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# Applying the flow equations to QCD

## 1 Applying the flow equations to quantum chromo-dynamics

In the next two sections I apply the flow equations to Non-Abelian gauge theory in the front form along the lines of earlier unpublished work . The thinking in terms of block matrices is almost ideally suited for gauge theories, where the Fock-space expansions give quite naturally a block structure of the Hamiltonian, cf. for example Fig. 2 in . It is thus reasonable to identify the $`P`$-space with the lowest Fock-space sector, the one with one quark and one anti-quark ($`q\overline{q}`$). The $`Q`$-space is then literally the ‘rest’. In front form, the Hamiltonian proper is $`H=P^{}`$, with

$$P^{}=T+V+F+S.$$
(6)
This as well as all other formulas in this section are taken without further notice from the Compendium , using the same notation and conventions as there. The kinetic energy $`T`$ is the only piece of $`P^{}`$ which survives the limit $`g0`$. The coupling constant $`g`$ is related to the (strong) fine structure constant $`\alpha _s=g^2/(4\pi \mathrm{}c)`$. The vertex interaction $`V`$ is the relativistic interaction per se. It is linear in $`g`$ and changes the particle number. The instantaneous interactions $`F`$ and $`S`$ (the ‘forks’ and the ‘seagulls’), are quadratic in $`g`$ and are artifacts of the light-cone gauge. Both may change the particle number. – As a technical trick and for gaining more transparency the instantaneous interactions are first omitted. They will be re-installed at the end of the calculation. By the same reason all color factors will be suppressed first and re-installed at the end. The Hamiltonian is then

$$H=T+V.$$
(7)
Since the front-form $`V`$ has non-vanishing matrix elements between Fock states only, if the particle number differs by 1 and only 1, the initial $`P`$-space Hamiltonian is diagonal, $`PHP=T`$, see below. As opposed to that the effective Hamiltonian in the $`P`$-space has an effective interaction $`U`$,

$$PH_{\mathrm{eff}}P=T+U.$$
(8)
The ‘residual interaction’ is then just the vertex interaction $`H_rV`$. The $`Q`$-space Hamiltonian remains a complicated operator for all $`l`$. It will not be addressed here. Objective of the present work is the calculation of $`U`$.

The way the flow equations work is that $`V(l)`$ de-creases while $`U(l)`$ in-creases for growing $`l`$. As emphasized by Wegner , flow equations generate a whole series of many-body interactions. They can be classified with the power of the coupling constant $`g`$. For the reason of demonstrating the method, I restrict here and below to the lowest non-trivial order in $`g`$ without further mentioning.

The flow equations (4) are re-ordered and re-labeled as

$$\eta (l)=[T(l),V(l)],\frac{dV(l)}{dl}=[\eta (l),T(l)],\frac{dU(l)}{dl}=[\eta (l),V(l)].$$
(9)
The relativistic kinetic energy is diagonal for all $`l`$:

$$T(l)=[d^3q]\left(\frac{\overline{m}^2(p;l)+\stackrel{}{p}_{}^{2}}{p^+}\right)_q\left(b_q^{}b_q+d_q^{}d_q+a_q^{}a_q\right).$$
(10)
The conventions in the Compendium include that $`[d^3q]`$ stands for the integration over the longitudinal momentum $`p^+`$ and the transversal momenta $`\stackrel{}{p}_{}`$, as well as the summation over helicity, color (glue) and flavor. The single particle energies depend potentially on the flow parameter through the effective mass $`\overline{m}^2(p;l)`$. This dependence will be suppressed below, however, since it comes in higher order of $`g`$. Hence forward, $`p^+`$ and $`p_{}`$ will be collected in the 3-vector $`\stackrel{}{p}=(p^+,\stackrel{}{p}_{})`$. The interaction term is

$`V(l)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{16\pi ^3}}}{\displaystyle \frac{[d^3q_1]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}}\frac{[d^3q_2]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}}\frac{[d^3q_3]}{\sqrt{p_3^+}}\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_1\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_3)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)}`$ (11)
$`\times `$ $`\left[b_1^{}b_2a_3(\overline{u}_1/ϵ_3u_2)d_1^{}d_2a_3(\overline{v}_2/ϵ_3v_1)+a_1^{}d_2b_3(\overline{v}_2/ϵ_1^{}u_3)\right]+h.c..`$
The three-gluon vertex is omitted here because it does not contribute to the effective interaction to the lowest non-trivial order. The effective coupling $`\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)`$, with the initial value $`\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l=0)=g`$, contains all the $`l`$-dependence. The generator $`\eta =[T,V]`$ becomes

$`\eta (l)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{16\pi ^3}}}{\displaystyle \frac{[d^3q_1]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}}\frac{[d^3q_2]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}}\frac{[d^3q_3]}{\sqrt{p_3^+}}\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_1\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_3)\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)}`$ (12)
$`\times `$ $`\left(b_1^{}b_2a_3[\overline{u}_1/ϵ_3u_2]d_1^{}d_2a_3[\overline{v}_2/ϵ_3v_1]+a_1^{}d_2b_3[\overline{v}_2/ϵ_1^{}u_3]\right)h.c..`$
The structure of $`\eta `$ is very similar to $`V`$, because $`T`$ is diagonal, thus

$$\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)=\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)c(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l).$$
(13)
The commutator with $`T`$ generates the ‘commutator function’

$$c(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)e(\stackrel{}{p}_1;l)e(\stackrel{}{p}_2;l)e(\stackrel{}{p}_3;l),$$
(14)
with the single particle energies $`e(\stackrel{}{p};l)=(\overline{m}^2(p;l)+\stackrel{}{p}_{}^{2})/p^+`$. Symmetries like $`\overline{g}(p_1^{},p_1,p_1^{}p_1;l)=\overline{g}(p_1,p_1^{},p_1p_1^{};l)`$ are so obvious that they, as well as $`\overline{\eta }(p_1^{},p_1,p_1^{}p_1;l)=\overline{\eta }(p_1,p_1^{},p_1p_1^{};l)`$, will not be mentioned hence forward. Similarly, the derivative $`dV(l)/dl=[\eta (l),T(l)]`$ becomes

