories. We also discuss how they naturally produce stringy models for mixed amplitudes of pions and colored scalars.

Open-closed string duality, branes, and topological recursion

We consider matrix models exhibiting open-closed string duality in two-dimensional string theories with various amounts of supersymmetry. In particular, a relationship between matrix models in the β = 2 Wigner-Dyson class and models in the (1 + 2Γ, 2) Altland-Zirnbauer class relates the perturbative solutions of the two systems’ string equations. Point-like operator insertions in the closed string theory are mapped to the topological expansion of the free energy in the open string theory. We compute correlation functions of macroscopic loop operators and FZZT branes in a general topological gravity background. The relationship between the topological recursion of moduli space volumes and branes is discussed by analyzing the Virasoro conditions in the matrix models.

Two-point closed string amplitudes in the BRST formalism

Two-point tree-level amplitudes in bosonic closed string theory are described by a correlation function within the BRST formalism, which respects manifest Lorentz and conformal invariance. In the derivation of the two-point amplitudes, we use the mostly BRST exact operator, which has been introduced for two-point open string amplitudes, and a closed string vertex with ghost number three, which has been explored in our recent work, in addition to the conventional one.

Tachyons and misaligned supersymmetry in closed string vacua

In a remarkable paper, Dienes discovered that the absence of physical tachyons in closed string theory is intimately related to oscillations in the net number of bosonic minus fermionic degrees of freedom, a pattern predicted by an underlying misaligned supersymmetry. The average of these oscillations was linked to an exponential growth controlled by an effective central charge Ceff smaller than the expected inverse Hagedorn temperature. Dienes also conjectured that Ceff should vanish when tachyons are absent.In this paper, we revisit this problem and show that boson-fermion oscillations are realised even when tachyons are present in the physical spectrum. In fact, we prove that the average growth rate Ceff is set by the mass of the “lightest” state, be it massless or tachyonic, and coincides with the effective inverse Hagedorn temperature of the associated thermal theory. We also provide a general proof that the necessary and sufficient condition for classical stability is the vanishing of the sector averaged sum which implies Ceff = 0, in agreement with Dienes’ conjecture.

Closed string theory without level-matching at the free level

In its traditional form, the string field in closed string field theory is constrained by the level-matching condition, which is imposed beside the action. By analogy with the similar problem for the Ramond sector, it was understood by Okawa and Sakaguchi how to lift this condition and work with unconstrained field by introducing spurious free fields. These authors also pointed out that new backgrounds may exist thanks to a new gauge field which is trivial on flat space, but can generate fluxes on a toroidal background. In this paper, we perform a complete study of the free theory at the tachyonic and massless levels with the aim of setting the stage for studying backgrounds without level-matching.

Hyperbolic string vertices

The string vertices of closed string field theory are subsets of the moduli spaces of punctured Riemann surfaces that satisfy a geometric version of the Batalin-Vilkovisky master equation. We present a homological proof of existence of string vertices and their uniqueness up to canonical transformations. Using hyperbolic metrics on surfaces with geodesic boundaries we give an exact construction of string vertices as sets of surfaces with systole greater than or equal to L with L ≤ 2 arcsinh 1. Intrinsic hyperbolic collars prevent the appearance of short geodesics upon sewing. The surfaces generated by Feynman diagrams are naturally endowed with Thurston metrics: hyperbolic on the vertices and flat on the propagators. For the classical theory the length L is arbitrary and, as L → ∞ hyperbolic vertices become the minimal-area vertices of closed string theory.

Homotopy Transfer and Effective Field Theory II: Strings and Double Field Theory

AbstractWe continue our study of effective field theory via homotopy transfer of ‐algebras, and apply it to tree‐level non‐Wilsonian effective actions of the kind discussed by Sen in which the modes integrated out are comparable in mass to the modes that are kept. We focus on the construction of effective actions for string states at fixed levels and in particular on the construction of weakly constrained double field theory. With these examples in mind, we discuss closed string theory on toroidal backgrounds and resolve some subtle issues involving vertex operators, including the proper form of cocycle factors and of the reflector state. This resolves outstanding issues concerning the construction of covariant closed string field theory on toroidal backgrounds. The weakly constrained double field theory is formally obtained from closed string field theory on a toroidal background by integrating out all but the ‘doubly massless’ states and homotopy transfer then gives a prescription for determining the theory's vertices and symmetries. We also discuss consistent truncation in the context of homotopy transfer.

