No Arabic abstract
We continue our study of effective field theory via homotopy transfer of $L_infty$-algebras, and apply it to tree-level non-Wilsonian effective actions of the kind discussed by Sen in which the modes integrated out are comparable in mass to the modes that are kept. We focus on the construction of effective actions for string states at fixed levels and in particular on the construction of weakly constrained double field theory. With these examples in mind, we discuss closed string theory on toroidal backgrounds and resolve some subtle issues involving vertex operators, including the proper form of cocycle factors and of the reflector state. This resolves outstanding issues concerning the construction of covariant closed string field theory on toroidal backgrounds. The weakly constrained double field theory is formally obtained from closed string field theory on a toroidal background by integrating out all but the doubly massless states and homotopy transfer then gives a prescription for determining the theorys vertices and symmetries. We also discuss consistent truncation in the context of homotopy transfer.
We use the dictionary between general field theories and strongly homotopy algebras to provide an algebraic formulation of the procedure of integrating out of degrees of freedom in terms of homotopy transfer. This includes more general effective theories in which some massive modes are kept while other modes of a comparable mass scale are integrated out, as first explored by Sen in the context of closed string field theory. We treat $L_infty$-algebras both in terms of a nilpotent coderivation and, on the dual space, in terms of a nilpotent derivation (corresponding to the BRST charge of the field theory) and provide explicit formulas for homotopy transfer. These are then shown to govern the integrating out of degrees of freedom at tree level, while the generalization to loop level will be explored in a sequel to this paper.
We extend the effective field theory (EFT) formalism for gravitational radiation from a binary system of compact objects to the case of extended objects. In particular, we study the EFT for a binary system consisting of two infinitely-long cosmic strings with small velocity and small spatial substructure, or wiggles. The complexity of the system requires the introduction of two perturbative expansion parameters, constructed from the velocity and size of the wiggles, in contrast with the point particle case, for which a single parameter is sufficient. This further requires us to assign new power counting rules in the system. We integrate out the modes corresponding to potential gravitons, yielding an effective action for the radiation gravitons. We show that this action describes a changing quadrupole, sourced by the bending modes of the string, which in turn generates gravitational waves. We study the ultraviolet divergences in this description, and use them to obtain the classical renormalization group flow of the string tension in such a setting.
We develop a new background independent Moyal star formalism in bosonic open string field theory. The new star product is formulated in a half-phase-space, and because phase space is independent of any background fields, the interactions are background independent. In this basis there is a large amount of symmetry, including a supersymmetry OSp(d|2) that acts on matter and ghost degrees of freedom, and simplifies computations. The BRST operator that defines the quadratic kinetic term of string field theory may be regarded as the solution of the equation of motion A*A=0 of a purely cubic background independent string field theory. We find an infinite number of non-perturbative solutions to this equation, and are able to associate them to the BRST operator of conformal field theories on the worldsheet. Thus, the background emerges from a spontaneous-type breaking of a purely cubic highly symmetric theory. The form of the BRST field breaks the symmetry in a tractable way such that the symmetry continues to be useful in practical perturbative computations as an expansion around some background. The new Moyal basis is called the $sigma $-basis, where $sigma$ is the worldsheet parameter of an open string. A vital part of the new star product is a natural and crucially needed mid-point regulator in this continuous basis, so that all computations are finite. The regulator is removed after renormalization and then the theory is finite only in the critical dimension. Boundary conditions for D-branes at the endpoints of the string are naturally introduced and made part of the theory as simple rules in algebraic computations. A byproduct of our approach is an astonishing suggestion of the formalism: the roots of ordinary quantum mechanics may originate in the rules of non-commutative interactions in string theory.
We discuss aspects of global and gauged symmetries in quantum field theory and quantum gravity, focusing on discrete gauge symmetries. An effective Lagrangian description of $Z_p$ gauge theories shows that they are associated with an emergent $Z_p$ one-form (Kalb-Ramond) gauge symmetry. This understanding leads us to uncover new observables and new phenomena in nonlinear $sigma$-models. It also allows us to expand on Polchinskis classification of cosmic strings. We argue that in models of quantum gravity, there are no global symmetries, all continuous gauge symmetries are compact, and all charges allowed by Dirac quantization are present in the spectrum. These conjectures are not new, but we present them from a streamlined and unified perspective. Finally, our discussion about string charges and symmetries leads to a more physical and more complete understanding of recently found consistency conditions of supergravity.
We construct rolling tachyon solutions of open and boundary string field theory (OSFT and BSFT, respectively), in the bosonic and supersymmetric (susy) case. The wildly oscillating solution of susy OSFT is recovered, together with a family of time-dependent BSFT solutions for the bosonic and susy string. These are parametrized by an arbitrary constant r involved in solving the Green equation of the target fields. When r=0 we recover previous results in BSFT, whereas for r attaining the value predicted by OSFT it is shown that the bosonic OSFT solution is the derivative of the boundary one; in the supersymmetric case the relation between the two solutions is more complicated. This technical correspondence sheds some light on the nature of wild oscillations, which appear in both theories whenever r>0.