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dV(l)}{dl}}=`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{16\pi ^3}}}{\displaystyle \frac{[d^3q_1]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}}\frac{[d^3q_2]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}}\frac{[d^3q_3]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}}\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_1\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_3)}`$
$`\times `$ $`\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)c(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)`$
$`\times `$ $`\left(b_1^{}b_2a_3[\overline{u}_1/ϵ_3u_2]d_1^{}d_2a_3[\overline{v}_2/ϵ_3v_1]+a_1^{}d_2b_3[\overline{v}_2/ϵ_1^{}u_3]\right)+h.c..`$
Finally, the derivative $`dU(l)/dl=[\eta (l),V(l)]`$ becomes

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dU(l)}{dl}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{[d^3q_1]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}}\frac{[d^3q_2]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}}\frac{[d^3q_3]}{\sqrt{p_3^+}}\frac{[d^3q_1^{}]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}}\frac{[d^3q_2^{}]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}}\frac{[d^3q_3^{}]}{\sqrt{p_3^+}}}`$
$`(\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_1\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_3)\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_2^{}\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_3^{})[b_1^{}b_1^{}a_3,a_3^{}^{}d_2^{}d_2^{}][\overline{u}_1/ϵ_3u_1^{}][\overline{v}_2^{}/ϵ_3^{}^{}v_2]`$
$`\times \left(\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3^{};l)+\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3^{};l)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)\right)+`$
$`\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_1\stackrel{}{p}_3)\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_2^{}\stackrel{}{p}_3^{})[d_2^{}d_2^{}a_3^{},a_3^{}b_1^{}b_1^{}][\overline{u}_1/ϵ_3^{}u_1^{}][\overline{v}_2^{}/ϵ_3^{}v_2]`$
$`\times (\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_3^{};l)+\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_3^{};l)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)))`$ (16)
plus terms containing commutators like $`[a^{}db,b^{}d^{}a]`$ or $`[a^{}db,a^{}a^{}a]`$ contributing only in higher order of $`g`$. After execution of the various commutators it is obvious that $`U`$ has the general form (cf. Eq.(8) )

$`U(l)={\displaystyle [d^3q_1][d^3q_2][d^3q_1^{}][d^3q_2^{}]}`$ $`\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{p}_1\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}+\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_2^{})`$ (17)
$`\times `$ $`b_{q_1}^{}b_{q_1^{}}d_{q_2}^{}d_{q_2^{}}\overline{U}(q_1,q_2;q_1^{},q_2^{};l).`$
It suffices thus to calculate the derivative of a $`c`$-number

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\overline{U}}{dl}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^3}}\left(\theta (p_1^+p_1^+)+\theta (p_1^+p_1^+)\right)`$ (18)
$`\times `$ $`(\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_1;l)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_2^{};l)`$
$`+\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_1;l)\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_2^{};l))`$
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}\sqrt{p_1^+}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_{\mu \nu }(q)}{q^+}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})\gamma ^\nu v(p_2,\lambda _2)]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}\sqrt{p_2^+}}}.`$
The polarization tensor $`d_{\mu \nu }`$ arises by the summing over the helicities, i.e. $`d_{\mu \nu }(q)_\lambda ϵ_\mu (q,\lambda )ϵ_\nu ^{}(q,\lambda )`$. The 4-momentum of the photon is denoted by $`q^\mu `$. The step function is $`\theta (x)=1`$ for $`x0`$, thus $`\theta (x)+\theta (x)=1`$.

## 2 Integrating the flow equations and shaping the notation

Eq.(9) gives the first order flow equations in operator form. After evaluating the matrix elements they reduce to two coupled algebraic equations:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dl}}\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)`$ $`=`$ $`c(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;0)\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l),`$ (19)
$`\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)`$ $`=`$ $`c(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;0)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l).`$ (20)
They can be combined into a single one

$$\frac{d}{dl}\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)=c^2(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;0)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l),$$
(21)
and integrated with the possible solution

$$\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)=g\mathrm{exp}\left(lc^2(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;0)\right).$$
(22)
Since the $`p^{}`$s appear in combinations like $`(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_1;l)`$ (see f.e. Eq.(18) ), I introduce conveniently the energy differences

$`w_q`$ $``$ $`c(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_1;0)=(p_1^{}p_1)^{}p_1^{}+p_1^{},`$ (23)
$`w_{\overline{q}}`$ $``$ $`c(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_2^{};0)=(p_2p_2^{})^{}p_2^{}+p_2^{}.`$ (24)
Typically, they occur along the quark ($`w_q`$) and the anti-quark line $`(w_{\overline{q}})`$. They are in simple relationship to both the 4-momentum of the exchanged photon

$$q_\mu =p_{1\mu }^{}p_{1\mu }+\eta _\mu \frac{w_q}{2}=p_{2\mu }p_{2\mu }^{}+\eta _\mu \frac{w_{\overline{q}}}{2},$$
(25)
and to the Feynman 4-momentum transfers along the two lines