Single-valued hyperlogarithms, correlation functions and closed string amplitudes

We give new proofs of a global and a local property of the integrals which compute closed string theory amplitudes at genus zero. Both kinds of properties are related to the newborn theory of single-valued periods, and our proofs provide an intuitive understanding of this relation. The global property, known in physics as the KLT formula, is a factorisation of the closed string integrals into products of pairs of open string integrals. We deduce it by identifying closed string integrals with special values of single-valued correlation functions in two dimensional conformal field theory, and by obtaining their conformal block decomposition. The local property is of number theoretical nature. We write the asymptotic expansion coefficients as multiple integrals over the complex plane of special functions known as single-valued hyperlogarithms. We develop a theory of integration of single-valued hyperlogarithms, and we use it to demonstrate that the asymptotic expansion coefficients belong to the ring of single-valued multiple zeta values.

Calculating the Higgs mass in string theory

In this paper, we establish a fully string-theoretic framework for calculating one-loop Higgs masses directly from first principles in perturbative closed string theories. Our framework makes no assumptions other than worldsheet modular invariance and is therefore applicable to all closed strings, regardless of the specific string construction utilized. This framework can also be employed even when spacetime supersymmetry is broken (and even when this breaking occurs at the Planck scale), and can be utilized for all scalar Higgs fields, regardless of the particular gauge symmetries they break. This therefore includes the Higgs field responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking in the Standard Model. Notably, using our framework, we demonstrate that a gravitational modular anomaly generically relates the Higgs mass to the one-loop cosmological constant, thereby yielding a string-theoretic connection between the two fundamental quantities which are known to suffer from hierarchy problems in the absence of spacetime supersymmetry. We also discuss a number of crucial issues involving the use and interpretation of regulators in UV/IR-mixed theories such as string theory, and the manner in which one can extract an EFT description from such theories. Finally, we analyze the running of the Higgs mass within such an EFT description, and uncover the existence of a "dual IR" region which emerges at high energies as the consequence of an intriguing scale-inversion duality symmetry. We also identify a generic stringy effective potential for the Higgs fields in such theories. Our results can therefore serve as the launching point for a rigorous investigation of gauge hierarchy problems in string theory.

Entanglement entropy and edge modes in topological string theory. Part II. The dual gauge theory story

This is the second in a two-part paper devoted to studying entanglement entropy and edge modes in the A model topological string theory. This theory enjoys a gauge-string (Gopakumar-Vafa) duality which is a topological analogue of AdS/CFT. In part 1, we defined a notion of generalized entropy for the topological closed string theory on the resolved conifold. We provided a canonical interpretation of the generalized entropy in terms of the q-deformed entanglement entropy of the Hartle-Hawking state. We found string edge modes transforming under a quantum group symmetry and interpreted them as entanglement branes. In this work, we provide the dual Chern-Simons gauge theory description. Using Gopakumar-Vafa duality, we map the closed string theory Hartle-Hawking state to a Chern-Simons theory state containing a superposition of Wilson loops. These Wilson loops are dual to closed string worldsheets that determine the partition function of the resolved conifold. We show that the undeformed entanglement entropy due to cutting these Wilson loops reproduces the bulk generalized entropy and therefore captures the entanglement underlying the bulk spacetime. Finally, we show that under the Gopakumar-Vafa duality, the bulk entanglement branes are mapped to a configuration of topological D-branes, and the non-local entanglement boundary condition in the bulk is mapped to a local boundary condition in the gauge theory dual. This suggests that the geometric transition underlying the gauge-string duality may also be responsible for the emergence of entanglement branes.

