A new approach to strings and superstrings

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:7265054

Sparano, G

The subject of this thesis is a new, more general, action principle for strings, superstrings, and extended objects in any number of dimensions. The origin and motivations for this approach can be found in the context of the study of the symmetries of string theories and, more specifically, are related to the application of K.S.K. (Kirillov, Souriau, Kostant) construction to strings. The main results we find are: (A) A classification of string theories analogous to the classification of relativistic point particles as massive, massless and tachionic with or without spin. Nambu-Goto string and Schild null string emerge as special cases of a more general classification of strings. (B) A new method to introduce spin in strings by using a Wess-Zumino term in the action. (C) Several results are obtained through the study of the configuration space which shows a rich topological structure: for the Nambu-Goto string in any number of dimensions it is found the existence of theta states analogous to the theta-vacua of nonabelian gauge theories. For the closed Schild Null string, in four dimensions, this analysis shows Z2 solitons and the possibility of quantizing the system so that the states are spinorial (have half odd integral spin) even though the Lagrangian consists only of bosonic variables. (D) Unlike Nambu-Goto string, the quantization of Schild Null string is consistent in any number of space-time dimensions. Besides these concrete results, the formalism we introduce will hopefully give also new insights in the problem of the hidden symmetries of the string.

• Research Organization: Syracuse Univ., NY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7265054
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
STRING MODELS
CALCULATION METHODS
FIELD THEORIES
MANY-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SYMMETRY
COMPOSITE MODELS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EXTENDED PARTICLE MODEL
PARTICLE MODELS
QUARK MODEL
657000* - Theoretical & Mathematical Physics
645400 - High Energy Physics- Field Theory