$$Q_q^2(p_1^{}p_1)^2=q^+w_q,Q_{\overline{q}}^2(p_2p_2^{})^2=q^+w_{\overline{q}}.$$
(26)
The latter need not be equal in a Hamiltonian approach. The null 4-vector $`\eta ^\mu `$ is defined by $`\eta ^\mu =(0,\stackrel{}{0},2)`$ and cannot be confused with the operator $`\eta `$. The Feynman-momentum transfer $`Q^2`$ is always positive and a more physical quantity than an energy difference. The $`w`$’s will be substituted therefore by the $`Q`$’s as long as no misunderstanding can arise. In fact, I shall use often the mean-square momentum transfer

$$Q^2\frac{1}{2}(Q_q^2+Q_{\overline{q}}^2)=\frac{q^+}{2}(w_q+w_{\overline{q}}),$$
(27)
and the mean-square difference

$$\delta Q^2\frac{1}{2}(Q_q^2Q_{\overline{q}}^2)=\frac{q^+}{2}(w_qw_{\overline{q}}).$$
(28)
Also the polarization tensor $`d_{\mu \nu }`$ in Eq.(18) can be simplified with these definitions. Since $`d_{\mu \nu }(q)=g_{\mu \nu }+(\eta _\mu q_\nu +\eta _\nu q_\mu )/q^+`$ appears always in combinations with the spinors, the Dirac equation $`(p_1p_1^{})_\mu \overline{u}(p_1)\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{})=0`$ can be used to write

$$q_\mu \overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})=\frac{w_q}{2}\eta _\mu \overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{}).$$
(29)
In the context of Eq.(18) one can use thus $`d_{\mu \nu }(q)=g_{\mu \nu }+\eta _\mu \eta _\nu Q^2/(q^+)^2`$.

Following Glazek and Wilson , I introduce a dimensionless similarity function $`f(l)`$ (with boundary conditions $`f(0)1`$ and $`f(\mathrm{})0`$) by

$$f(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l)\frac{1}{g}\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_3;l).$$
(30)
Note that $`f`$ describes the decay rate of the off-diagonal vertex interaction $`V`$. The rate of decay, however, is not a unique function, as will be seen below. In line with recent developments , I want to keep $`f=f(w;l)`$ as a general function, particularly since $`\overline{\eta }`$ can be rewritten as

$$\overline{\eta }(l)=\frac{1}{w}\left(\frac{d\mathrm{ln}f(w;l)}{dl}\right)\overline{g}(l).$$
(31)
Finally, I define

$$N_q_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑l^{}\frac{df(w_q;l^{})}{dl^{}}f(w_{\overline{q}};l^{}),N_{\overline{q}}1N_q,$$
(32)
which are kind of dimensionless occupation numbers.

With these definitions I return to the problem of integrating Eq.(18). Its relevant part is

$`\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_1;l)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_2^{};l)+\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{q};l)\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{q};l)`$
$`=g^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{w_q}}{\displaystyle \frac{df(w_q;l)}{dl}}f(w_{\overline{q}};l)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{w_{\overline{q}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{df(w_{\overline{q}};l)}{dl}}f(w_q;l)\right).`$ (33)
The $`l`$-integration leads to

$`{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑l^{}\left(\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\stackrel{}{p}_1;l^{})\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{p}_2\stackrel{}{p}_2^{};l^{})+\overline{\eta }(\stackrel{}{p}_2,\stackrel{}{p}_2^{},\stackrel{}{q};l^{})\overline{g}(\stackrel{}{p}_1^{},\stackrel{}{p}_1,\stackrel{}{q};l^{})\right)`$
$`=g^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{w_q}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{w_{\overline{q}}}}\right)=g^2q^+\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right).`$ (34)
It is natural to assume  that the similarity function $`f(w;l)`$ is a homogeneous function of its arguments $`f(w;l)=f(w^\kappa l)`$, with some exponent $`\kappa `$. Two types of similarity functions are considered:

Gaussianiial cut-off ($`\kappa =2`$): $`f(w;l)=\mathrm{exp}(w^2l),N_q={\displaystyle \frac{w_q^2}{w_q^2+w_{\overline{q}}^2}},`$ (35)
Exponential cut-off ($`\kappa =1`$): $`f(w;l)=\mathrm{exp}(wl),N_q={\displaystyle \frac{w_q}{w_q+w_{\overline{q}}}}.`$ (36)
The first case corresponds to Eq.(22). The second shows that the effective interaction depends explicitly on the similarity function. The requirement of block diagonalizing the Hamiltonian determines the generator only up to a unitary transformation .

## 3 The effective $`q\overline{q}`$-interaction from Hamiltonian flow

Collecting terms, the effective interaction from Eq.(18) becomes

$`\overline{U}=g^2{\displaystyle \frac{d_{\mu \nu }(q)}{16\pi ^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}\sqrt{p_1^+}}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})\gamma ^\nu v(p_2,\lambda _2))]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}\sqrt{p_2^+}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right).`$
It is easy to restore the color factors. They sit only in the vertex interactions and go through untouched by the flow equations, thus

$`\overline{U}=g^2{\displaystyle \frac{d_{\mu \nu }(q)}{16\pi ^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)T^a\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}\sqrt{p_1^+}}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})T^a\gamma ^\nu v(p_2,\lambda _2))]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}\sqrt{p_2^+}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right).`$
If the $`d_{\mu \nu }(q)`$ is substituted, this turns into

$`\overline{U}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{16\pi ^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)T^a\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}\sqrt{p_1^+}}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})T^a\gamma ^\nu v(p_2,\lambda _2)]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}\sqrt{p_2^+}}}`$ (37)
$`\times \left(g_{\mu \nu }\eta _\mu \eta _\nu {\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{(q^+)^2}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right).`$
The result holds actually for the general non-Abelian theory $`SU(n_c)`$.

