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Leonardo Rastelli

Publications and source records attributed to Leonardo Rastelli.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
arXiv2007

Spectral Flow in AdS(3)/CFT(2)

We study the spectral flowed sectors of the H3 WZW model in the context of the holographic duality between type IIB string theory in AdS(3)x S^3 x T^4 with NSNS flux and the symmetric product orbifold of T^4. We construct explicitly the physical vertex operators in the flowed sectors that belong to short representations of the superalgebra, thus completing the bulk-to-boundary dictionary for 1/2 BPS states. We perform a partial calculation of the string three-point functions of these operators. A complete calculation would require the three-point couplings of non-extremal flowed operators in the H3 WZW model, which are at present unavailable. In the unflowed sector, perfect agreement has recently been found between the bulk and boundary three-point functions of 1/2 BPS operators. Assuming that this agreement persists in the flowed sectors, we determine certain unknown three-point couplings in the H3 WZW model in terms of three-point couplings of affine descendants in the SU(2) WZW model.

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arXiv2007

The off-shell Veneziano amplitude in Schnabl gauge

We give a careful definition of the open string propagator in Schnabl gauge and present its worldsheet interpretation. The propagator requires two Schwinger parameters and contains the BRST operator. It builds surfaces by gluing strips of variable width to the left and to the right of off-shell states with contracted or expanded local frames. We evaluate explicitly the four-point amplitude of off-shell tachyons. The computation involves a subtle boundary term, crucial to enforce the correct exchange symmetries. Interestingly, the familiar on-shell physics emerges even though string diagrams produce Riemann surfaces more than once. Off-shell, the amplitudes do not factorize over intermediate on-shell states.

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arXiv2007

Double-Trace Deformations, Mixed Boundary Conditions and Functional Determinants in AdS/CFT

According to the AdS/CFT dictionary, perturbing the large N boundary theory by a relevant double-trace deformation of the form f O^2 corresponds in the bulk to imposing ``mixed'' boundary conditions for the field dual to O. In this note we address various aspects of this correspondence. The change c_{UV} - c_{IR} of the central charge between the UV ad IR fixed points is known from explicit calculations (hep-th/0210093, hep-th/0212138) to be exactly the same in the bulk and in the boundary theories. By comparing the appropriate bulk and boundary functional determinants, we give a simple ``kinematic'' explanation for this universal agreement. We also clarify the prescription for computing AdS/CFT correlators with Delta_- boundary conditions.

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arXiv2006

Analytic Solutions for Tachyon Condensation with General Projectors

The tachyon vacuum solution of Schnabl is based on the wedge states, which close under the star product and interpolate between the identity state and the sliver projector. We use reparameterizations to solve the long-standing problem of finding an analogous family of states for arbitrary projectors and to construct analytic solutions based on them. The solutions simplify for special projectors and allow explicit calculations in the level expansion. We test the solutions in detail for a one-parameter family of special projectors that includes the sliver and the butterfly. Reparameterizations further allow a one-parameter deformation of the solution for a given projector, and in a certain limit the solution takes the form of an operator insertion on the projector. We discuss implications of our work for vacuum string field theory.

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arXiv2006

Solving Open String Field Theory with Special Projectors

Schnabl recently found an analytic expression for the string field tachyon condensate using a gauge condition adapted to the conformal frame of the sliver projector. We propose that this construction is more general. The sliver is an example of a special projector, a projector such that the Virasoro operator Ł_0 and its BPZ adjoint Ł*_0 obey the algebra [Ł_0, Ł*_0] = s (Ł_0 + Ł*_0), with s a positive real constant. All special projectors provide abelian subalgebras of string fields, closed under both the *-product and the action of Ł_0. This structure guarantees exact solvability of a ghost number zero string field equation. We recast this infinite recursive set of equations as an ordinary differential equation that is easily solved. The classification of special projectors is reduced to a version of the Riemann-Hilbert problem, with piecewise constant data on the boundary of a disk.

