Volume 162B, n u m b e r 1,2,3 PHYSICS L E T T E R S 7 November 1985

LOCALITY IN THE GAUGE-COVARIANT FIELD THEORY OF S T R I N G S

Michio K A K U
Department of Physics, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560, Japan /
and Department of Physics, City College of the City University of New York, N Y 10031, USA 2

Received 5 August 1985

Recently, we wrote down the gauge-covariant field theory of the free bosonic, super, and heterotic strings. These second
quantized actions were derived from path integrals in the same way as F e y n m a n derived the Schr6dinger equation. These
actions possess all the local gauge invariance of the super Virasoro algebra. These actions, however, are non-local, it has been
conjectured that these actions can be made local by adding auxiliary fields. In this paper, we prove this conjecture to all orders,
making our action explicitly local.

1. Introduction. Years ago, we [ 1] proposed a field theory of interacting strings. The action was written in the
light-cone gauge [2] and was shown to reproduce the path-integral formalism for splitting strings [3,4]. Because
we did not know at the time how to incorporate the full Virasoro algebra, the action was written with all the gauge
symmetries explicitly broken, with all ghosts removed.
Recently, we proposed [5 ] * l the gauge-covariant action for free strings, which is explicitly invariant under the
full Virasoro group and is Lorentz invariant. We derived the action from the path.integral method, starting with the
Nambu-Goto action and carefully making "time" slices in the same way as Feynman [7] derived the Schr6dinger
equation starting with (1/2)mu 2. Our starting point for the free action is:

j × :D t @1)
xi

For the interaction term, we simply "time" slice the 2D surface where strings split or recombine. Based on the
path-integral method, we also wrote down the field theory of spinning strings [5,8] (the even G-parity sector of
the Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond model) which is invariant under both 2D SUSY (G and F gauges) as well as invari-
ant under 1OD SUSY (if certain matrices exist.)We also wrote down the free field theory of the Green-Schwarz
superstring [9] , 2 , where we removed all the bizarre infinite terms found in the covariant quantization [10] and
showed how to write down the action if we carefully incorporated the Dirac brackets of the second-class, constraints.
We also generalized our results to the heterotic string of Gross, Harvey, Martinec, and Rohm [11 ], where we first
tediously sorted out all the covariant first-class (supergauge) and second-class (left- and right-moving) constraints
of the theory. The resulting field theory [8] is manifestly invariant under the semi-direct product of the super-
Virasoro algebra and the Kac-_Moody E 8 X E 8 or spin (32)/Z 2 [12].
The advantage of the path-integral method is that it isolates both the propagator and the vertex function of
,4 This work was made possible by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and in part by NSF 82-15364.
1 Address until September 1, 1985.
2 Permanent address.
,1 This action was simultaneously proposed by Banks and Peskin [6].
•2 T h e k e y observation was also m a d e by T. Hori and K. K a m i m u r a , w h o wodced only in the f'trst quantized version.

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Volume 162B, number 1,2,3 PHYSICS LETTERS 7 November 1985

splitting strings. We are presently in the process of studying the vertex function and showing that it is a non-linear
realization of the Virasoro algebra.
Many have conjectured that the non-local nature of the lagrangian can be eliminated by incorporating extra
fields in the field theory. Whenever we have non-local propagators, this is an immediate indication that we must
introduce new fields to soak up the extra poles in the propagator.
We prove this conjecture to all orders by showing that our action can always be written with an additional set
of fields such that the action becomes explicitly local. In fact, the propagator of all fields simply reduces to L 0
minus a term which is equal to the zeros of the determinant of the Shapovalov matrix [13] , a . Since Kac has com-
puted all the zeros of the Shapovalov matrix for boson and fermionic strings [15], the string field theory is now
well defmed as a local field theory.
As an example, we explicitly calculate the lowest-order terms in the power expansion after calculating the
Shapovalov determinant. We find, naturally enough, that our action is precisely the same as the lower-order terms
given in the action of Neveu and West [ 16], which is computed to the seventh level.