Entanglement entropy and edge modes in topological string theory. Part I. Generalized entropy for closed strings

Progress in identifying the bulk microstate interpretation of the Ryu-Takayanagi formula requires understanding how to define entanglement entropy in the bulk closed string theory. Unfortunately, entanglement and Hilbert space factorization remains poorly understood in string theory. As a toy model for AdS/CFT, we study the entanglement entropy of closed strings in the topological A-model in the context of Gopakumar-Vafa duality. We will present our results in two separate papers. In this work, we consider the bulk closed string theory on the resolved conifold and give a self-consistent factorization of the closed string Hilbert space using extended TQFT methods. We incorporate our factorization map into a Frobenius algebra describing the fusion and splitting of Calabi-Yau manifolds, and find string edge modes transforming under a q-deformed surface symmetry group. We define a string theory analogue of the Hartle-Hawking state and give a canonical calculation of its entanglement entropy from the reduced density matrix. Our result matches with the geometrical replica trick calculation on the resolved conifold, as well as a dual Chern-Simons theory calculation which will appear in our next paper [1]. We find a realization of the Susskind-Uglum proposal identifying the entanglement entropy of closed strings with the thermal entropy of open strings ending on entanglement branes. We also comment on the BPS microstate counting of the entanglement entropy. Finally we relate the nonlocal aspects of our factorization map to analogous phenomenon recently found in JT gravity.

Tensionless tales: vacua and critical dimensions

Recently, a careful canonical quantisation of the theory of closed bosonic tensionless strings has resulted in the discovery of three separate vacua and hence three different quantum theories that emerge from this single classical tensionless theory. In this note, we perform lightcone quantisation with the aim of determination of the critical dimension of these three inequivalent quantum theories. The satisfying conclusion of a rather long and tedious calculation is that one of vacua does not lead to any constraint on the number of dimensions, while the other two give D = 26. This implies that all three quantum tensionless theories can be thought of as consistent sub-sectors of quantum tensile bosonic closed string theory.

Gauge invariant perturbation theory via homotopy transfer

We show that the perturbative expansion of general gauge theories can be expressed in terms of gauge invariant variables to all orders in perturbations. In this we generalize techniques developed in gauge invariant cosmological perturbation theory, using Bardeen variables, by interpreting the passing over to gauge invariant fields as a homotopy transfer of the strongly homotopy Lie algebras encoding the gauge theory. This is illustrated for Yang-Mills theory, gravity on flat and cosmological backgrounds and for the massless sector of closed string theory. The perturbation lemma yields an algorithmic procedure to determine the higher corrections of the gauge invariant variables and the action in terms of these.

Misaligned supersymmetry and open strings

The study of non-supersymmetric string theories is shedding light on an important corner of the string landscape and might ultimately explain why, so far, we did not observe supersymmetry in our universe. We review how misaligned supersymmetry in closed-string theories leads to a cancellation between bosons and fermions even in non-supersymmetric string theories. We then show that the same cancellation takes place for open strings by studying an anti-Dp-brane placed on top of an Op-plane in type II string theory. Misaligned supersymmetry consists in cancellations between bosons and fermions at different energy levels, in such a way that the averaged number of states grows at a rate dominated by a factor {mathrm{e}}^{C_{mathrm{e}mathrm{ff}}sqrt{n}} , with Ceff< Ctot, where Ctot is the inverse Hagedorn temperature. We prove the previously conjectured complete cancellation, i.e. we prove that Ceff = 0, for a vast class of models.

Mini-Workshop: Superpotentials in Algebra and Geometry

Mirror symmetry has been at the epicenter of many mathematical discoveries in the past twenty years. It was discovered by physicists in the setting of super conformal field theories (SCFTs) associated to closed string theory, mathematically described by \sigma -models. These \sigma -models turn out in two different ways: the A-model and the B-model. Physical considerations predict that deformations of the SCFT of either \sigma -model should be isomorphic. Thus the mirror symmetry conjecture states that the A-model of a particular Calabi–Yau space X must be isomorphic to the B-model of its mirror X . Mirror symmetry has been extended beyond the Calabi–Yau setting, in particular to Fano varieties, using the so called Landau-Ginzburg models. That is a non-compact manifold equipped with a complex valued function called the superpotential. In general, there is no clear recipe to construct the mirror for a given variety which demonstrates the need of joining mathematical forces from a wide range. The main aim of this Mini-Workshop was to bring together experts from the different communities (such as symplectic geometry and topology, the theory of cluster varieties, Lie theory and algebraic combinatorics) and to share the state of the art on superpotentials and explore connections between different constructions.

