arXiv subjects

Nathan Berkovits

Publications and source records attributed to Nathan Berkovits.

132 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv1993

A New Approach to the Green-Schwarz Superstring

By replacing two of the bosonic scalar superfields of the N=2 string with fermionic scalar superfields (which shifts $d_{critical}$ from (2,2) to (9,1)), a quadratic action for the ten-dimensional Green-Schwarz superstring is obtained. Using the usual N=2 super-Virasoro ghosts, one can construct a BRST operator, picture-changing operators, and covariant vertex operators for the Green-Schwarz superstring. Superstring scattering amplitudes with an arbitrary number of loops and external massless states are then calculated by evaluating correlation functions of these vertex operators on N=2 super-Riemann surfaces, and integrating over the N=2 super-moduli. These multiloop superstring amplitudes have been proven to be SO(9,1) super-Poincaré invariant (by constructing the super-Poincaré generators and writing the amplitudes in manifest SO(9,1) notation), unitary (by showing agreement with amplitudes obtained using the light-cone gauge Green-Schwarz formalism), and finite (by explicitly checking for divergences in the amplitudes when the Riemann surface degenerates). There is no multiloop ambiguity in these Green-Schwarz scattering amplitudes since spacetime-supersymmetry is manifest (there is no sum over spin structures), and therefore the moduli space can be compactified.

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arXiv1993

Finiteness and Unitarity of Lorentz-Covariant Green-Schwarz Superstring Amplitudes

In two recent papers, a new method was developed for calculating ten-dimensional superstring amplitudes with an arbitrary number of loops and external massless particles, and for expressing them in manifestly Lorentz-invariant form. By explicitly checking for divergences when the Riemann surface degenerates, these amplitudes are proven to be finite. By choosing light-cone moduli for the surface and comparing with the light-cone Green-Schwarz formalism, these amplitudes are proven to be unitary.

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arXiv1993

A New Sigma Model Action for the Four-Dimensional Green-Schwarz Heterotic Superstring

The sigma model action described in this paper differs in four important features from the usual sigma model action for the four-dimensional Green-Schwarz heterotic superstring in a massless background. Firstly, the action is constructed on an N=(2,0) super-worldsheet using a Kahler potential and an Ogievetsky-Sokatchev constraint; secondly, the target-space background fields are unconstrained; thirdly, the target-space dilaton couples to the two-dimensional curvature; and fourthly, the action reduces in a flat background to a free-field action. A conjecture is made for generalizing this N=(2,0) sigma model action to the ten-dimensional Green-Schwarz heterotic superstring in a manner that preserves these four new features.

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arXiv1992

Lorentz-Covariant Green-Schwarz Superstring Amplitudes

In a recent paper, the BRST formalism for the gauge-fixed N=2 twistor-string was used to calculate Green-Schwarz supersring scattering amplitudes with an arbitrary number of loops and external massless states. Although the gauge-fixing procedure preserved the worldsheet N=2 superconformal invariance of the twistor-string, it broke the target-space SO(9,1) super-Poincaré invariance down to an SU(4)xU(1) subgroup. In this paper, generators for the SO(9,1) super-Poincaré transformations, as well as manifestly covariant vertex operators, are explicitly constructed out of the gauge-fixed matter fields. The earlier calculated amplitudes are then expressed in manifestly Lorentz-covariant notation.

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arXiv1992

Calculation of Green-Schwarz Superstring Amplitudes Using the N=2 Twistor-String Formalism

The manifestly SU(4)xU(1) super-Poincare invariant free-field N=2 twistor- string action for the ten-dimensional Green-Schwarz superstring is quantized using standard BRST methods. Unlike the light-cone and semi-light-cone gauge-fixed Green-Schwarz actions, the twistor-string action does not require interaction-point operators at the zeroes of the light-cone momentum, $\dz x^+$, which complicated all previous calculations. After defining the vertex operator for the massless physical supermultiplet, as well as two picture-changing operators and an instanton-number-changing operator, scattering amplitudes for an arbitrary number of loops and external massless states are explicitly calculated by evaluating free-field correlation functions of these operators on N=2 super-Riemann surfaces of the appropriate topology, and integrating over the global moduli. Although there is no sum over spin structures, only discrete values of the global U(1) moduli contribute to the amplitudes. Because the spacetime supersymmetry generators do not contain ghost fields, the amplitudes are manifestly spacetime supersymmetric, there is no multiloop ambiguity, and the non-renormalization theorem is easily proven. By choosing the picture-changing operators to be located at the zeroes of $\dz x^+$, these amplitudes are shown to agree with amplitudes obtained using the manifestly unitary light-cone gauge formalism.

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arXiv1992

The Heterotic Green-Schwarz Superstring on an N=(2,0) Super-Worldsheet

By defining the heterotic Green-Schwarz superstring action on an N=(2,0) super-worldsheet, rather than on an ordinary worldsheet, many problems with the interacting Green-Schwarz superstring formalism can be solved. In the light-cone approach, superconformally transforming the light-cone super-worldsheet onto an N=(2,0) super-Riemann surface allows the elimination of the non-trivial interaction-point operators that complicate the evaluation of scattering amplitudes. In the Polyakov approach, the ten-dimensional heterotic Green-Schwarz covariant action defined on an N=(2,0) super-worldsheet can be gauge-fixed to a free-field action with non-anomalous N=(2,0) superconformal invariance, and integrating the exponential of the covariant action over all punctured N=(2,0) super-Riemann surfaces produces scattering amplitudes that closely resemble amplitudes obtained using the unitary light-cone approach.

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