17 research outputs found
On different actions for the vacuum of bosonic string field theory
We study a family of kinetic operators in string field theory describing the
theory around the closed string vacuum. Those operators are based on the
analytical classical solutions of Takahashi and Tanimoto and are analogous to
the pure ghost action usually referred to as "vacuum string field theory," but
are much more general, and less singular than the pure ghost operator. The
closed string vacuum is related to the D-brane vacuum by large, singular, gauge
transformations or field redefinition, and all those different representations
are related to each other by small gauge transformations. We try to clarify the
nature of this singular gauge transformation. We also show that by choosing the
Siegel gauge one recovers the propagator proposed in hep-th/0207266 that
generates closed string surfaces.Comment: 15 page
On surface states and star-subalgebras in string field theory
We elaborate on the relations between surface states and squeezed states.
First, we investigate two different criteria for determining whether a matter
sector squeezed state is also a surface state and show that the two criteria
are equivalent. Then, we derive similar criteria for the ghost sector. Next, we
refine the criterion for determining whether a surface state is in
H_{\kappa^2}, the subalgebra of squeezed states obeying [S,K_1^2]=0. This
enables us to find all the surface states of the H_{\kappa^2} subalgebra, and
show that it consists only of wedge states and (hybrid) butterflies. Finally,
we investigate generalizations of this criterion and find an infinite family of
surface states subalgebras, whose surfaces are described using a "generalized
Schwarz-Christoffel" mapping.Comment: 38 pages, 6 figures, JHEP style; typos corrected, ref. adde
Marginal deformations in string field theory
We describe a method for obtaining analytic solutions corresponding to exact
marginal deformations in open bosonic string field theory. For the photon
marginal deformation we have an explicit analytic solution to all orders. Our
construction is based on a pure gauge solution where the gauge field is not in
the Hilbert space. We show that the solution itself is nevertheless perfectly
regular. We study its gauge transformations and calculate some coefficients
explicitly. Finally, we discuss how our method can be implemented for other
marginal deformations.Comment: 23 pages. v2: Some paragraphs improved, typos corrected, ref adde
Tachyon Vacuum Solution in Open String Field Theory with Constant B Field
We show that Schnabl's tachyon vacuum solution is an exact solution of the
equation of motion of Witten's open bosonic string field theory in the
background of constant antisymmetric two-form field. The action computed at the
vacuum solution is given by the Dirac-Born-Infeld factor multiplied to that
without the antisymmetric tensor field.Comment: 8 page
Disk Partition Function and Oscillatory Rolling Tachyons
An exact cubic open string field theory rolling tachyon solution was recently
found by Kiermaier et. al. and Schnabl. This oscillatory solution has been
argued to be related by a field redefinition to the simple exponential rolling
tachyon deformation of boundary conformal theory. In the latter approach, the
disk partition function takes a simple form. Out of curiosity, we compute the
disk partition function for an oscillatory tachyon profile, and find that the
result is nevertheless almost the same.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures. v4: discussion clarified, appendix added,
conclusions unchanged; version to appear in J.Phys.
Experimental String Field Theory
We develop efficient algorithms for level-truncation computations in open
bosonic string field theory. We determine the classical action in the universal
subspace to level (18,54) and apply this knowledge to numerical evaluations of
the tachyon condensate string field. We obtain two main sets of results. First,
we directly compute the solutions up to level L=18 by extremizing the
level-truncated action. Second, we obtain predictions for the solutions for L >
18 from an extrapolation to higher levels of the functional form of the tachyon
effective action. We find that the energy of the stable vacuum overshoots -1
(in units of the brane tension) at L=14, reaches a minimum E_min = -1.00063 at
L ~ 28 and approaches with spectacular accuracy the predicted answer of -1 as L
-> infinity. Our data are entirely consistent with the recent perturbative
analysis of Taylor and strongly support the idea that level-truncation is a
convergent approximation scheme. We also check systematically that our
numerical solution, which obeys the Siegel gauge condition, actually satisfies
the full gauge-invariant equations of motion. Finally we investigate the
presence of analytic patterns in the coefficients of the tachyon string field,
which we are able to reliably estimate in the L -> infinity limit.Comment: 37 pages, 6 figure
Solutions from boundary condition changing operators in open superstring field theory
We construct analytic solutions of open superstring field theory in the
Berkovits formulation using boundary condition changing operators under some
regularity conditions, extending the previous construction in the bosonic
string. We also consider the gauge-invariant observables corresponding to
closed string one-point functions on the disk. We analytically calculate the
gauge-invariant observables for the solutions both in the bosonic string and in
the superstring and find the expected change of boundary conditions of the
disk.Comment: 33 pages, no figures, LaTeX2e; v2: minor corrections; v3: minor
revision, published versio
Boundary State from Ellwood Invariants
Boundary states are given by appropriate linear combinations of Ishibashi
states. Starting from any OSFT solution and assuming Ellwood conjecture we show
that every coefficient of such a linear combination is given by an Ellwood
invariant, computed in a slightly modified theory where it does not trivially
vanish by the on-shell condition. Unlike the previous construction of
Kiermaier, Okawa and Zwiebach, ours is linear in the string field, it is
manifestly gauge invariant and it is also suitable for solutions known only
numerically. The correct boundary state is readily reproduced in the case of
known analytic solutions and, as an example, we compute the energy momentum
tensor of the rolling tachyon from the generalized invariants of the
corresponding solution. We also compute the energy density profile of
Siegel-gauge multiple lump solutions and show that, as the level increases, it
correctly approaches a sum of delta functions. This provides a gauge invariant
way of computing the separations between the lower dimensional D-branes.Comment: v2: 63 pages, 14 figures. Major improvements in section 2. Version
published in JHE
Connecting Solutions in Open String Field Theory with Singular Gauge Transformations
We show that any pair of classical solutions of open string field theory can
be related by a formal gauge transformation defined by a gauge parameter
without an inverse. We investigate how this observation can be used to
construct new solutions. We find that a choice of gauge parameter consistently
generates a new solution only if the BRST charge maps the image of into
itself. When this occurs, we argue that naturally defines a star algebra
projector which describes a surface of string connecting the boundary conformal
field theories of the classical solutions related by . We also note that
singular gauge transformations give the solution space of open string field
theory the structure of a category, and we comment on the physical
interpretation of this observation.Comment: V2: minor improvements, added citation