Comments on D3-brane holography

We revisit the idea that the quantum dynamics of open strings ending on N D3-branes in the large N limit can be described at large ‘t Hooft coupling by classical closed string theory in the background created by the D3-branes in asymptotically flat spacetime. We study the resulting thermodynamics and compute the Hagedorn temperature and other properties of the D3-brane worldvolume theory in this regime. We also consider the theory in which the D3-branes are replaced by negative branes and show that its thermodynamics is well behaved. We comment on the idea that this theory can be thought of as an irrelevant deformation of mathcal{N} = 4 SYM, and on its relation to Toverline{T} deformed CFT2.

String Two-Point Amplitude Revisited by Operator Formalism

Although one has trusted that the tree-level string two-point amplitudes vanish due to the infinite volume of residual gauge symmetry, recently the non-zero string two-point amplitudes have been pointed out in the path integral formalism. We consider them in the operator formalism. We have succeeded in obtaining the non-zero two-point amplitude in an open bosonic string theory by introducing a novel mostly BRST exact operator. We then show some trials in a closed string theory.

Topological holography: The example of the D2-D4 brane system

We propose a toy model for holographic duality. The model is constructed by embedding a stack of NN D2-branes and KK D4-branes (with one dimensional intersection) in a 6d topological string theory. The world-volume theory on the D2-branes (resp. D4-branes) is 2d BF theory (resp. 4D Chern-Simons theory) with \mathrm{GL}_NGLN (resp. \mathrm{GL}_KGLK) gauge group. We propose that in the large NN limit the BF theory on \mathbb{R}^2ℝ2 is dual to the closed string theory on \mathbb{R}^2 \times \mathbb{R}_+ \times S^3ℝ2×ℝ+×S3 with the Chern-Simons defect on \mathbb{R} \times \mathbb{R}_+ \times S^2ℝ×ℝ+×S2. As a check for the duality we compute the operator algebra in the BF theory, along the D2-D4 intersection – the algebra is the Yangian of \mathfrak{gl}_K𝔤𝔩K. We then compute the same algebra, in the guise of a scattering algebra, using Witten diagrams in the Chern-Simons theory. Our computations of the algebras are exact (valid at all loops). Finally, we propose a physical string theory construction of this duality using D3-D5 brane configuration in type IIB – using supersymmetric twist and \OmegaΩ-deformation.

Off‐Shell Amplitudes in String Theory and Hyperbolic Geometry

AbstractThe construction of off‐shell amplitudes in closed string theory using Riemann surfaces having constant curvature −1 is explored in detail. Off‐shell string amplitudes constructed using surfaces with constant curvature −1 fail to satisfy the off‐shell factorization properties, and as a result, scattering amplitudes computed using them are ill‐defined. In this paper, we describe a procedure for systematically modifying this construction and obtain consistent off‐shell amplitudes in closed string theory satisfying the off‐shell factorization properties.

Graviton and Massive Symmetric Rank-two Tensor in String Theory

Spin-two particles appear in the spectra of both open and closed string theories. We studied a graviton and massive symmetric rank-two tensor in string theory, both of which carry spin two. A graviton is a massless spin-two particle in closed string theory while a symmetric rank-two tensor is a massive particle with spin two in open string theory. Using Polyakov's string path integral formulation of string scattering amplitudes, we calculated cubic interactions of both spin-two particles explicitly, including $\ap$-corrections (string corrections). We observed that the cubic interactions of the massive spin-two particle differed from those of the graviton. The massive symmetric rank-two tensor in open string theory becomes massless in the high energy limit where $\ap \rightarrow \infty$ and $\ap$-correction terms, containing higher derivatives, dominate: In this limit the local cubic action of the symmetric rank-two tensor of open string theory coincides with that of the graviton in closed string theory.