Open String Field Theory around Universal Solutions

We study the physical spectrum of cubic open string field theory around universal solutions, which are constructed using the matter Virasoro operators and the ghost and anti-ghost fields. We find the cohomology of the new BRS charge around the solutions, which appear with a ghost number that differs from that of the original theory. Considering the gauge-unfixed string field theory, we conclude that open string excitations perturbatively disappear after the condensation of the string field to the solutions.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX with ptptex.cls, typos correcte

Gauge Fixing and Scattering Amplitudes in String Field Theory Expanded around Universal Solutions

We study a gauge fixed action of open string field theory expanded around the universal solution which has been found as an analytic classical solution with one parameter a. For a>-1/2, we are able to reproduce open string scattering amplitudes in the theory fixed in the Siegel gauge. At a=-1/2, all scattering amplitudes vanish and there is no open string excitation in the gauge fixed theory. These results support the conjecture that the universal solution can be regarded as pure gauge or the tachyon vacuum solution.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX with PTPTeX.cls, 1 eps figure. minor corrections, published versio

Parity-violating electromagnetic interactions in QED_3 at finite temperature

We study the parity-breaking terms generated by the box diagram in 2+1 dimensional thermal QED. These lead, in the long wave limit, to a gauge invariant extensive action which behaves as 1/T at high temperature. In contrast, the effective action in the static limit involves leading non-extensive terms proportional to 1/T^3 at high temperature, which violate large gauge invariance. We derive a non-linear large gauge Ward identity, which relates the leading static terms of different order in perturbation theory and whose solution coincides with the all order effective action proposed earlier.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figure

Dispersion relations for the self-energy in non-commutative field theories

We study the IR/UV connection in non-commutative $\phi^{3}$ theory as well as in non-commutative QED from the point of view of the dispersion relation for the self-energy. We show that, although the imaginary part of the self-energy is well behaved as the parameter of non-commutativity vanishes, the real part becomes divergent as a consequence of the high energy behavior of the dispersion integral. Some other interesting features that arise from this analysis are also briefly discussed.Comment: 10 page

Thermal instability in a gravity-like scalar theory

We study the question of stability of the ground state of a scalar theory which is a generalization of the phi^3 theory and has some similarity to gravity with a cosmological constant. We show that the ground state of the theory at zero temperature becomes unstable above a certain critical temperature, which is evaluated in closed form at high temperature.Comment: Four pages, two figures. Revised version published in the Physical Review