The b Ghost of the Pure Spinor Formalism is Nilpotent

The ghost for world-sheet reparametrization invariance is not a fundamental field in the pure spinor formalism. It is written as a combination of pure spinor variables which have conformal dimension two and such that it commutes with the BRST operator to give the world-sheet stress tensor. We show that the ghost variable defined in this way is nilpotent since the OPE of b with itself does not have singularities.Comment: 12 pages, harvmac-b. Minor change

First Massive State of the Superstring in Superspace

Using the manifestly spacetime supersymmetric description of the four-dimensional open superstring, we construct the vertex operator in superspace for the first massive state. This construction provides an N=1 D=4 superspace representation of the massive spin-2 multiplet.Comment: 7 pages late

Quantization of the Superstring with Manifest U(5) Super-Poincare Invariance

The superstring is quantized in a manner which manifestly preserves a U(5) subgroup of the (Wick-rotated) ten-dimensional super-Poincar\'e invariance. This description of the superstring contains critical N=2 worldsheet superconformal invariance and is a natural covariantization of the U(4)-invariant light-cone Green-Schwarz description.Comment: Added two comments on relation to light-cone gaug

Superstring Vertex Operators in an AdS_5 x S^5 Background

A quantizable action has recently been proposed for the superstring in an AdS_5 x S^5 background with Ramond-Ramond flux. In this paper, we construct physical vertex operators corresponding to on-shell fluctuations around the AdS_5 x S^5 background. The structure of these AdS_5 x S^5 vertex operators closely resembles the structure of the massless vertex operators in a flat background.Comment: 13 pages harvmac (large

Super-Poincare Invariant Koba-Nielsen Formulas for the Superstring

The new spacetime-supersymmetric description of the superstring is used to compute tree-level scattering amplitudes for an arbitrary number of massless four-dimensional states. The resulting Koba-Nielsen formula is manifestly SO(3,1) super-Poincare invariant and is easily generalized to scattering in the presence of a D-brane.Comment: 11 pages harvma

Massive Superstring Vertex Operator in D=10 Superspace

Using the pure spinor formalism for the superstring, the vertex operator for the first massive states of the open superstring is constructed in a manifestly super-Poincar\'e covariant manner. This vertex operator describes a massive spin-two multiplet in terms of ten-dimensional superfields.Comment: Added reference

One-Loop N-Point Superstring Amplitudes with Manifest d=4 Supersymmetry

The hybrid formalism for the superstring is used to compute one-loop amplitudes with an arbitrary number of external d=4 supergravity states. These one-loop N-point amplitudes are expressed as Koba-Nielsen-like formulas with manifest d=4 supersymmetry.Comment: 18 pages harvma

Y-formalism and bb ghost in the Non-minimal Pure Spinor Formalism of Superstrings

We present the Y-formalism for the non-minimal pure spinor quantization of superstrings. In the framework of this formalism we compute, at the quantum level, the explicit form of the compound operators involved in the construction of the $b$ ghost, their normal-ordering contributions and the relevant relations among them. We use these results to construct the quantum-mechanical $b$ ghost in the non-minimal pure spinor formalism. Moreover we show that this non-minimal $b$ ghost is cohomologically equivalent to the non-covariant $b$ ghost.Comment: 42 pages, no figure

Quantization of the Type II Superstring in a Curved Six-Dimensional Background

A sigma model action with N=2 D=6 superspace variables is constructed for the Type II superstring compactified to six curved dimensions with Ramond-Ramond flux. The action can be quantized since the sigma model is linear when the six-dimensional spacetime is flat. When the six-dimensional spacetime is $AdS_3\times S^3$, the action reduces to one found earlier with Vafa and Witten.Comment: 13 pages harvmac te

The Ten-Dimensional Green-Schwarz Superstring is a Twisted Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond String

An action for the ten-dimensional Green-Schwarz superstring with N=2 worldsheet superconformal invariance has recently been used to calculate superstring scattering amplitudes and prove their finiteness. In this paper, it is shown that the N=2 stress-energy tensor for this Green-Schwarz action can be constructed out of the stress-energy tensor and ghosts of the Neveu- Schwarz-Ramond action by the standard twisting procedure. In other words, a field redefinition is found from the GS matter fields into the NSR matter and ghost fields which transforms the matter part of the two fermionic GS super- conformal generators into the $b$ ghost and shifted BRST current of the NSR string. In light-cone gauge, this field redefinition reduces to the usual one relating the light-cone GS and NSR fields. Although this proves the equivalence of physical vertex operators in the two superstring formalisms, multiloop amplitudes are easier to calculate using the Green-Schwarz formalism since manifest spacetime supersymmetry eliminates the need for spin cuts, GSO projections, and cutoffs in moduli space.Comment: 6 pages plain Tex, KCL-TH-1