arXiv subjects

R. A. Reid-Edwards

Publications and source records attributed to R. A. Reid-Edwards.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

String theory in twistor space and minimal tension holography

Explicit examples of the AdS/CFT correspondence where both bulk and boundary theories are tractable are hard to come by, but the minimal tension string on $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ is one notable example. In this paper, we discuss how one can construct sigma models on twistor space, with a particular focus on applying these techniques to the aforementioned string theory. We derive novel incidence relations, which allow us to understand to what extent the minimal tension string encodes information about the bulk. We identify vertex operators in terms of bulk twistor variables and a map from twistor space to spacetime is presented. We also demonstrate the presence of a partially broken global supersymmetry algebra in the minimal tension string and we argue that this implies that there exists an $\mathcal{N} = 2$ formulation of the theory. The implications of this are studied and we demonstrate the presence of an additional constraint on physical states.

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arXiv2024

Symmetries and Covering Maps for the Minimal Tension String on $\mathbf{AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4}$

This paper considers a recently-proposed string theory on $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ with one unit of NS-NS flux ($k=1$). We discuss interpretations of the target space, including connections to twistor geometry and a more conventional spacetime interpretation via the Wakimoto representation. We propose an alternative perspective on the role of the Wakimoto formalism in the $k=1$ string, for which no large radius limit is required by the inclusion of extra operator insertions in the path integral. This provides an exact Wakimoto description of the worldsheet CFT. We also discuss an additional local worldsheet symmetry, $Q(z)$, that emerges when $k=1$ and show that this symmetry plays an important role in the localisation of the path integral to a sum over covering maps. We demonstrate the emergence of a rigid worldsheet translation symmetry in the radial direction of the $AdS_3$, for which again the presence of $Q(z)$ is crucial. We conjecture that this radial symmetry plays a key role in understanding, in the case of the $k=1$ string, the encoding of the bulk physics on the two-dimensional boundary.

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arXiv2022

Operator Deformations and T-duality via Parallel Transport

We consider deformations of CFTs from the perspective of parallel transport in moduli space. In particular, we show how the deformations of individual operators can be computed and we also explore how these ideas can be extended to more general QFTs lacking conformal symmetry. We explore how to write one theory in terms of operators defined in a nearby theory, related to the first by a parallel transport in theory space. Using this construction, we describe how T-duality can be realised and how this provides a different perspective from the usual Buscher construction.

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arXiv2021

Torus Bundles, Automorphisms and T-Duality

We reconsider some older constructions of T-duality, based on automorphisms of the worldsheet operator algebra, in a modern context. It has been long known that at special points in the moduli space of torus compactifications, the target space gauge symmetry may be enhanced. Away from such points the symmetry is broken and T-duality may be understood as a residual discrete gauge symmetry that survives this breaking. Drawing on work on connections over the space of string backgrounds, we discuss how to generalise this framework for T-duality to geometric and non-geometric backgrounds that are not full solutions of string theory, but may play an important role in exact backgrounds. Along the way we find an interesting algebraic structure and discuss its relationship with doubled geometry. We comment on non-isometric T-duality in this context.

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arXiv2018

An Alternative Perspective on Ambitwistor String Theory

We review some ideas on the relationship between massless superparticles and the division algebras to provide a new perspective on ambitwsitor string theories. The key concern is the critical theory. We show that this theory has a reducible soft algebra, rather than a conventional Lie algebra. This algebra only closes on-shell. The BV procedure is employed to deal with the on-shell closure of the algebra and the classical Master Action is presented.

