Related papers: Three-Dimensional Gravity and String Ghosts
We complete the construction of vacuum string field theory by proposing a canonical choice of ghost kinetic term -- a local insertion of the ghost field at the string midpoint with an infinite normalization. This choice, supported by level…
The triadic description of General Relativity in three dimensions is known to be a BF theory. Diffeomorphisms, as symmetries, are easily re- covered on shell from the symmetries of BF theory. This note describes an explicit off-shell BV…
We reinvestigate the dilaton coupling in the string theory, which comes from a wrapped membrane. The ghost number anomaly associated with the string worldsheet diffeomorphism is shown to induce the dilaton coupling.
In these lectures I discuss various unsolved problems of string theory and their relations to quantum gravity, 3d Ising model, large N QCD, and quantum cosmology. No solutions are presented but some new and perhaps useful approaches are…
String theories with two dimensional space-time target spaces are characterized by the existence of a ``ground ring'' of operators of spin $(0,0)$. By understanding this ring, one can understand the symmetries of the theory and illuminate…
In String Theory there often appears a rather interesting class of higher derivative theories containing an infinite set of derivatives in the form of an exponential. These theories may provide a way to tame ultraviolet divergences without…
We consider the gauge algebra of closed string field theory with a focus on diffeomorphisms. This algebra contains off-shell information in two ways. The first way is geometric, through the choice of three-punctured sphere defining the…
Two-dimensional fermionic string theory is shown to have a structure of topological model, which is isomorphic to a tensor product of two topological ghost systems independent of each other. One of them is identified with $c=1$ bosonic…
Topologically massive gravity (TMG) in three dimensions provides an interesting toy model for constructing a quantum theory of gravity. Although it can be thought of as standing as a theory in its own right, it is also of interest to see…
I consider a three-dimensional string theory whose action, besides the standard area term, contains one of the form $\int_{\Sigma} \epsilon_{\mu\nu\sigma} X^{\mu} d X^{\nu} \wedge d X^{\sigma}$. In the case of closed strings this extra term…
The effective action of string theory in three dimensions is investigated, incorporating the Lorentz and gauge Chern-Simons terms in the definition of the Kalb-Ramond axion field strength. Since in three dimensions any three-form is…
We present an overview of a theory of complex dimensions of self-similar fractal strings, and compare this theory to the theory of varieties over a finite field from the geometric and the dynamical point of view. Then we combine the several…
The origin of the graviton from string theory is well understood: it corresponds to a massless state in closed string spectra, whose low-energy effective action, as extracted from string scattering amplitudes, is that of Einstein-Hilbert.…
We discuss three closely related questions; i)~Given a conformal field theory, how may we deform it? ii)~What are the symmetries of string theory? and iii)~Does string theory have free parameters? We show that there is a distinct…
The possible tensor constructions of open string theories are analyzed from first principles. To this end the algebraic framework of open string field theory is clarified, including the role of the homotopy associative A_\infty algebra, the…
A brief review of aspects of gravity gauge theory correspondance inspired by string theory is presented.
It is argued that quantum gravity has an interpretation as a topological field theory provided a certain constraint from the path intergral measure is respected. The constraint forces us to couple gauge and matter fields to gravity for…
We briefly review three aspects of string cosmology: (1) the ``stochastic'' approach to the pre-big bang scenario, (2) the presence of chaos in the generic cosmological solutions of the tree-level low-energy effective actions coming out of…
We remark that Ostrogradsky ghosts in higher-derivative gravity, with a finite number of derivatives, are fictitious as they result from an unjustified truncation performed in a complete theory containing infinitely many curvature…
A brief review of string theory on group manifolds is given, and comparisons are then drawn between Minkowski space, SU(2), and SU(1,1) = AdS_3. The proof of the no-ghost theorem is outlined, assuming a certain restriction on the…