It is equally straightforward to re-install the instantaneous interaction:

$$\overline{U}_\mathrm{i}=\frac{g^2}{16\pi ^3}\frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)T^a\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}\sqrt{p_1^{}_{}{}^{}+}}\frac{[\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})T^a\gamma ^\nu v(p_2,\lambda _2)]}{\sqrt{p_2^{}_{}{}^{}+}\sqrt{p_2^+}}\frac{\eta _\mu \eta _\nu }{(q^+)^2},$$
(38)
cf. diagram $`S_{3,1}`$ in Table 5 of . To the order considered here it is independent of $`l`$. Adding it in by $`\overline{U}\overline{U}+\overline{U}_\mathrm{i}`$ gives

$`\overline{U}=`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{16\pi ^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)T^a\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})]}{\sqrt{p_1^+}\sqrt{p_1^+}}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})T^a\gamma ^\nu v(p_2,\lambda _2)]}{\sqrt{p_2^+}\sqrt{p_2^+}}}`$ (39)
$`\times \left[g_{\mu \nu }\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right)+\eta _\mu \eta _\nu \left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\delta Q^2}{(q^+)^2}}\right].`$
Contracting the Lorentz indices (with $`\gamma ^\mu \eta _\mu =\gamma ^+`$) gives

$`\overline{U}=`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _s}{4\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)T^a\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})][\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})T^a\gamma _\mu v(p_2,\lambda _2)]}{\sqrt{p_1^+p_2^+p_1^+p_2^+}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right)`$ (40)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _s}{4\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)T^a\gamma ^+u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})][\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})T^a\gamma ^+v(p_2,\lambda _2)]}{\sqrt{p_1^+p_2^+p_1^+p_2^+}}}`$
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{\delta Q^2}{(q^+)^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right).`$
One notes the non-integrable quadratic singularity $`(q^+)^2`$ appearing both in the dynamic amplitude Eq.(37) and in the instantaneous interaction Eq.(38). In the perturbative calculation of the $`q\overline{q}`$ scattering amplitude, these singularities cancel each other exactly, see for example Sect. 3D of . Also in the present approach they tend to cancel, but a residual piece remains in Eq.(40). It is weighted with a coefficient $`\delta Q^2`$ which possibly can be considered small, but beyond that, the term is dangerous because it violates manifestly gauge invariance (reflected in the matrix elements $`\gamma ^+\gamma ^+`$). The quadratic singularity carries however also weighting factors which depend on the similarity function, see Eqs.(35,36). Inserting them, I get for the exponential cut-off:

$`N_q={\displaystyle \frac{Q_q^2}{Q_q^2+Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}:\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Q^2}},`$ (41)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta Q^2}{(q^+)^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (42)
and for the Gaussian cut-off:

$`N_q={\displaystyle \frac{(Q_q^2)^2}{(Q_q^2)^2+(Q_{\overline{q}}^2)^2}}:\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{(Q^2)^2+(\delta Q^2)^2}},`$ (43)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta Q^2}{(q^+)^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N_q}{Q_q^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{N_{\overline{q}}}{Q_{\overline{q}}^2}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta Q^2}{(Q^2)^2+(\delta Q^2)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta Q^2}{(q^+)^2}}.`$ (44)
For $`\delta Q^2Q^2`$ the Lorentz contracted part is obviously the same for both cut-offs. The potentially dangerous coefficient of $`\gamma ^+\gamma ^+`$, however, behaves drastically different: It vanishes strictly for the exponential cut-off. For the Gaussian cut-off it can be small, at least it behaves now like $`(\delta Q^2)^2`$, but its precise behaviour near the important region of the Coulomb singularity at $`Q^20`$ must be left to future analysis. To easen my life I will work hence-forward with the exponential cut-off and its gauge-invariant result.
Thus far, I have studied the Hamiltonian proper $`H=P^{}`$. But it is often advantageous to work with the Lorentz-invariant ‘light-cone Hamiltonian’ $`H_{\mathrm{LC}}=P_\mu P^\mu `$ . Its eigenvalues have the dimension of an invariant mass-squared. In the intrinsic frame ($`\stackrel{}{P}_{}=0`$) one has $`H_{\mathrm{LC}}=P^+P^{}`$. The effective interaction of $`H_{\mathrm{LC}}`$, is obtained simply by $`\overline{U}\overline{U}P^+`$, thus

$$\overline{U}=\frac{C_c}{4\pi ^2}\frac{[\overline{u}(p_1,\lambda _1)\gamma ^\mu u(p_1^{},\lambda _1^{})][\overline{v}(p_2^{},\lambda _2^{})\gamma _\mu v(p_2,\lambda _2)]}{\sqrt{x(1x)x^{}(1x^{})}}\frac{\alpha _s}{Q^2}\frac{1}{P^+},$$
(45)
where $`x=p_1^+/P^+`$ is the longitudinal momentum fraction of the quark. The color factor is $`C_c=_aT_{c_1,c_1^{}}^aT_{c_2^{},c_2}^a`$. This finishes my objective: the so obtained effective interaction for QCD coincides identically with the result of lowest order obtained with the method of iterated resolvents .
Acknowledgement. I thank Franz Wegner for many illuminating discussions. I thank him also for our joint effort to shift the chaff from the wheat.


