Scattering amplitudes of regularized bosonic strings

We compute scattering amplitudes of the regularized bosonic Nambu-Goto string in the mean-field approximation, disregarding fluctuations of the Lagrange multiplier and an independent metric about their mean values. We use the previously introduced Lilliputian scaling limit to recover the Regge behavior of the amplitudes with the usual linear Regge trajectory in space-time dimensions d>2. We demonstrate a stability of this minimum of the effective action under fluctuations for d<26.Comment: 11 pages, v2: typos corrected, to appear in PR

Stability of the nonperturbative bosonic string vacuum

Quantization of the bosonic string around the classical, perturbative vacuum is not consistent for spacetime dimensions 2<d<26. Recently we have showed that at large d there is another so-called mean field vacuum. Here we extend this mean field calculation to finite d and show that the corresponding mean field vacuum is stable under quadratic fluctuations for 2<d<26. We point out the analogy with the two-dimensional O(N)-symmetric sigma-model, where the 1/N-vacuum is very close to the real vacuum state even for finite N, in contrast to the perturbative vacuum.Comment: v2: 6pp, section about vacuum instability/stability added, to appear in PL

The use of Pauli-Villars' regularization in string theory

The proper-time regularization of bosonic string reproduces the results of canonical quantization in a special scaling limit where the length in target space has to be renormalized. We repeat the analysis for the Pauli-Villars regularization and demonstrate the universality of the results. In the mean-field approximation we compute the susceptibility anomalous dimension and show it equals 1/2. We discuss the relation with the previously known results on lattice strings.Comment: 1+22 p

Strings, Matrix Models, and Meanders

I briefly review the present status of bosonic strings and discretized random surfaces in D>1 which seem to be in a polymer rather than stringy phase. As an explicit example of what happens, I consider the Kazakov-Migdal model with a logarithmic potential which is exactly solvable for any D (at large D for an arbitrary potential). I discuss also the meander problem and report some new results on its representation via matrix models and the relation to the Kazakov-Migdal model. A supersymmetric matrix model is especially useful for describing the principal meanders.Comment: 12 pages, 4 Latex figures, uses espcrc2.sty Talk at the 29th Ahrenshoop Symp., Buckow, Germany, Aug.29 - Sep.2, 199

Implementation of the Duality between Wilson loops and Scattering Amplitudes in QCD

We generalize modern ideas about the duality between Wilson loops and scattering amplitudes in ${\cal N}$=4 SYM to large-N (or quenched) QCD. We show that the area-law behavior of asymptotically large Wilson loops is dual to the Regge-Veneziano behavior of scattering amplitudes at high energies and fixed momentum transfer, when quark mass is small and/or the number of particles is large. We elaborate on this duality for string theory in a flat space, identifying the asymptotes of the disk amplitude and the Wilson loop of large-N QCD.Comment: REVTex, 6 pages, 1 figure; v3: refs added; v4pp. to appear in PR

Generalized multicritical one-matrix models

We show that there exists a simple generalization of Kazakov's multicritical one-matrix model, which interpolates between the various multicritical points of the model. The associated multicritical potential takes the form of a power series with a heavy tail, leading to a cut of the potential and its derivative at the real axis, and reduces to a polynomial at Kazakov's multicritical points. From the combinatorial point of view the generalized model allows polygons of arbitrary large degrees (or vertices of arbitrary large degree, when considering the dual graphs), and it is the weight assigned to these large order polygons which brings about the interpolation between the multicritical points in the one-matrix model.Comment: 25 page

Supersymmetric matrix models and branched polymers

We solve a supersymmetric matrix model with a general potential. While matrix models usually describe surfaces, supersymmetry enforces a cancellation of bosonic and fermionic loops and only diagrams corresponding to so-called branched polymers survive. The eigenvalue distribution of the random matrices near the critical point is of a new kind.Comment: xx pages, Latex, no macros neede

Perturbed generalized multicritical one-matrix models

We study perturbations around the generalized Kazakov multicritical one-matrix model. The multicritical matrix model has a potential where the coefficients of $z^n$ only fall off as a power $1/n^{s+1}$. This implies that the potential and its derivatives have a cut along the real axis, leading to technical problems when one performs perturbations away from the generalized Kazakov model. Nevertheless it is possible to relate the perturbed partition function to the tau-function of a KdV hierarchy and solve the model by a genus expansion in the double scaling limit.Comment: 2 figure

Light-Cone Wilson Loops and the String/Gauge Correspondence

We investigate a \Pi-shape Wilson loop in N=4 super Yang--Mills theory, which lies partially at the light-cone, and consider an associated open superstring in AdS_5 x S^5. We discuss how this Wilson loop determines the anomalous dimensions of conformal operators with large Lorentz spin and present an explicit calculation in perturbation theory to order \lambda. We find the minimal surface in the supergravity approximation, that reproduces the Gubser, Klebanov and Polyakov prediction for the anomalous dimensions at large \lambda=g_YM^2 N, and discuss its quantum-mechanical interpretation.Comment: 17pp., Latex, 4 figures; v.2: factors of 2 put righ

Simplicial vs. Continuum String Theory and Loop Equations

We derive loop equations in a scalar matrix field theory. We discuss their solutions in terms of simplicial string theory -- the theory describing embeddings of two--dimensional simplicial complexes into the space--time of the matrix field theory. This relation between the loop equations and the simplicial string theory gives further arguments that favor one of the statements of the paper hep-th/0407018. The statement is that there is an equivalence between the partition function of the simplicial string theory and the functional integral in a continuum string theory -- the theory describing embeddings of smooth two--dimensional world--sheets into the space--time of the matrix field theory in question.Comment: 6 page