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arXiv2018

A Superstring Field Theory for Supergravity

A covariant closed superstring field theory, equivalent to classical ten-dimensional Type II supergravity, is presented. The defining conformal field theory is the ambitwistor string worldsheet theory of Mason and Skinner. This theory is known to reproduce the scattering amplitudes of Cachazo, He and Yuan in which the scattering equations play an important role and the string field theory naturally incorporates these results. We investigate the operator formalism description of the ambitwsitor string and propose an action for the string field theory of the bosonic and supersymmetric theories. The correct linearised gauge symmetries and spacetime actions are explicitly reproduced and evidence is given that the action is correct to all orders. The focus is on the Neveu-Schwarz sector and the explicit description of tree level perturbation theory about flat spacetime. Application of the string field theory to general supergravity backgrounds and the inclusion of the Ramond sector are briefly discussed.

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arXiv2016

Ambitwistor String Theory in the Operator Formalism

After a brief overview of the operator formalism for conventional string theory, an operator formalism for ambitwistor string theory is presented. It is shown how tree level supergravity scattering amplitudes are recovered in this formalism. More general applications of this formalism to loop amplitudes and the construction of an ambitwistor string field theory are briefly discussed.

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arXiv2012

The supersymmetric Penrose transform in six dimensions

We give a supersymmetric extension to the six-dimensional Penrose transform and give an integral formula for the on-shell (0, 2) supermultiplet. The relationship between super fields on space-time and twistor space is clarified and the space-time superfield constraint equations are derived from the geometry of supertwistor space. We also explain the extension to more general (0,n) supermultiplets and give twistor actions for these theories.

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arXiv2012

On Closed Twistor String Theory

The Heterotic twistor string theory of Mason and Skinner is investigated with particular attention given to the role of topological gravity on the world-sheet. The general structure of scattering amplitudes is discussed and expressed in terms of an integral over the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces.

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arXiv2012

Conformal Field Theories in Six-Dimensional Twistor Space

This article gives a study of the higher-dimensional Penrose transform between conformally invariant massless fields on space-time and cohomology classes on twistor space, where twistor space is defined to be the space of projective pure spinors of the conformal group. We focus on the 6-dimensional case in which twistor space is the six-quadric Q in CP^7 with a view to applications to the self-dual (0,2)-theory. We show how spinor-helicity momentum eigenstates have canonically defined distributional representatives on twistor space (a story that we extend to arbitrary dimension). These give an elementary proof of the surjectivity of the Penrose transform. We give a direct construction of the twistor transform between the two different representations of massless fields on twistor space (H^2 and H^3) in which the H^3s arise as obstructions to extending the H^2s off Q into CP^7. We also develop the theory of Sparling's `Ξ-transform', the analogous totally real split signature story based now on real integral geometry where cohomology no longer plays a role. We extend Sparling's Ξ-transform to all helicities and homogeneities on twistor space and show that it maps kernels and cokernels of conformally invariant powers of the ultrahyperbolic wave operator on twistor space to conformally invariant massless fields on space-time. This is proved by developing the 6-dimensional analogue of the half-Fourier transform between functions on twistor space and momentum space. We give a treatment of the elementary conformally invariant Φ^3 amplitude on twistor space and finish with a discussion of conformal field theories in twistor space.

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arXiv2011

On Type IIA geometries dual to N = 2 SCFTs

We provide explicit solutions of Type IIA supergravity which are believed to be dual to N = 2 superconformal four dimensional gauge theories. These explicit solutions are based on the general ansatz for such a type of backgrounds introduced by Gaiotto and Maldacena.

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arXiv2010

Bi-algebras, generalised geometry and T-duality

A study of sigma models whose target space is a group G that admits a compatible Poisson structure is presented. The natural action of O(D,D;Z) on the generalised tangent bundle TG+T*G and a generalisation of the Courant bracket that appears are reviewed. This background provides a concrete example where the generalised geometry and doubled geometry descriptions are both well understood. Connections between the two formalisms are discussed and the world-sheet theory from Hamiltonian and Lagrangian perspectives is investigated. The comparisons between the approaches given by generalised geometry and doubled geometry suggest possible ways of generalising the analysis beyond the known examples.