2. The zeros o f the Shapovalov matrix. In ref. [ 1 ], we showed that the path-integral method, when we factorize
a slice of the two-dimensional world sheet of the bosonic string, produces the gauge-covariant action
£?(q~) = ~t (x, r ) e [ib r - (L 0 - t~0)]P~(x, r)
where P is a projection operator which annihilates spurious states and leaves real states invariant. (Notice that we
have the option of absorbing the "time" derivative by taking the Fourier transform and shifting the intercept. We
will, however, fmd the "time" coordinate useful when we go to the theory of interacting strings.)
In ref. [ 1], we gave three ways to derive the projection operator P for off-shell states. We will find the second
method (the method of Feigin-Fuchs [17]) the most convenient here.
Let us first review some terminology from the theory of Kac-Moody and related algebras [ 18 ]. Let L n ( L _ n )
be the raising (lowering) operators for the Virasoro algebra. Let IR) be a real, "highest weight vacuum vector"
such that is is annihilated by raising operators LnlR) = 0. Let the "universal enveloping algebra" U(L_n) consist
of all possible products that we can form from L _ n . A typical element of the enveloping algebra is L _ I =
U(L .).
Let p(N) equal the number of partitions of the integer N. Let I equal any number from 1 to p(N). If we let
N =III = zn= 1 i?~i, then I simply counts all possible partitions of the integer N =III.
Now let the "Verma module" be the set of states generated by the action of the universal enveloping algebra
on the highest weight vacuum vector: V(h, c) = U(L_n)IR), where L 0tR) = h lR) and c is the dimension of space-
time appearing in the universal extension (Schwinger term). Notice that all the vectors in the Verma module are
spurious states except for the highest weight vacuum vector IR).
Let I1) = L _ 110). Then we can define the Shapovalov matrix as:

S~j(L 0)10> = L~L_j 10>

for III = IJI =N. (If we apply this terminology to an ordinary Lie algebra, then the Verma module would corre-
spond to a multiplet and the Shapovalov matrix would correspond to the rotation matrix D I j . )
The projection operator can now be written as:
p(N)
P= 1 _pS = 1 - Z_IF (Lo)Zj .
N=I 1, J = l
Ill = I J I = N
The function F N (L0) can be uniquely determined by requiring that P L _ I IR) = 0. We then f'md:

, 3 The essential concepts were also introduced in ref. [ 14].

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N-1 p(M)
FN(Lo) = [5IL -AN-I(Lo)](S-1)NLj(Lo), ~ ~ L_IFM(Lo)LjL_slR)=L_pANsI(Lo)IR).
M=I l,J=l
II I= IJ I=M
(The proof of this is actually quite simple. If we operate P onto L_SI R), then the terms with IJI > IS I are simply
zero, the states with IJI = IS I yield the Shapovalov matrix, and the terms with IJI < ISI yield the matrixA.(L0),
which is known. Then the equation simply reduces to 1 - FS - A = 0.)
Notice that the non4ocal terms are precisely given by the determinant of the Shapovalov matrix, which is well
known. The next step is to decompose the matrixF(L0) into its pole terms.
Let us multiply P by (L 0 - 1) coming from the propagator of the action and define ff as (L 0 + III - 1) F. Then
we wish to decompose the poles of

$* L 0 - 1 - ~ L_I?M(Lo)Lj (~.
=1 l,J=l
II I = IJ I=M
Fortunately, we know that the Shapovalov matrix is always a simple polynomial in L 0. Let us now make an explic-
it decomposition of the ff matrix in terms of its poles, where we take care to reduce all terms to terms which are
regular in L 0 and terms which have poles.
Following the work of Kac [ 15 ], we know that (up to a multiplicative factor)

det SIN = l-I (L 0 - hp, q)p(N-pq) ,

P,q
where
hp, q = ( [ m q - ( m + l ) p ] 2-1}/4re(m-I), D=l-6[m(m+l)] -1 ,
and p, q are positive with pq ~<N and p (At) = the usual number of partitions of an integer N.
It is now a simple matter to reexpress the F m a t r i x in terms of a sum of poles: •
ANlm
Fffj(Lo) =I (I_,0 -aNl] m + BI~fJ "

Notice that the A matrix is a pure c-number, that the poles are, in general, multipole poles and B is regular.
Let us now introduce an infinite number of auxiliary fields which soak up the poles of the F matrix:

#tP(Lo-I)P~'+~*(LO-I-
~ P-('~)L_IBNLj)~
N = I III=IJI=N
1, Y=l

+ = III=IJI=N p ; N l m ( L 0 _ a N l ) m pNlm + p~Nlm AllNlrnl/2Ll ~ + wd~'~r*.,_l.'ll.1ANlm1/2 pjNlm .

