29 research outputs found
Spacetime Energy Decreases under World-sheet RG Flow
We study renormalization group flows in unitary two dimensional sigma models
with asymptotically flat target spaces. Applying an infrared cutoff to the
target space, we use the Zamolodchikov c-theorem to demonstrate that the target
space ADM energy of the UV fixed point is greater than that of the IR fixed
point: spacetime energy decreases under world-sheet RG flow. This result
mirrors the well understood decrease of spacetime Bondi energy in the time
evolution process of tachyon condensation.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, harvma
Heterotic String Field Theory
We construct the Neveu-Schwarz sector of heterotic string field theory using
the large Hilbert space of the superghosts and the multi-string products of
bosonic closed string field theory. No picture-changing operators are required
as in Wess-Zumino-Witten-like open superstring field theory. The action
exhibits a novel kind of nonpolynomiality: in addition to terms necessary to
cover missing regions of moduli spaces, new terms arise from the boundary of
the missing regions and its subspaces. We determine the action up to quintic
order and a subset of terms to all orders.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, LaTeX2e; v2: minor cosmetic change
How much energy do closed timelike curves in 2+1 spacetimes need?
By noticing that, in open 2+1 gravity, polarized surfaces cannot converge in
the presence of timelike total energy momentum (except for a rotation of 2 pi),
we give a simple argument which shows that, quite generally, closed timelike
curves cannot exist in the presence of such energy condition.Comment: 3 pages, with no figures. Accepted in PRD as Rapid Communicatio
WZW-like Action for Heterotic String Field Theory
We complete the construction of the Neveu-Schwarz sector of heterotic string
field theory begun in hep-th/0406212 by giving a closed-form expression for the
action and gauge transformations. Just as the Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) action
for open superstring field theory can be constructed from pure-gauge fields in
bosonic open string field theory, our heterotic string field theory action is
constructed from pure-gauge fields in bosonic closed string field theory. The
construction involves a simple alternative form of the WZW action which is
consistent with the algebraic structures of closed string field theory.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, LaTeX2
Ricci flows and expansion in axion-dilaton cosmology
We study renormalization-group flows by deforming a class of conformal
sigma-models. We consider overall scale factor perturbation of Einstein spaces
as well as more general anisotropic deformations of three-spheres. At leading
order in alpha, renormalization-group equations turn out to be Ricci flows. In
the three-sphere background, the latter is the Halphen system, which is exactly
solvable in terms of modular forms. We also analyze time-dependent deformations
of these systems supplemented with an extra time coordinate and time-dependent
dilaton. In some regimes time evolution is identified with
renormalization-group flow and time coordinate can appear as Liouville field.
The resulting space-time interpretation is that of a homogeneous isotropic
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe in axion-dilaton cosmology. We find as
general behaviour the superposition of a big-bang (polynomial) expansion with a
finite number of oscillations at early times. Any initial anisotropy disappears
during the evolution.Comment: 22 page
Closed String Tachyon Condensation at c=1
The c=1 matrix model, with or without a type 0 hat, has an exact quantum
solution corresponding to closed string tachyon condensation along a null
surface. The condensation occurs, and spacetime dissolves, at a finite retarded
time on I^+. The outgoing quantum state of tachyon fluctuations in this
time-dependent background is computed using both the collective field and exact
fermion pictures. Perturbative particle production induced by the moving
tachyon wall is shown to be similar to that induced by a soft moving mirror.
Hence, despite the fact that I^+ for the tachyon is geodesicaly incomplete,
quantum correlations in the incoming state are unitarily transmitted to the
outgoing state in perturbation theory. It is also shown that,
non-perturbatively, information can leak across the tachyon wall, and tachyon
scattering is not unitary. Exact unitarity remains intact only in the free
fermion picture.Comment: Minor corrections; References added; 24 pages, 2 figures, harvma
Off-Shell Interactions for Closed-String Tachyons
Off-shell interactions for localized closed-string tachyons in C/Z_N
superstring backgrounds are analyzed and a conjecture for the effective height
of the tachyon potential is elaborated. At large N, some of the relevant
tachyons are nearly massless and their interactions can be deduced from the
S-matrix. The cubic interactions between these tachyons and the massless fields
are computed in a closed form using orbifold CFT techniques. The cubic
interaction between nearly-massless tachyons with different charges is shown to
vanish and thus condensation of one tachyon does not source the others. It is
shown that to leading order in N, the quartic contact interaction vanishes and
the massless exchanges completely account for the four point scattering
amplitude. This indicates that it is necessary to go beyond quartic
interactions or to include other fields to test the conjecture for the height
of the tachyon potential.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, JHEP class. Typos corrected, references
added, published versio
Ricci-flat deformation of orbifolds and localized tachyonic modes
We study Ricci-flat deformations of orbifolds in type II theory. We obtain a
simple formula for mass corrections to the twisted modes due to the
deformations, and apply it to originally tachyonic and massless states in
several examples. In the case of supersymmetric orbifolds, we find that
tachyonic states appear when the deformation breaks all the supersymmetries. We
also study nonsupersymmetric orbifolds C^2/Z_{2N(2N+1)}, which is T-dual to N
type 0 NS5-branes. For N>=2, we compute mass corrections for states, which have
string scale tachyonic masses. We find that the corrected masses coincide to
ones obtained by solving the wave equation for the tachyon field in the smeared
type 0 NS5-brane background geometry. For N=1, we show that the unstable mode
representing the bubble creation is the unique tachyonic mode.Comment: 20 pages, minor collection
Localized Tachyons and the Quantum McKay Correspondence
The condensation of closed string tachyons localized at the fixed point of a
C^d/\Gamma orbifold can be studied in the framework of renormalization group
flow in a gauged linear sigma model. The evolution of the Higgs branch along
the flow describes a resolution of singularities via the process of tachyon
condensation. The study of the fate of D-branes in this process has lead to a
notion of a ``quantum McKay correspondence.'' This is a hypothetical
correspondence between fractional branes in an orbifold singularity in the
ultraviolet with the Coulomb and Higgs branch branes in the infrared. In this
paper we present some nontrivial evidence for this correspondence in the case
C^2/Z_n by relating the intersection form of fractional branes to that of
``Higgs branch branes,'' the latter being branes which wrap nontrivial cycles
in the resolved space.Comment: 25 pages; harvma
AdS Bubbles, Entropy and Closed String Tachyons
We study the conjectured connection between AdS bubbles (AdS solitons) and
closed string tachyon condensations. We confirm that the entanglement entropy,
which measures the degree of freedom, decreases under the tachyon condensation.
The entropies in supergravity and free Yang-Mills agree with each other
remarkably. Next we consider the tachyon condensation on the AdS twisted circle
and argue that its endpoint is given by the twisted AdS bubble, defined by the
double Wick rotation of rotating black 3-brane solutions. We calculated the
Casimir energy and entropy and checked the agreements between the gauge and
gravity results. Finally we show an infinite boost of a null linear dilaton
theory with a tachyon wall (or bubble), leads to a solvable time-dependent
background with a bulk tachyon condensation. This is the simplest example of
spacetimes with null boundaries in string theory.Comment: 45 pages, 6 figures, harvmac, eq.(2.16) corrected, references adde