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arXiv2009

Non-geometric backgrounds, doubled geometry and generalised T-duality

String backgrounds with a local torus fibration such as T-folds are naturally formulated in a doubled formalism in which the torus fibres are doubled to include dual coordinates conjugate to winding number. Here we formulate and explore a generalisation of this construction in which all coordinates are doubled, so that the doubled space is a twisted torus, i.e. a compact space constructed from identifying a group manifold under a discrete subgroup. This incorporates reductions with duality twists, T-folds and a class of flux compactifications, together with the non-geometric backgrounds expected to arise from these through T-duality. It also incorporates backgrounds that are not even locally geometric, and suggests a generalisation of T-duality to a more general context. We discuss the effective field theory arising from such an internal sector, give a world-sheet sigma model formulation of string theory on such backgrounds and illustrate our discussion with detailed examples.

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arXiv2007

Gauge Symmetry, T-Duality and Doubled Geometry

String compactifications with T-duality twists are revisited and the gauge algebra of the dimensionally reduced theories calculated. These reductions can be viewed as string theory on T-fold backgrounds, and can be formulated in a `doubled space' in which each circle is supplemented by a T-dual circle to construct a geometry which is a doubled torus bundle over a circle. We discuss a conjectured extension to include T-duality on the base circle, and propose the introduction of a dual base coordinate, to give a doubled space which is locally the group manifold of the gauge group. Special cases include those in which the doubled group is a Drinfel'd double. This gives a framework to discuss backgrounds that are not even locally geometric.

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arXiv2006

Geometric and Non-Geometric Compactifications of IIB Supergravity

Complimentary geometric and non-geometric consistent reductions of IIB supergravity are studied. The geometric reductions on the identified group manifold X are found to have a gauge symmetry with Lie algebroid structure, generalising that found in similar reductions of the Bosonic string theory and eleven-dimensional supergravity. Examples of such compactifications are considered and the symmetry breaking in each case is analysed. Complimentary to the reductions on X are the nine-dimensional S-duality twisted reductions considered in the second half of the paper. The general reduced theory is given and symmetry breaking is investigated. The non-geometric S-duality twisted reductions and their relation to geometric reductions of F-Theory on X is briefly discussed.

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arXiv2006

Flux Compactifications of M-Theory on Twisted Tori

We find the bosonic sector of the gauged supergravities that are obtained from 11-dimensional supergravity by Scherk-Schwarz dimensional reduction with flux to any dimension D. We show that, if certain obstructions are absent, the Scherk-Schwarz ansatz for a finite set of D-dimensional fields can be extended to a full compactification of M-theory, including an infinite tower of Kaluza-Klein fields. The internal space is obtained from a group manifold (which may be non-compact) by a discrete identification. We discuss the symmetry algebra and the symmetry breaking patterns and illustrate these with particular examples. We discuss the action of U-duality on these theories in terms of symmetries of the D-dimensional supergravity, and argue that in general it will take geometric flux compactifications to M-theory on non-geometric backgrounds, such as U-folds with U-duality transition functions.

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arXiv2005

Flux Compactifications of String Theory on Twisted Tori

Global aspects of Scherk-Schwarz dimensional reduction are discussed and it is shown that it can usually be viewed as arising from a compactification on the compact space obtained by identifying a (possibly non-compact) group manifold G under a discrete subgroup Gamma, followed by a truncation. This allows a generalisation of Scherk-Schwarz reductions to string theory or M-theory as compactifications on G/Gamma, but only in those cases in which there is a suitable discrete subgroup of G. We analyse such compactifications with flux and investigate the gauge symmetry and its spontaneous breaking. We discuss the covariance under O(d,d), where d is the dimension of the group G, and the relation to reductions with duality twists. The compactified theories promote a subgroup of the O(d,d) that would arise from a toroidal reduction to a gauge symmetry, and we discuss the interplay between the gauge symmetry and the O(d,d,Z) T-duality group, suggesting the role that T-duality should play in such compactifications.

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