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EFI-2001-08 MIT-CTP-3098 hep-th/0103102

Boundary Superstring Field Theory

Vasilis Niarchosa vniarcho@theory.uchicago.edu and Nikolaos Prezasb prezas@mit.edu

aEnrico Fermi Inst. and Dept. of Physics

University of Chicago

5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA

bCenter for Theoretical Physics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Using the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism we provide a detailed analysis of the $`NS`$ sector of boundary superstring field theory. We construct explicitly the relevant BV structure and derive the master action. Furthermore, we show that this action is exactly equal to the superdisk worldsheet partition function as was recently conjectured.

3/2001

1. INTRODUCTION

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the so-called boundary string field theory (BSFT) developed by Witten \[1,,2\] and Shatashvili \[3,,4\]. The main reason is that this version of open string field theory provides an intuitive framework for the study of tachyon condensation in open string theory \[5,,6,,7\]. In contrast to the cubic string field theory, where an infinite number of fields condense, BSFT allows for the tachyon field to condense alone, while the remaining open string tower continues to have vanishing expectation values .

Tachyon condensation of unstable D-brane systems is a completely classical phenomenon described in BSFT by the RG flow of the tachyon perturbation on the disk worldsheet. The exact expressions for the tachyon potential and the descent relations among D-branes, as expected from , can be derived in a straightforward manner in this approach.

The idea behind BSFT is to consider the classical open string field theory as a theory on the space of all boundary interactions on the disk with a fixed conformal worldsheet action in the bulk. The implementation of this idea relies on the use of the Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) formalism \[10,,11\]. This construction was initially presented in \[1\] for the bosonic string and provides a generic expression for the spacetime action that can be related to the disk partition function in a simple way 1 To derive this relation one must also assume that ghosts and matter are decoupled. \[2,,3,,4\]

$$S_B=Z\beta ^i\frac{}{\lambda ^i}Z$$

with $`\beta ^i`$ the worldsheet beta function for the boundary coupling $`\lambda ^i`$.

In the absence of an analogous construction for the superstring, the authors of  conjectured that the corresponding spacetime action $`S_F`$ in the presence of worldsheet supersymmetry, should be exactly equal to the disk worldsheet partition function $`Z`$. This conjecture was motivated by a number of arguments involving the properties of $`Z`$ at the conformal points, its finiteness, which is guaranteed by the presence of worldsheet supersymmetry, as well as similar proposals \[12,,13,,14\] 2 For a more recent discussion see also . in the context of a low-energy effective description. Further evidence for the validity of this choice was provided by the consistency of the results obtained from the analysis of tachyon condensation in superstring theory \[7,,16,,17\].

In this note we complete the above picture by repeating the analysis of  and applying the BV formalism on the space of supersymmetric worldsheet boundary perturbations on the disk. Our formulation of boundary superstring field theory (SBSFT) is cast entirely in superspace language. The crucial parts of the construction involve the definition of a fermionic vector field and the definition of the appropriate BV antibracket. The latter presents subtleties associated to the nature of the superconformal ghosts and the existence of different “pictures”. Nevertheless, an appropriate antibracket exists and the BV formalism provides a corresponding spacetime action, which turns out to be exactly equal to the disk partition function, as was conjectured in .

The organization of this paper is as follows. In section 2 we provide a brief review of the bosonic BSFT emphasizing the main points of the construction. In section 3 we analyze the boundary superstring field theory in detail. We construct the appropriate BV structure and use it to derive the equality $`S_F=Z`$. Moreover, since the spacetime action is a monotonically decreasing function along the RG flow, we may identify it with the boundary entropy on the disk. We present a further check of these points by performing explicit calculations in conformal perturbation theory up to third order. In section 4 we close with a short summary of our results and a brief discussion on related issues.

As this paper was being prepared for submission a preprint appeared  which addresses similar topics.

2. REVIEW OF BOSONIC BSFT

The worldsheet $`\sigma `$-model approach to string theory suggests that spacetime fields should be viewed as generalized coupling “constants” of two-dimensional worldsheet interactions. If we think of the string field as a collection of spacetime fields, this picture implies that the string field simply encodes the data of a two-dimensional field theory. Because of this, it is natural to expect that string field theory can be formulated on the “space of all two-dimensional field theories”.

Boundary string field theory is an open string field theory based on this idea. At the classical level its precise formulation relies on the application of the BV formalism 3 The application of the BV formalism has also been very useful in the formulation of the open cubic string field theory \[19,,20\] and closed string field theory \[21\]. on the configuration space of all two-dimensional field theories on the disk with arbitrary boundary interaction terms and a fixed conformal worldsheet action in the bulk.

In the following we review some basic features of the BV formalism and emphasize those that play a prominent role in the construction of BSFT. For a more detailed exposition on the BV formalism we refer the reader to \[22,,23\].

One starts with a field configuration space $``$ equipped with a supermanifold structure, a non-degenerate closed odd two-form $`\omega `$ and a $`U(1)`$ symmetry under which $`\omega `$ has charge -1. We call this charge (BV) ghost number. The two-form $`\omega `$ gives rise to an antibracket, in the same way that a symplectic form gives rise to a Poisson bracket. In local coordinates $`u^I`$, the antibracket of two functions $`F`$ and $`G`$ is given by

$$\{F,G\}=\frac{_rF}{u^I}\omega ^{IJ}\frac{_lG}{u^J}.$$

The focal point of the BV formalism is the $`\mathrm{𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛}\mathrm{𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗}`$

$$\{S,S\}=0$$

for the master action $`S`$. This equation guarantees the gauge invariance of the system. Notice that because of the fermionic nature of $`\omega `$ the master equation is not trivially zero.

