English

The Phantom Term in Open String Field Theory

High Energy Physics - Theory 2015-06-03 v2

Abstract

We show that given any two classical solutions in open string field theory and a singular gauge transformation relating them, it is possible to write the second solution as a gauge transformation of the first plus a singular, projector-like state which describes the shift in the open string background between the two solutions. This is the "phantom term." We give some applications in the computation of gauge invariant observables.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1201.5122,
  title  = {The Phantom Term in Open String Field Theory},
  author = {Theodore Erler and Carlo Maccaferri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1201.5122},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

V2: minor improvements, added citations

R2 v1 2026-06-21T20:09:14.421Z