Boundary states are given by appropriate linear combinations of Ishibashi states.Starting from any open string field theory 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.

An outstanding problem in open bosonic string field theory is the existence of nontrivial classical solutions in its universal sector. Such solutions independent of the underlying CFT would be relevant for any background, but aside of the celebrated tachyon vacuum, no well behaved solutions have been found so far. In this work we revisit the problem using the old fashioned level truncation technique, but armed with much more sophisticated techniques and greater computer power. In particular, using the homotopy continuation method we construct all solutions at level 6 (or 5) with twist symmetry imposed (or not), and improve the viable ones by Newton's method to levels 24-30. Surprisingly, a handful of solutions survive. One of them is tantalizingly close to the elusive double brane solution, although the fits to infinite level seem to invalidate this conclusion. A better behaved solution matches unexpectedly the properties of a ghost brane. This does not contradict anything, since the solution violates the reality condition of string field theory. Relaxing SU(1, 1) singlet condition two more exotic solutions with the rough characteristics of half brane and ghost half brane are found. For the tachyon vacuum, by explicit numerical computations up to level 30, we confirm the Gaiotto and Rastelli's prediction about the turning point of the tachyon potential minimum as a function of the level.

We propose a new non-perturbative method to search for marginal deformations in level truncated open string field theory. Instead of studying the flatness of the effective potential for the marginal field (which is not expected to give a one-to-one parametrization of the BCFT moduli space), we identify a new non-universal branch of the tachyon potential which, from known analytic examples, is expected to parametrize the marginal flow in a much larger region of the BCFT moduli space. By a level 18 computation in Siegel gauge we find an increasingly flat effective potential in the non-universal sector, connected to the perturbative vacuum and we confirm that the coefficient of the marginal field (λ SFT ) has a maximum compatible with the value where the solutions stop existing in the standard Sen-Zwiebach approach. At the maximal reachable level the effective potential still deviates from flatness for large values of the tachyon, but the Ellwood invariants stay close to the correct BCFT values on the whole branch and the full periodic moduli space of the cosine deformation is covered.

The level-truncation analysis of open string field theory for a class of periodic marginal deformations indicates that a branch of solutions in Siegel gauge exists only for a finite range of values of the marginal field. The periodicity in the deformation parameter is thus obscure. We use the relation between gauge-invariant observables and the closed string tadpole on a disk conjectured by Ellwood to construct a map between the deformation parameter of the boundary conformal field theory and the parameter labeling classical solutions of open string field theory. We evaluate the gauge-invariant observables for the numerical solutions in Siegel gauge up to level 12 and find that our results qualitatively agree with the analysis by Sen using the energy-momentum tensor and are consistent with the picture that the finite range of the branch covers one fundamental domain of the periodic moduli space.

Based on the level truncation scheme, we develop a new numerical method to evaluate the tachyon vacuum solution in the Schnabl gauge up to level L = 24. We confirm the prediction that the energy associated to this numerical solution has a local minimum at level L = 12. Extrapolating the energy data of L ≤ 24 to infinite level, we observe that the energy goes towards the analytical value −1, nevertheless the precision of the extrapolation is lower than in the Siegel gauge. Furthermore, we analyze the Ellwood invariant and show that its value converges monotonically towards the expected analytical result. We also study the tachyon vacuum expectation value (vev) and some other coefficients of the solution. Finally, some consistency checks of the solution are performed, and we briefly discuss the search for other Schnabl gauge numerical solutions.