One way to satisfy the master equation identically is by choosing an appropriate fermionic vector field $`V`$ on $``$ that has ghost number 1 and satisfies the equation

$$i_V\omega =dS.$$

Borrowing the language of the Hamiltonian formalism, we would say that $`V`$ is the “Hamiltonian vector field” of the action $`S`$. As usual, $`i_V\omega `$ denotes the inner product of the vector $`V`$ with the form $`\omega `$ and $`d`$ is simply the exterior derivation on $``$. The master equation will be satisfied identically if and only if $`V`$ is nilpotent, i.e. $`V^2=0`$ and there exists at least one point where $`V=0`$ . The latter is a very natural requirement because the points of vanishing $`V`$ are precisely the extrema of the spacetime action where the classical equations of motion are satisfied.

Moreover, the exterior derivative of equation (1) gives

$$d(i_V\omega )=0.$$

Given the closedness of the antibracket, it is not hard to show that this is presicely the statement that $`\omega `$ is invariant under infinitesimal transformations generated by $`V`$, i.e. that

$$_V\omega =(di_V+i_Vd)\omega =0.$$

Hence, by the Poincare lemma, the property that the antibracket is $`V`$-invariant guarantees the existence of an action $`S`$ given by (1). This is true, of course, only locally on the space of theories.

To summarize, the strategy for constructing a gauge invariant open string spacetime action involves two steps. First we define a nilpotent fermionic vector field $`V`$ of ghost number 1 that plays the role of the “Hamiltonian” vector field of the action $`S`$ and second we appropriately define a $`V`$-invariant odd symplectic two-form $`\omega `$ with ghost number -1. The master action $`S`$ is then determined by (1).

This is the general setup. In the bosonic BSFT  the above construction works as follows. The configuration space $`_B`$ consists, roughly speaking, of all possible two-dimensional worldsheet theories with a fixed conformal action $`𝒮_{\mathrm{bulk}}`$ in the bulk of the disk (at the classical level) and a boundary action $`𝒮_{\mathrm{bdy}}`$ with arbitrary interactions on the boundary. After choosing, for instance, the standard flat action for the bulk, the dynamics of the two-dimensional field theories we want to consider are given by

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝒮& =𝒮_{\mathrm{bulk}}+𝒮_{\mathrm{bdy}}=\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}_Dd\sigma ^1d\sigma ^2\sqrt{h}(h^{ab}_aX^\mu & _bX_\mu )+\frac{1}{2\pi }_Dd\sigma ^1d\sigma ^2\sqrt{h}b^{ab}_ac_b+\frac{1}{2\pi }_Dd\tau 𝒱\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`D`$ is the disk worldsheet, $`h^{ab}`$ a rotationally invariant metric and $`\tau `$ a periodic coordinate on the boundary $`D=S^1`$. Different points on the configuration space correspond to different choices of the boundary operator $`𝒱`$.

The vector field $`V`$ is associated to the flow generated on $`_B`$ by the bulk BRST charge Q. Under this definition it is straightforward to check that $`V`$ has the required properties. It is nilpotent and has ghost number 1. Furthermore, when the classical equations of motion are satisfied, BRST invariance is restored and $`V`$ is vanishing as expected.

The construction of the odd symplectic two-form $`\omega `$ is more involved.  first defines $`\omega `$ on-shell and later extends the definition off-shell. This extension, however, involves a subtle redefinition of the actual degrees of freedom of the theory and leads to an enlargement of the actual space of theories. This subtle point comes about in the following way. Tangent vectors to an on-shell submanifold of $`_B`$ are spin one primary fields $`\delta 𝒱`$. Since the BRST transformation of such fields should leave the worldsheet action invariant we deduce that there must be some operator $`O`$ of ghost number 1, such that

$$\{Q,\delta 𝒱\}=_\tau O.$$

On-shell, $`O`$ can be uniquely determined 4 Up to a total derivative that has no effect on the worldsheet theory. from $`\delta 𝒱`$. It satisfies the following two equations

$$\delta 𝒱=b_1O$$

and

$$\{Q,O\}=0.$$

Off-shell, however, the second equation is no longer valid and the first one, which still makes sense, determines $`O`$ only up to terms of the form $`b_1(\mathrm{})`$. Since $`O`$ seems to be more fundamental than $`\delta 𝒱`$ in some respects, it was proposed in  to consider an enlarged space of theories determined not only by the worldsheet action (1) but also by a ghost number 1 local operator $`O`$ satisfying equation (1). Thus, it seems more appropriate to view $`_B`$ as the space of the operators $`O`$ and not as the space of the boundary perturbation operators $`𝒱`$.

Hence, given two vectors $`\delta _1O`$ and $`\delta _2O`$ at a point $`O`$ of the enlarged configuration space, we define the odd symplectic form $`\omega `$ by

$$\omega (\delta _1O,\delta _2O)=()^{ϵ(\delta _1O)}_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\delta _1O(\tau _1)\delta _2O(\tau _2)$$

with the correlation function being computed in the worldsheet theory with boundary interaction $`𝒱=b_1O`$. This definition is slightly different from that of  by a sign factor. This factor is introduced in order to get the correct exchange property

$$\omega (\delta _1O,\delta _2O)=()^{(ϵ_1+1)(ϵ_2+1)+1}\omega (\delta _2O,\delta _1O)$$

where $`ϵ_i=ϵ(\delta _iO)`$. For a similar definition in the context of closed string field theory see for example . Notice also that in the above expressions we still define the statistics of the arguments of $`\omega `$ as the natural statistics of the corresponding $`\delta 𝒱`$ fields. For the precise off-shell definition of $`b_1`$ and a proof that (1) has the required properties, we refer the reader to .

