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arXiv · hep-th/9402106

Light-Cone Gauge Quantization of 2D Sigma Models

Robert Rudd
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Abstract

This work describes the formulation of the manifestly ghost-free (spacetime) light-cone gauge for bosonic string theory with non-trivial spacetime metric, antisymmetric tensor, dilaton and tachyon fields. The action is a general two-dimensional sigma model, corresponding to a closed string theory with a second order action in the Polyakov picture. The spacetime fields must have a symmetry generated by a null, covariantly constant spacetime vector in order for the light-cone gauge to be accessible. Also, the theory must be Weyl invariant. The conditions for Weyl invariance are computed within the light-cone gauge, reproducing the usual beta functions. The calculation of the dilaton beta function and the critical dimension is somewhat novel in this ghost-free theory. Some exactly solvable light-cone theories are discussed.

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Robert Rudd. 1994-02-17. Light-Cone Gauge Quantization of 2D Sigma Models. https://doi.org/10.1016/0550-3213(94)90270-4

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