English

ZZ Instantons and the Non-Perturbative Dual of c = 1 String Theory

High Energy Physics - Theory 2019-12-17 v2

Abstract

We study the effect of ZZ instantons in c = 1 string theory, and demonstrate that they give rise to non-perturbative corrections to scattering amplitudes that do not saturate unitarity within the closed string sector. Beyond the leading non-perturbative order, logarithmic divergences are canceled between worldsheet diagrams of different topologies, due to the Fischler-Susskind-Polchinski mechanism. We propose that the closed string vacuum in c = 1 string theory is non-perturbatively dual to a state of the matrix quantum mechanics in which all scattering states up to a given energy with no incoming flux from the "other side" of the potential are occupied by free fermions. Under such a proposal, we find detailed agreement of non-perturbative corrections to closed string amplitudes in the worldsheet description and in the dual matrix model.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1907.07688,
  title  = {ZZ Instantons and the Non-Perturbative Dual of c = 1 String Theory},
  author = {Bruno Balthazar and Victor A. Rodriguez and Xi Yin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.07688},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

28 pages, 10 figures; footnote and references added, typos corrected