A note on tachyon actions in string theory

dc.creatorHeadrick, Matthew
dc.date2008-10-15
dc.date2008-12-06
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:51:19Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:51:19Z
dc.descriptionA number of spacetime fields in string theory (notably the metric, dilaton, bosonic and type 0 bulk closed-string tachyon, and bosonic open-string tachyon) have the following property: whenever the spacetime field configuration factorizes in an appropriate sense, the matter sector of the world-sheet theory factorizes into a tensor product of two decoupled theories. Since the beta functions for such a product theory necessarily also factorize, this property strongly constrains the form of the spacetime action encoding those beta functions. We show that this constraint alone--without needing actually to compute any of the beta functions--is sufficient to fix the form of the two-derivative action for the metric-dilaton system, as well as the potential for the bosonic open-string tachyon. We also show that no action consistent with this constraint exists for the closed-string tachyon coupled to the metric and dilaton.
dc.description17 pages; v2: comments on implications for string field theory added; refs added
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0810.2809
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0810.2809
dc.identifierPhys.Rev.D79:046009,2009
dc.identifierdoi:10.1103/PhysRevD.79.046009
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/222952
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.titleA note on tachyon actions in string theory
dc.typetext

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