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arXiv2006

String Field Theory

This article is a concise review of covariant string field theory prepared for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, Elsevier (2006). Referencing follows the publisher's guidelines.

hep-th↗
arXiv2006

Minimal AdS_3

We show that Type IIB string theory on AdS_3 X S^3 X M_4 with p units of NS flux contains an integrable subsector, isomorphic to the minimal (p,1) bosonic string. To this end, we construct a topological string theory with target space Euclidean AdS_3 X S^3. We use a variant of Hamiltonian reduction to prove its equivalence to the minimal (p,1) string. The topological theory is then embedded in the physical ten-dimensional IIB string theory. Correlators of tachyons in the minimal string are mapped to correlators of spacetime chiral primaries in the IIB theory, in the presence of background 5-form RR flux. We also uncover a ground ring structure in AdS_3 X S^3 analogous to the well-known ground ring of the minimal string. This tractable model provides a literal incarnation of the idea that the holographic direction of AdS space is the Liouville field. We discuss a few generalizations, in particular we show that the N=4 topological string on an A_{p-1} ALE singularity also reduces to the (p,1) minimal string.

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arXiv2004

Minimal Superstrings and Loop Gas Models

We reformulate the matrix models of minimal superstrings as loop gas models on random surfaces. In the continuum limit, this leads to the identification of minimal superstrings with certain bosonic string theories, to all orders in the genus expansion. RR vertex operators arise as operators in a Z_2 twisted sector of the matter CFT. We show how the loop gas model implements the sum over spin structures expected from the continuum RNS formulation. Open string boundary conditions are also more transparent in this language.

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arXiv2004

A paradigm of open/closed duality: Liouville D-branes and the Kontsevich model

We argue that topological matrix models (matrix models of the Kontsevich type) are examples of exact open/closed duality. The duality works at finite N and for generic `t Hooft couplings. We consider in detail the paradigm of the Kontsevich model for two-dimensional topological gravity. We demonstrate that the Kontsevich model arises by topological localization of cubic open string field theory on N stable branes. Our analysis is based on standard worldsheet methods in the context of non-critical bosonic string theory. The stable branes have Neumann (FZZT) boundary conditions in the Liouville direction. Several generalizations are possible.

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arXiv2004

Is Theta+(1540) a Kaon--Skyrmion Resonance?

We reconsider the relationship between the bound state and the SU(3) rigid rotator approaches to strangeness in the Skyrme model. For non-exotic S=-1 baryons the bound state approach matches for small m_K onto the rigid rotator approach, and the bound state mode turns into the rotator zero-mode. However, for small m_K, we find no S=+1 kaon bound states or resonances in the spectrum, confirming previous work. This suggests that, at least for large N and small m_K, the exotic state may be an artifact of the rigid rotator approach to the Skyrme model. An S=+1 near-threshold state comes into existence only for sufficiently large SU(3) breaking. If such a state exists, then it has the expected quantum numbers of Theta+: I=0, J=1/2 and positive parity. Other exotic states with (I=1, J^P=3/2+), (I=1,J^P=1/2+), (I=2, J^P=5/2+) and (I=2,J^P=3/2+) appear as its SU(2) rotator excitations. As a test of our methods, we also identify a D-wave S=-1 near-threshold resonance that, upon SU(2) collective coordinate quantization, reproduces the mass splittings of the observed states Lambda(1520), Sigma(1670) and Sigma(1775) with good accuracy.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2004

Closed Strings as Imaginary D-branes

Sen has recently drawn attention to an exact time-dependent Boundary Conformal Field Theory with the space-time interpretation of brane creation and annihilation. An interesting limit of this BCFT is formally equivalent to an array of D-branes located in imaginary time. This raises the question: what is the meaning of D-branes in imaginary time? The answer we propose is that D-branes in imaginary time define purely closed string backgrounds. In particular we prove that the disk scattering amplitude of m closed strings off an arbitrary configuration of imaginary branes is equivalent to a sphere amplitude with m+1 closed string insertions. The extra puncture is a specific closed string state, generically normalizable, that depends on the details of the brane configuration. We study in some detail the special case of the array of imaginary D-branes related to Sen's BCFT and comment on its space-time interpretation. We point out that a certain limit of our set-up allows to study classical black hole creation and suggests a relation between Choptuik's critical behavior and a phase-transition a` la Gregory-Laflamme. We speculate that open string field theory on imaginary D-branes is dual to string theory on the corresponding closed string background.