Now that we have established the needed BV structure we can easily write down an expression for the master action $`S_B`$ (up to an irrelevant sign) by using equation (1) and the explicit form of the fermionic vector field $`V(O)=\{Q,O\}`$

$$dS_B=_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2dO(\tau _1)\{Q,O\}(\tau _2).$$

Under the simplifying assumption that ghosts and matter are decoupled one can set $`O=c𝒱`$. In that case, using different approaches, the authors of  and \[3,,4\] proved that

$$S_B=ZW^i\frac{}{\lambda ^i}Z$$

where a generic expansion of the boundary operator $`𝒱=_i\lambda ^i𝒱_i`$ has been implied. $`W^i`$ is a vector field on $`_B`$. More precisely, it was identified up to second order in conformal perturbation theory \[3,,4\] with the beta function $`\beta ^i`$, which corresponds to the worldsheet RG flow of the coupling $`\lambda ^i`$.

3. BOUNDARY SUPERSTRING FIELD THEORY

a. The BV formalism of SBSFT

Boundary superstring field theory is formulated on the space $`_F`$ of all worldsheet supersymmetric two-dimensional field theories on the superdisk with the usual NSR action in the bulk. In order to have a manifestly supersymmetric formalism we use a superspace notation. In particular, the worldsheet action takes the following form

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝒮_{NSR}& =𝒮_{\mathrm{bulk}}+𝒮_{\mathrm{bdy}}=\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}d^2zd^2\theta D_{\overline{\theta }}𝐗^\mu D_\theta 𝐗_\mu & +\frac{1}{2\pi }d^2zd^2\theta BD_{\overline{\theta }}C+𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta 𝒱.\hfill \end{array}$$

Our conventions follow those of \[25,,26\] and for the ghost and antighost superfields respectively we set

$$C(z,\theta )=c(z)+\theta \gamma (z)$$

$$B(z,\theta )=\beta (z)+\theta b(z).$$

The bottom and upper components of the superfield boundary perturbation will be generically given in the form

$$𝒱(\tau ,\theta )=D(\tau )+\theta U(\tau ).$$

For example, in the case of a single unstable non-BPS D9 brane in type IIA superstring theory, the tachyon perturbation is given by the worldsheet action

$$𝒮_{\mathrm{bdy}}=_D𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta (\mathrm{\Gamma }D\mathrm{\Gamma }+\mathrm{\Gamma }T(𝐗))$$

with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\eta +\theta F`$ an auxiliary boundary fermion \[7,,8\]. In that case

$$𝒱=\mathrm{\Gamma }D\mathrm{\Gamma }+\mathrm{\Gamma }T(𝐗).$$

Furthermore, we can express the superconformal ghosts in a bosonized form

$$\beta (z)=e^{\varphi (z)}\xi (z),\gamma (z)=e^{\varphi (z)}\eta (z)$$

where $`\xi `$ is a fermion of dimension 0 and $`\eta `$ a fermion of dimension 1. Since we find this language very useful for the subsequent analysis, let us briefly recall a few relevant facts.

The zero-mode of $`\xi `$ does not enter the above bosonized expressions and this results in a multiplicity of physically equivalent vacuum states that lead to different irreducible representations of the superconformal algebra, known as “pictures”. A vertex operator with a factor $`e^{q\varphi }`$ is by definition in the $`q`$ picture.

When calculating on-shell amplitudes, pictures can be used in a more or less arbitrary manner as long as the total superghost number of the insertions is -2. In terms of the bosonized form of the ghosts this condition implies a total $`\varphi `$-charge -2. For example, one may include two vertex operators in the -1 picture and the rest in the 0 picture . Switching between different pictures can be achieved by the use of the picture changing operator

$$X=Q\xi =\xi c+e^\varphi T_F^m\eta be^{2\varphi }(\eta be^{2\varphi })$$

which increases the $`\varphi `$-charge by 1 or the use of the inverse picture changing operator \[27,,28\]

$$Y=\xi ce^{2\varphi }$$

which decreases the $`\varphi `$-charge by 1.

The freedom of moving a picture changing operator inside an amplitude is not, however, a valid off-shell operation. This is an important subtlety of the superstring case and must be taken into account in the following manipulations.

The definition of $`V`$

In complete analogy to the bosonic case, it is again natural to associate the fermionic vector field $`V`$ to the flow generated on $`_F`$ by the bulk BRST charge $`Q`$. The only extra subtlety in the superstring case is that we choose $`_F`$ as a space of superfields. Hence, a sensible definition of a vector field should generate flows that respect this property. More precisely, this property is satisfied if and only if the generator of the corresponding flow anticommutes with the generator of worldsheet SUSY. In our case, this is true since

$$\{Q,G_{1/2}\}=0.$$

Moreover, one can check that $`V`$ also inherits the rest of the required properties. It is nilpotent, because $`Q`$ is nilpotent, and has ghost number 1. We should emphasize that by ghost number we mean here the BV ghost number that coincides with the total ghost and superghost number of the $`bc`$ and $`\beta \gamma `$ systems respectively. The details of this definition of $`V`$ are the same as those of the bosonic case and we refer the reader to .

The definition of $`\omega `$

We are looking for an appropriate two-form on the configuration space $`_F`$ of supersymmetric boundary perturbations on the superdisk. In order to grow the right intuition about this form we first consider what happens on-shell. Let us also simplify the situation further by assuming that ghosts and matter are decoupled, so that the boundary interaction $`𝒱=D+\theta U`$ has no ghost dependence. In the $`NS`$ sector the -1 picture vertex operator corresponding to $`𝒱`$ will be of the form 5 The vertex operators given by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ correspond to the so-called strongly physical states. For a related discussion see .

