Related papers: A toy model for background independent string fiel…
A framework for background independent open-string field theory is proposed. The approach involves using the BV formalism -- in a way suggested by recent developments in closed-string field theory -- to implicitly define a gauge invariant…
The main limitations of string field theory arise because its present formulation requires a background representing a classical solution, a background defined by a strictly conformally invariant theory. Here we sketch a construction for a…
We review our most recent results in formulating gauge theories in the presence of a background field on the basis of symmetry arguments only. In particular we show how one can gain full control over the dependence on the background field…
We propose a construction for nonlinear off-shell gauge field theories based on a constrained system quantized in the sense of deformation quantization. The key idea is to consider the star-product BFV--BRST master equation as an equation…
We construct BRST operators for certain higher-spin extensions of the Virasoro algebra, in which there is a spin-$s$ gauge field on the world sheet, as well as the spin-2 gauge field corrresponding to the two-dimensional metric. We use…
I discuss various aspects of background independence in the context of string theory, for which so far we have no manifestly background independent formulation. After reviewing the role of background independence in classical Einstein…
We show that for open gauge theories, it is possible to build an off-shell Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) algebra together with an invariant extension of the classical action. This is based on the introduction of auxiliary fields, after…
For free-field theories associated with BRST first-quantized gauge systems, we identify generalized auxiliary fields and pure gauge variables already at the first-quantized level as the fields associated with algebraically contractible…
We discuss string spectra in the low-tension limit using the BRST formalism, with emphasis on the role of triplets of totally symmetric tensors and spinor-tensors and their generalizations to cases with mixed symmetry and to (A)dS…
Classical field theory is insensitive to the split of the field into a background configuration and a dynamical perturbation. In gauge theories, the situation is complicated by the fact that a covariant (w.r.t. the background field) gauge…
We briefly review some modern developments in higher spin field theory and their links with superstring theory. The analysis is based on various BRST constructions allowing to derive the Lagrangians for massive and massless higher spin…
Multi-brane backgrounds are studied in the framework of the background independent open string field theory. A simple description of the non-abelian degrees of freedom is given. Algebra of the differential operators acting on the space of…
We develop a new background independent Moyal star formalism in bosonic open string field theory. The new star product is formulated in a half-phase-space, and because phase space is independent of any background fields, the interactions…
We compute tree-level gluon amplitudes as worldline correlators of vertex operators in a bosonic spinning particle model. In this framework, the particle's position degrees of freedom are extended by complex bosonic variables that encode…
We revisit the non-linear sigma model approach to string theory with the closed superstring field theory. We construct the string field theory around the non-linear sigma model background with the patch-by-patch description. We show that…
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…
Given a family of world-sheet superconformal field theories related by marginal deformation, we can formulate superstring field theory based on any of these world-sheet theories. Background independence is the statement that these different…
These notes comprise a part of the introductory lectures on Higher Spin Theory presented in the Eighth Modave Summer School in Mathematical Physics. We construct free higher-spin theories and turn on interactions to find that…
Through their respective sigma models, a bosonic string and a superstring can be coupled to (super)gravity fields. These are subsequently forced to satisfy their right classical equation of motions, as a consequence of quantization of the…
Work in progress is described which aims to construct a background independent formulation of M theory by extending results about background independent states and observables from quantum general relativity and supergravity to string…