Related papers: Notes on the pure spinor b ghost
In this note we study the preservation of the classical pure spinor BRST constraints under super T-duality transformations. We also determine the invariance of the one-loop conformal invariance and of the local gauge and Lorentz anomalies…
Using a formulation of QCD_2 as a perturbed conformally invariant theory involving fermions, ghosts, as well as positive and negative level Wess-Zumino-Witten fields, we show that the BRST conditions become restrictions on the conformally…
Starting with exact solutions to string theory on curved spacetimes we obtain deformations that represent gravitational shock waves. These may exist in the presence or absence of sources. Sources are effectively induced by a tachyon field…
We study holonomy algebras generated by an algebraic element of the Clifford algebra, or equivalently, the holonomy algebras of certain spin connections in flat space. We provide series of examples in arbitrary dimensions and establish…
The subject of this thesis is cosmological implications of string compactifications understood in a broad sense. In the first half of the thesis, we will begin by reviewing the four-dimensional description of the tree-level perturbative…
We propose a new BRST operator for the B-twist of $N=2$ Landau-Ginzburg (LG) models. It solves the problem of the fractional ghost numbers of Vafa's old BRST operator and shows how the model is obtained by gauge fixing a zero action. An…
A careful treatment of closed string BRST cohomology shows that there are more discrete states and associated symmetries in $D=2$ string theory than has been recognized hitherto. The full structure, at the $SU(2)$ radius, has a natural…
In this paper we begin the study of compactifications of the pure spinor formalism for superstrings. As a first example of such a process we study the case of the heterotic string in a Calabi-Yau background. We explicitly construct a BRST…
We compactify the pure spinor formalism on a K3 surface. The pure spinor splits into a six-dimensional pure spinor, a projective superspace harmonic, and 6 non-covariant variables. A homological algebra argument reduces the calculation of…
At the component-level we study the `beta-function-favored constraint' (bffc) formalism, suggested in 1988 as the most natural formulation for supergravity derived from more fundamental theories. We begin with the suggestion that \bffc…
The topological B-model with target the supertwistor space CP(3|4) is known to describe perturbative amplitudes of N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory. We review the extension of this correspondence to the superconformal gauge theories that arise…
We write down a general geometric action principle for spinning strings in $d$-dimensional Minkowski space, which is formulated without the use of Grassmann coordinates. Instead, it is constructed in terms of the pull-back of a left…
We obtain the correct cohomology at any ghost number for the open and closed covariant superstring, quantized by an approach which we recently developed. We define physical states by the usual condition of BRST invariance and a new…
Using the non-minimal version of the pure spinor formalism, manifestly super-Poincare covariant superstring scattering amplitudes can be computed as in topological string theory without the need of picture-changing operators. The only…
The thesis divides into three parts. The first is devoted to a careful study of very convenient superspace conventions which are a basic tool for the second part. A theorem is formulated that gives a clear statement about when the signs of…
By using a bosonization we uncover the topological gravity structure of Labastida, Pernici and Witten in ordinary $2d$ gravity coupled to $(p,q)$ minimal models. We study the cohomology class associated with the fermionic charge of the…
We show that all two-dimensional conformal field theories possess a hidden sl(2,R) affine symmetry. More precisely, we add appropriate ghost fields to an arbitrary CFT, and we use them to construct the currents of sl(2,R). We then define a…
We study a topological obstruction of a very stringy nature concerned with deforming the target space of an $N=2$ non-linear \sm. This target space has a singularity which may be smoothed away according to the conventional rules of geometry…
A new type of nonlocal currents (quasi-particles), which we call twisted parafermions, and its corresponding twisted $Z$-algebra are found. The system consists of one spin-1 bosonic field and six nonlocal fields of fractional spins.…
We study the ghost sector of vacuum string field theory where the BRST operator Q is given by the midpoint insertion proposed by Gaiotto, Rastelli, Sen and Zwiebach. We introduce a convenient basis of half-string modes in terms of which Q…