Related papers: On Background Independence in String Theory
We prove local background independence of the complete quantum closed string field theory using the recursion relations for string vertices and the existence of connections in CFT theory space. Indeed, with this data we construct an…
In this brief, and by no means complete, review I discuss situations in string theory, in which Lorentz Invariance Violation may occur in a way consistent with world-sheet conformal invariance, thereby leading to acceptable, in principle,…
String theory, as a theory containing quantum gravity, is usually thought to require more dimensions of spacetime than the usual 3+1. Here I argue on physical grounds that needing extra dimensions for strings may well be an artefact of…
It is generally believed that a full-fledged theory of quantum gravity should exhibit background independence and diffeomorphism invariance. In its most general form, the latter comprises field redefinitions, which are diffeomorphisms in…
We investigate the problem of derivation of consistent equations of motion for the massive spin 2 field interacting with gravity within both field theory and string theory. In field theory we derive the most general classical action with…
Intuitively speaking, a classical field theory is background-independent if the structure required to make sense of its equations is itself subject to dynamical evolution, rather than being imposed ab initio. The aim of this paper is to…
Double field theory describes a massless subsector of closed string theory with both momentum and winding excitations. The gauge algebra is governed by the Courant bracket in certain subsectors of this double field theory. We construct the…
We study gauge theories of background fields associated to BRST quantized spinning particle models and identify background-independent algebraic structures which allow to systematically reduce the spectrum of fields and subject some of them…
We reconsider the consistency constraints on a free massless symmetric, rank 2, tensor field in a background and confirm that they uniquely require it to be the linear deviation about (cosmological) Einstein gravity. Neither adding…
We propose a definition for background (in)/dependence in dynamical theories of the evolution of configurations that have a continuous symmetry and test this definition on particle models and on gravity. Our definition draws from Barbour's…
The set of string vertices is extended to include moduli spaces with genus and numbers of ordinary and special punctures ranging over all integral values $g,n,\bar n\geq0$. It is argued that both the string background and the B-V delta…
String geometry theory is a candidate of the non-perturbative formulation of string theory. In order to determine the string vacuum, we need to clarify how string backgrounds are described in string geometry theory. In this paper, we show…
We improve and extend a method introduced in an earlier paper for deriving string field equations. The idea is to impose conformal invariance on a generalized sigma model, using a background field method that ensures covariance under very…
We discuss the meaning of background independence in quantum theories of gravity where geometry and gravity are emergent and illustrate the possibilities using the framework of quantum causal histories.
The free graviton theory given by linearising Einstein's theory has a dual formulation in terms of a dual graviton field. The dual graviton theory has two gauge invariances giving rise to two conserved charges, while the ADM charges of the…
A manifestly T-dual invariant formulation of bosonic string theory is discussed here. It can be obtained by making both the usual string compact coordinates and their duals explicitly appear, on the same footing, in the world-sheet action.…
In this note, we describe how the study of backgrounds for general quantum systems can be formulated in terms of the representation theory of abstract $C^*$ algebras. We illustrate our general framework through two example systems:…
Given two conformal field theories related to each other by a marginal perturbation, and string field theories constructed around such backgrounds, we show how to construct explicit redefinition of string fields which relate these two…
Diffeomorphism invariance is sometimes taken to be a criterion of background independence. This claim is commonly accompanied by a second, that the genuine physical magnitudes (the "observables") of background-independent theories and those…
The history of general relativity suggests that in absence of experimental data, constructing a theory on philosophical first principles can lead to a very useful theory as well as to ground-breaking insights about physical reality. The two…