Mapping between Witten and lightcone string field theories

Abstract

We propose a transformation between the off-shell field variables of Witten’s open bosonic string field theory and the traditional lightcone string field theory of Kaku and Kikkawa, based on Mandelstam’s interacting string picture. This is accomplished by deforming the Witten vertex into lightcone cubic and quartic vertices, followed by integrating out the ghost and lightcone oscillator excitations from the string field. Surprisingly, the last step does not alter the cubic and quartic interactions and does not generate effective vertices, and leads precisely to Kaku and Kikkawa’s lightcone string field theory.

Initial value problem in string-inspired nonlocal field theory

“…While we do not try to resolve these conflicting viewpoints (for some discussion of the issues, see [23]), we note that no problems with causality have been identified in string field theory. Moreover, building on results obtained in a number of papers, Erler and Matsunaga [24] have largely established the relation between covariant and light-cone open string field theories. The subject is being steadily demystified.…”

Snowmass White Paper: String Perturbation Theory

“…Other formulations include light-cone superstring field theory [125] and WZW-like superstring field theory [126] which have RNS-like versions in which space-time supersymmetry is not manifest, but also have Green-Schwarz-like versions in which space-time supersymmetry is manifest. There have been several recent works on establishing the relation between these different formulations of superstring field theory [127][128][129].…”

Topological defects in nonlocal field theories

“…Whereas analytic operators like e /M 2 s are usually responsible for UV modifications and do not affect the IR physics. Such a transcendental differential operator typically appears in the context of string field theory [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and p-adic string [13][14][15][16][17].…”