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arXiv2003

Ghost Structure and Closed Strings in Vacuum String Field Theory

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 expansion studies in the Siegel gauge, allows a simple analytic treatment of the ghost sector of the string field equations. As a result, solutions are just projectors, such as the sliver, of an auxiliary CFT built by combining the matter part with a twisted version of the ghost conformal theory. Level expansion experiments lead to surprising new projectors -- butterfly surface states, whose analytical expressions are obtained. With the help of a suitable open-closed string vertex we define open-string gauge invariant operators parametrized by on-shell closed string states. We use regulated vacuum string field theory to sketch how pure closed string amplitudes on surfaces without boundaries arise as correlators of such gauge invariant operators.

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arXiv2002

Experimental String Field Theory

We develop efficient algorithms for level-truncation computations in open bosonic string field theory. We determine the classical action in the universal subspace to level (18,54) and apply this knowledge to numerical evaluations of the tachyon condensate string field. We obtain two main sets of results. First, we directly compute the solutions up to level L=18 by extremizing the level-truncated action. Second, we obtain predictions for the solutions for L > 18 from an extrapolation to higher levels of the functional form of the tachyon effective action. We find that the energy of the stable vacuum overshoots -1 (in units of the brane tension) at L=14, reaches a minimum E_min = -1.00063 at L ~ 28 and approaches with spectacular accuracy the predicted answer of -1 as L -> infinity. Our data are entirely consistent with the recent perturbative analysis of Taylor and strongly support the idea that level-truncation is a convergent approximation scheme. We also check systematically that our numerical solution, which obeys the Siegel gauge condition, actually satisfies the full gauge-invariant equations of motion. Finally we investigate the presence of analytic patterns in the coefficients of the tachyon string field, which we are able to reliably estimate in the L -> infinity limit.

hep-th↗
arXiv2002

Star Algebra Projectors

Surface states are open string field configurations which arise from Riemann surfaces with a boundary and form a subalgebra of the star algebra. We find that a general class of star algebra projectors arise from surface states where the open string midpoint reaches the boundary of the surface. The projector property of the state and the split nature of its wave-functional arise because of a nontrivial feature of conformal maps of nearly degenerate surfaces. Moreover, all such projectors are invariant under constant and opposite translations of their half-strings. We show that the half-string states associated to these projectors are themselves surface states. In addition to the sliver, we identify other interesting projectors. These include a butterfly state, which is the tensor product of half-string vacua, and a nothing state, where the Riemann surface collapses.

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arXiv2002

Patterns in Open String Field Theory Solutions

In open string field theory the kinetic operator mixes matter and ghost sectors, and thus the ghost structure of classical solutions is not universal. Nevertheless, we have found from numerical analysis that certain ratios of expectation values for states involving pure ghost excitations appear to be universal. We give an analytic expression for these ratios and find good evidence that they are common to all known solutions of open string field theory, including the tachyon vacuum solution, lump solutions and string fields representing marginal deformations. We also draw attention to a close correspondence between the expectation values for the pure matter components in the tachyon vacuum solution and those in the solution of a simpler equation for a ghost number zero string field. Finally we observe that the action of L_0 on the tachyon condensate gives a state that is approximately factorized into a matter and a ghost part.

hep-th↗
arXiv2001

Star Algebra Spectroscopy

The spectrum of the infinite dimensional Neumann matrices M^{11}, M^{12} and M^{21} in the oscillator construction of the three-string vertex determines key properties of the star product and of wedge and sliver states. We study the spectrum of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of these matrices using the derivation K_1 = L_1 + L_{-1} of the star algebra, which defines a simple infinite matrix commuting with the Neumann matrices. By an exact calculation of the spectrum of K_1, and by consideration of an operator generating wedge states, we are able to find analytic expressions for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Neumann matrices and for the spectral density. The spectrum of M^{11} is continuous in the range [-1/3, 0) with degenerate twist even and twist odd eigenvectors for every eigenvalue except for -1/3.

hep-th↗
arXiv2001

A Note on a Proposal for the Tachyon State in Vacuum String Field Theory

We discuss the proposal of Hata and Kawano for the tachyon fluctuation around a solution of vacuum string field theory representing a D25 brane. We give a conformal field theory construction of their state -- a local insertion of a tachyon vertex operator on the sliver surface state, and explain why the on-shell momentum condition emerges correctly. We also show that a naive computation of the D25-brane tension using data for the three point coupling of this state gives an answer that is $(π^2/3)(16/27\ln 2)^3 \simeq 2.0558$ times the expected answer. We demonstrate that this problem arises because the HK state does not satisfy the equations of motion in a strong sense required for the computation of D-brane tension from the on-shell 3-tachyon coupling.

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