Simplifying and Extending the AdS_5xS^5 Pure Spinor Formalism

Although the AdS_5xS^5 worldsheet action is not quadratic, some features of the pure spinor formalism are simpler in an AdS_5xS^5 background than in a flat background. The BRST operator acts geometrically, the left and right-moving pure spinor ghosts can be treated as complex conjugates, the zero mode measure factor is trivial, and the b ghost does not require non-minimal fields. Furthermore, a topological version of the AdS_5xS^5 action with the same worldsheet variables and BRST operator can be constructed by gauge-fixing a G/G principal chiral model where G=PSU(2,2|4). This topological model is argued to describe the zero radius limit that is dual to free N=4 super-Yang-Mills and can also be interpreted as an "unbroken phase" of superstring theory.Comment: 39 pages harvma

Pure Spinor Formalism as an N=2 Topological String

Following suggestions of Nekrasov and Siegel, a non-minimal set of fields are added to the pure spinor formalism for the superstring. Twisted $\hat c$=3 N=2 generators are then constructed where the pure spinor BRST operator is the fermionic spin-one generator, and the formalism is interpreted as a critical topological string. Three applications of this topological string theory include the super-Poincare covariant computation of multiloop superstring amplitudes without picture-changing operators, the construction of a cubic open superstring field theory without contact-term problems, and a new four-dimensional version of the pure spinor formalism which computes F-terms in the spacetime action.Comment: 34 pages harvmac te

One Loop Conformal Invariance of the Superstring in an AdS_5 x S^5 Background

It is proven that the pure spinor superstring in an AdS_5 x S^5 background remains conformally invariant at one loop level in the sigma model perturbation theory.Comment: 14 pages harvma

Flat Currents in the Classical AdS_5 x S^5 Pure Spinor Superstring

It is proven that the classical pure spinor superstring in an AdS_5 x S^5 background has a flat current depending on a continuous parameter. This generalizes the recent result of Bena, et al. for the classical Green-Schwarz superstring.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, harvma

Yang-Mills Action from Open Superstring Field Theory

We calculate the effective action for nonabelian gauge bosons up to quartic order using WZW-like open superstring field theory. After including level zero and level one contributions, we obtain with 75% accuracy the Yang-Mills quartic term. We then prove that the complete effective action reproduces the exact Yang-Mills quartic term by analytically performing a summation over the intermediate massive states.Comment: 10 page

Relating Green-Schwarz and Extended Pure Spinor Formalisms by Similarity Transformation

In order to gain deeper understanding of pure-spinor-based formalisms of superstring, an explicit similarity transformation is constructed which provides operator mapping between the light-cone Green-Schwarz (LCGS) formalism and the extended pure spinor (EPS) formalism, a recently proposed generalization of the Berkovits' formalism in an enlarged space. By applying a systematic procedure developed in our previous work, we first construct an analogous mapping in the bosonic string relating the BRST and the light-cone formulations. This provides sufficient insights and allows us to construct the desired mapping in the more intricate case of superstring as well. The success of the construction owes much to the enlarged field space where pure spinor constraints are removed and to the existence of the ``B-ghost'' in the EPS formalism.Comment: 37pages, no figur

A New First Class Algebra, Homological Perturbation and Extension of Pure Spinor Formalism for Superstring

Based on a novel first class algebra, we develop an extension of the pure spinor (PS) formalism of Berkovits, in which the PS constraints are removed. By using the homological perturbation theory in an essential way, the BRST-like charge $Q$ of the conventional PS formalism is promoted to a bona fide nilpotent charge $\hat{Q}$, the cohomology of which is equivalent to the constrained cohomology of $Q$. This construction requires only a minimum number (five) of additional fermionic ghost-antighost pairs and the vertex operators for the massless modes of open string are obtained in a systematic way. Furthermore, we present a simple composite "$b$-ghost" field $B(z)$ which realizes the important relation $T(z) = \{\hat{Q}, B(z)\}$, with $T(z)$ the Virasoro operator, and apply it to facilitate the construction of the integrated vertex. The present formalism utilizes U(5) parametrization and the manifest Lorentz covariance is yet to be achieved.Comment: 38 pages, no figure. Proof of triviality of delta-homology improved and a reference adde

BRST quantization of the pure spinor superstring

We present a derivation of the scattering amplitude prescription for the pure spinor superstring from first principles, both in the minimal and non-minimal formulations, and show that they are equivalent. This is achieved by first coupling the worldsheet action to topological gravity and then proceeding to BRST quantize this system. Our analysis includes the introduction of constant ghosts and associated auxiliary fields needed to gauge fix symmetries associated with zero modes. All fields introduced in the process of quantization can be integrated out explicitly, resulting in the prescriptions for computing scattering amplitudes that have appeared previously in the literature. The zero mode insertions in the path integral follow from the integration over the constant auxiliary fields.Comment: 31 page

N=2 Sigma Models for Ramond-Ramond Backgrounds

Using the U(4) hybrid formalism, manifestly N=(2,2) worldsheet supersymmetric sigma models are constructed for the Type IIB superstring in Ramond-Ramond backgrounds. The Kahler potential in these N=2 sigma models depends on four chiral and antichiral bosonic superfields and two chiral and antichiral fermionic superfields. When the Kahler potential is quadratic, the model is a free conformal field theory which describes a flat ten-dimensional target space with Ramond-Ramond flux and non-constant dilaton. For more general Kahler potentials, the model describes curved target spaces with Ramond-Ramond flux that are not plane-wave backgrounds. Ricci-flatness of the Kahler metric implies the on-shell conditions for the background up to the usual four-loop conformal anomaly.Comment: 19 pages harvma

Ghost constraints and the covariant quantization of the superparticle in ten dimensions

We present a modification of the Berkovits superparticle. This is firstly in order to covariantly quantize the pure spinor ghosts, and secondly to covariantly calculate matrix elements of a generic operator between two states. We proceed by lifting the pure spinor ghost constraints and regaining them through a BRST cohomology. We are then able to perform a BRST quantization of the system in the usual way, except for some interesting subtleties. Since the pure spinor constraints are reducible, ghosts for ghosts terms are needed, which have so far been calculated up to level 4. Even without a completion of these terms, we are still able to calculate arbitrary matrix elements of a physical operator between two physical states.Comment: 38 pages, Latex, no figures. Published versio