Non-abelian Bose-Fermi equivalence in the background of Kaluza-Klein scalars and compactifications of closed bosonic strings

Dimitra Karabali, Q. Han Park, Howard J. Schnitzer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The two-dimensional non-abelian Bose-Fermi equivalence in the presence of background gauge fields and "Kaluza-Klein" scalar fields is derived. It is shown that a current-current interaction linear in the background scalar field in the Fermi version leads to interactions which involve all orders in the background scalar fields in the Bose version of the theory. Implications for the possible embedding of the heterotic string in the closed bosonic string with a special choice of background fields are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)267-272
Number of pages6
JournalPhysics Letters B
Volume205
Issue number2-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1988 Apr 28
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Non-abelian Bose-Fermi equivalence \[1 -3 \] of the two-dimensional non-linear a-model has proved to be a valuable tool for string theory, as well as an interesting subject in its own right. In order to preserve conformal invariance of the quantum theory, the bosonic action must be that of the two-dimensional Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) model. One particularly useful application \[2,3 \] of the gauged version of the WZW model is to bosonic strings on the group manifolds O(N), U(N), and SU(N) for any level k, since the non-abelian Bose-Fermi equivalence provides a fermionic description of these theories on the world-sheet. The fermionic description linearizes the problem, and allows one to study the relationship of bosonic strings to superstrings. \[For O(N) and U (N), k~> 2, and SU(N), k>_-1, the fermionic version of the string theory also requires gauge fields on the world-sheet \[2,4 \], which serve as Lagrange parameters to place constraints on the currents. \] The massless excitations of a string on a group manifold G are gauge fields A~ (,4~), which transform as the adjoint of GL (GR), and "Kaluza-Klein" scalars S ~, which transform as (adj, adj) of GL × GR ~'. In addition, there are the usual massless "~ Research supported in part by the US Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC03-76-ER03230-A018. ~ There are exceptional cases, where additional massless scalars and gauge bosons occur, cf. ref. \[5 \].

Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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