I, J= 1
The action is now explicitly local.
It is a simple matter to eliminate the auxiliary fields and reobtain our original action.
Notice that the new action is a higher-derivative action because of the multiplicity of zeros of the Kac formula.
It is a simple matter to eliminate these higher-derivative terms by adding yet another set of auxiliary fields. For
example, in the term which is quadratic in p, we can always reexpress it as:

°+Nlm IJ + ~+Nlm,, ,,Ni~m/2,~Nlm + p+Nlm (L 0 aNl)m/2o~, lm

VlJ ~'~O - - ' I J J I'1,1 IJ -- IJ IJ '

i f m is even, and a simple modification i f m is odd.

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We notice that the precise nature of the auxiliary fields is not unique, but depends on different ways in which
we introduce auxiliary fields quadratically and on the relationships that A N obeys for different values of its indices.
We will find it instructive to carry out, to low order, the expansion of the F matrix in order to see exactly how
the auxiliary fields are introduced, which will depend on the values of the A N matrix.
To the first few orders, we fred that the projection operator has the form:
P = 1 -L_I(2L0)-IL 1 -L 2(4L 0 + 2)AL 2 + 3L_2AL 2 + 3L2__lAL2

+ L 2 1 { [4/,0(/, 0 + 1)] -1 - 2(4L 0 + ~ D ) L ~ I A ) L 1 + ....

where
A = [ 1 6 / , 0 + 2 ( / 9 -- 5 ) L 0 + D ] - 1 .

Therefore, we can write (setting D = 26)

_ 3
(L 0 - 1 ) P = L 0 -- 1 - ~ L _ I L 1 - ~ L _ 2 L 2 + (L 21 + ~ L - 2 ) ( 8 L 0 + 13)-1( L2 + ~ L 2 ) "
To the next level, the Shapovalov matrix is:
24L0(1 + LO)(1 + 2Lo) 36(L 0 + LO2) 24L 0
36(L 0 + L 2) 8Lo2 + 60L 0 + 52 16L 0 + 52I" .
/
24L 0 16L 0 + 52 6L 0 + 52 ]
Because of the relatively simple structure of the ff matrix at this level, we can now express the action with only
the addition of one auxiliary field:
dpt (L 0 - 1 - ~ L _ I L 1 - J~L _ 2 L 2 ) • + $J" (L2_1 + ~ L _ 2 ) p - p'~ (SL 0 + 13)p + p~f (L 2 + { L2) ~.
To this order, the action is identical to the one found in ref. [16]. (However, the relation of our action to ref.
[19] remains obscure. The pole structure of ref. [19] does not seem to agree with ours.)

3. Conclusion. We have proven what we set out to prove: that our original gauge-covariant string action can be
represented explicitly as a local field theory by the addition of an infinite set of auxiliary fields which soak up the
non-local terms. We note, however, that there are more than one way in which to introduce these auxiliary fields.
From the point of an infinite component field theory, we must, of course, remove these non-local terms or else
we have no hamlltonian. (From the point of view of the string field theory defined with "time" r, it is less urgent
a question, because a hamiltonian theory can be written in terms of the "time" r and because these non-local terms
vanish identically on trees.)
In the future, we will continue to use our previous projection operator, with the understanding that we can al-
waysmake it local.
We would also like to add that this discussion on locality will prove valuable when we generalize our results
to interacting strings.

We would like to thank the Japan Societyfor the Promotion of Science, which made this work possible. We
would also like to thank the Department of Physics of Osaka University for extending its hospitality to us, and
especially Dr. Keiji Kikkawa.
We would also like to thank Hiroshi Ooguri for many stimulating dicussions which provided the background
for this work, and also T. Kugo for discussions on the interacting string case.

Note added: after this work was done, we discovered that Hkoshi Kunitomo, within the BRST framework of
ref. [20], has been able to introduce auxiliary fields such that the result of ref. [16] is reproduced at second level.

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References

[1] M. Kaku and K. Kikkawa, Phys. Rex,. D10 (1974) 1823.

[2] P. Goddard, J. Goldstone, C. Rebbi and C. Thorn, Nucl. Phys. B56 (1973) 109.
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[19 ] D. Friedan, University of Chicago proprint EFI 85-27 (April, 1985).
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