String Fields and the Standard Model

The Cremmer-Scherk mechanism is generalised in a non-Abelian context. In the presence of the Higgs scalars of the standard model it is argued that fields arising from the low energy effective string action may contribute to the mass generation of the observed vector bosons that mediate the electroweak interactions and that future analyses of experimental data should consider the possibility of string induced radiative corrections to the Weinberg angle coming from physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 4 pages, LATEX, no figure

The finiteness of the four dimensional antisymmetric tensor field model in a curved background

A renormalizable rigid supersymmetry for the four dimensional antisymmetric tensor field model in a curved space-time background is constructed. A closed algebra between the BRS and the supersymmetry operators is only realizable if the vector parameter of the supersymmetry is a covariantly constant vector field. This also guarantees that the corresponding transformations lead to a genuine symmetry of the model. The proof of the ultraviolet finiteness to all orders of perturbation theory is performed in a pure algebraic manner by using the rigid supersymmetry.Comment: 23 page

Geometric Laws of Vortex Quantum Tunneling

In the semiclassical domain the exponent of vortex quantum tunneling is dominated by a volume which is associated with the path the vortex line traces out during its escape from the metastable well. We explicitly show the influence of geometrical quantities on this volume by describing point vortex motion in the presence of an ellipse. It is argued that for the semiclassical description to hold the introduction of an additional geometric constraint, the distance of closest approach, is required. This constraint implies that the semiclassical description of vortex nucleation by tunneling at a boundary is in general not possible. Geometry dependence of the tunneling volume provides a means to verify experimental observation of vortex quantum tunneling in the superfluid Helium II.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, revised version to appear in Phys. Rev.

The Abelian Topological Mass Mechanism From Dimensional Reduction

We show that the abelian topological mass mechanism in four dimensions, described by the Cremmer-Sherk action, can be obtained from dimensional reduction in five dimensions. Starting from a gauge invariant action in five dimensions, where the dual equivalence between a massless vector field and a massless second-rank antisymmetric field in five dimensions is established, the dimensional reduction is performed keeping only one massive mode. Furthermore, the Kalb-Ramond action and the Stuckelberger formulation for massive spin-1 are recovered.Comment: Three references added, 6 pages, late

Fractional Statistics in Three Dimensions: Compact Maxwell-Higgs System

We show that a (3+1)-dimensional system composed of an open magnetic vortex and an electrical point charge exhibits the phenomenon of Fermi-Bose transmutation. In order to provide the physical realization of this system we focus on the lattice compact scalar electrodynamics $SQED_c$ whose topological excitations are open Nielsen-Olesen strings with magnetic monopoles attached at their ends.Comment: 8 page

Effects of a torsion field on Big Bang nucleosynthesis

In this paper it is investigated whether torsion, which arises naturally in most theories of quantum gravity, has observable implications for the Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Torsion can lead to spin flips amongst neutrinos thus turning them into sterile neutrinos. In the early Universe they can alter the helium abundance which is tightly constrained by observations. Here I calculate to what extent torsion of the string theory type leads to a disagreement with the Big Bang nucleosynthesis predictions.Comment: accepted by General Relativity and Gravitatio

Charges and fluxes in Maxwell theory on compact manifolds with boundary

We investigate the charges and fluxes that can occur in higher-order Abelian gauge theories defined on compact space-time manifolds with boundary. The boundary is necessary to supply a destination to the electric lines of force emanating from brane sources, thus allowing non-zero net electric charges, but it also introduces new types of electric and magnetic flux. The resulting structure of currents, charges, and fluxes is studied and expressed in the language of relative homology and de Rham cohomology and the corresponding abelian groups. These can be organised in terms of a pair of exact sequences related by the Poincar\'e-Lefschetz isomorphism and by a weaker flip symmetry exchanging the ends of the sequences. It is shown how all this structure is brought into play by the imposition of the appropriately generalised Maxwell's equations. The requirement that these equations be integrable restricts the world-volume of a permitted brane (assumed closed) to be homologous to a cycle on the boundary of space-time. All electric charges and magnetic fluxes are quantised and satisfy the Dirac quantisation condition. But through some boundary cycles there may be unquantised electric fluxes associated with quantised magnetic fluxes and so dyonic in nature.Comment: 28 pages, plain Te

Strings in gravity with torsion

A theory of gravitation in 4D is presented with strings used in the material action in $U_4$ spacetime. It is shown that the string naturally gives rise to torsion. It is also shown that the equation of motion a string follows from the Bianchi identity, gives the identical result as the Noether conservation laws, and follows a geodesic only in the lowest order approximation. In addition, the conservation laws show that strings naturally have spin, which arises not from their motion but from their one dimensional structure.Comment: 16 page

Interacting Particles and Strings in Path and Surface Representations

Non-relativistic charged particles and strings coupled with abelian gauge fields are quantized in a geometric representation that generalizes the Loop Representation. We consider three models: the string in self-interaction through a Kalb-Ramond field in four dimensions, the topological interaction of two particles due to a BF term in 2+1 dimensions, and the string-particle interaction mediated by a BF term in 3+1 dimensions. In the first case one finds that a consistent "surface-representation" can be built provided that the coupling constant is quantized. The geometrical setting that arises corresponds to a generalized version of the Faraday's lines picture: quantum states are labeled by the shape of the string, from which emanate "Faraday`s surfaces". In the other models, the topological interaction can also be described by geometrical means. It is shown that the open-path (or open-surface) dependence carried by the wave functional in these models can be eliminated through an unitary transformation, except by a remaining dependence on the boundary of the path (or surface). These feature is closely related to the presence of anomalous statistics in the 2+1 model, and to a generalized "anyonic behavior" of the string in the other case.Comment: RevTeX 4, 28 page

Postmodern String Theory: Stochastic Formulation

In this paper we study the dynamics of a statistical ensemble of strings, building on a recently proposed gauge theory of the string geodesic field. We show that this stochastic approach is equivalent to the Carath\'eodory formulation of the Nambu-Goto action, supplemented by an averaging procedure over the family of classical string world-sheets which are solutions of the equation of motion. In this new framework, the string geodesic field is reinterpreted as the Gibbs current density associated with the string statistical ensemble. Next, we show that the classical field equations derived from the string gauge action, can be obtained as the semi-classical limit of the string functional wave equation. For closed strings, the wave equation itself is completely analogous to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation used in quantum cosmology. Thus, in the string case, the wave function has support on the space of all possible spatial loop configurations. Finally, we show that the string distribution induces a multi-phase, or {\it cellular} structure on the spacetime manifold characterized by domains with a purely Riemannian geometry separated by domain walls over which there exists a predominantly Weyl geometry.Comment: 24pages, ReVTe