English

BRST quantization of Carroll-Weyl gauged null strings

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-08-03 v1 Mathematical Physics

Abstract

We study the BRST quantization of the null string after completing its local gauge symmetry by Carroll-Weyl transformations. The resulting worldsheet theory possesses three first-class constraints, C1=P2C_1 = P^2, C2=PXC_2 = P \cdot X', and C3=PXC_3 = P \cdot X, whose modes realize a Weyl-BMS algebra. The additional Carroll-Weyl constraint qualitatively changes the quantum gauge complex: its scalar ss-ghost is intrinsically coupled to the BMS bcbc-ghost sector, and the anomaly analysis involves three independent cocycles rather than a single Virasoro-type central charge. Starting from the gauge-fixed action, we derive the complete Faddeev-Popov complex, construct the matter and ghost currents and the BRST charge, and evaluate their equal-time operator products in the flipped, equivalently highest-weight, representation. The matter and ghost anomaly coefficients are (cLL,cLS,cSS)matter=(2D,D,D)(c_{LL},c_{LS},c_{SS})_{\mathrm{matter}}=(2D,-D,-D) and (cLL,cLS,cSS)ghost=(54,6,4)(c_{LL},c_{LS},c_{SS})_{\mathrm{ghost}}=(-54,6,4). Because the corresponding central terms multiply linearly independent ghost bilinears in QB2Q_B^2, BRST nilpotency requires the three conditions D=27D=27, D=6D=6, and D=4D=4, respectively. These conditions are mutually incompatible. Consequently, there is no target-space dimension in which the minimal flat Carroll-Weyl matter-plus-ghost complex is anomaly-free in the highest-weight representation. The familiar D=26D=26 condition of the ILST null string is recovered only after truncation to the two-constraint BMS subsector, which defines a different quantum gauge complex.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2608.02731,
  title  = {BRST quantization of Carroll-Weyl gauged null strings},
  author = {Sarthak Duary and Sourav Maji},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.02731},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

39+18 pages