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=ce^\varphi D.$$

We obtain a 0 picture representation of this operator by acting with the picture changing operator $`X`$

$$X\mathrm{\Lambda }=\gamma DcU.$$

This expression is precisely the upper component of the superfield

$$G=C𝒱$$

which is the natural supersymmetric generalization of the corresponding bosonic expression $`O=c𝒱`$. We propose that $`G`$ should be considered as the fundamental object of boundary superstring field theory. This is actually analogous to the classical string field of the modified cubic superstring field theory \[29,,30,,31\] where the basic object is a 0 picture, ghost number 1 operator.

Given two superfield tangent vectors $`\delta _1𝒱`$ and $`\delta _2𝒱`$ we define the odd symplectic two-form $`\omega `$ in the superstring case as a two-point function at the perturbed point $`𝒱`$ in the following way

$$\omega (\delta _1G,\delta _2G)=()^{ϵ(\delta _1G)}𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2𝑑\theta _1𝑑\theta _2Y(\tau _1)\delta _1G(\tau _1,\theta _1)Y(\tau _2)\delta _2G(\tau _2,\theta _2)$$

with $`\delta _1G`$ and $`\delta _2G`$ given by (1). The main difference with respect to the bosonic definition are the two insertions of the inverse picture changing operator $`Y`$ in front of the 0 picture superfields. Their presence is required because a non-vanishing expectation value should have a total superghost number -2.

Expression (1), however, is only valid on-shell and only under the assumption of ghost-matter decoupling. Nevertheless, we can rewrite it as

$$𝒱=b_1G.$$

As was explained in , this form also makes sense off-shell. Hence, for the off-shell definition of the antibracket, we propose to consider the defining relation (1) but with tangent vectors $`\delta _1G`$ and $`\delta _2G`$ given now (implicitly) by (1) and not by (1).

Equation (1) does not define the superfield $`G`$ uniquely. As in the bosonic case, we circumvent this problem by considering an enlarged space of theories $`_F`$ determined not only by the worldsheet action (1), but also by a 0 picture, ghost number 1 local superfield $`G`$ satisfying (1). In some sense, we consider the superfields $`G`$ as the fundamental degrees of freedom of the theory. Nevertheless, we still define the statistics of the arguments of $`\omega `$ as the natural statistics of the corresponding $`\delta 𝒱`$ fields.

We also want to emphasize that contrary to our on-shell experience from the first quantized description of string theory, the position of the picture changing operators in the definition of $`\omega `$ is important. We cannot move them freely inside the correlator because this is not a valid off-shell operation.

The next step is to verify that $`\omega `$ given by (1) has all the required properties, i.e. that it is a $`V`$-invariant non-degenerate odd symplectic two-form with BV ghost number -1.

Since the total ghost number of the vacuum is -1 (-3 from the $`bc`$ system and +2 from the $`\beta \gamma `$ system) and the ghost number of both insertions $`Y\delta _iG`$ is 0, we deduce that $`\omega `$ has BV ghost number -1, as expected.

The statistics $`ϵ(\omega )`$, on the other hand, is given by the sum

$$ϵ(\delta _1G)+ϵ(\delta _2G)+2ϵ(Y)+2=ϵ(\delta _1G)+ϵ(\delta _2G)(\mathrm{mod}2)$$

with the extra +2 in the left-hand side coming from the two $`\theta `$ integrations. Since a non-vanishing correlator requires $`ϵ(\delta _1G)+ϵ(\delta _2G)=1(\mathrm{mod}2)`$ we get

$$ϵ(\omega )=1(\mathrm{mod}2)$$

and therefore $`\omega `$ is odd.

In order to show the non-degeneracy of the antibracket let us go on-shell. In that case $`\omega `$ vanishes for BRST exact insertions and therefore we may regard it as a two-form on the space of classical solutions. It is non-degenerate because it is related to the Zamolodchikov metric $`g`$ on the space of conformal field theories. We can prove this by setting $`\delta _1G=C𝒱`$ and $`\delta _2G=CCW`$, with $`V`$ and $`W`$ two spin 1/2 primary matter superfields. It follows that $`\omega (\delta _1G,\delta _2G)g(D_V,D_W)`$, where $`D_V`$ and $`D_W`$ are the bottom components of the matter superfields. Thus, the non-degeneracy of $`\omega `$ follows from the non-degeneracy of the Zamolodchikov metric in complete analogy to the bosonic situation .

To prove that $`d\omega =0`$, let us introduce local coordinates $`\lambda ^i`$ on $`_F`$. We can then write a generic superfield tangent vector $`\delta G`$ in terms of the expansion $`\delta G=_i\lambda ^i\delta _iG`$. By definition, we have

$$d\omega (\delta _iG,\delta _jG,\delta _kG)=\frac{}{\lambda ^i}\omega (\delta _jG,\delta _kG)\pm (\mathrm{cyclic}\mathrm{permutations}).$$

The derivative with respect to $`\lambda ^i`$ gives

$$\frac{}{\lambda ^i}\omega (\delta _jG,\delta _kG)=\underset{\beta =1}{\overset{3}{}}d\tau _\beta d\theta _\beta ()^{ϵ_j}\left(b_1\delta _iG(\tau _1,\theta _1)\right)Y(\tau _2)\delta _jG(\tau _2,\theta _2)Y(\tau _3)\delta _kG(\tau _3,\theta _3)$$

with $`ϵ_i=ϵ(\delta _iG)`$. Hence, written explicitly, equation (1) takes the form

$$\begin{array}{cc}& d\omega (\delta _iG,\delta _jG,\delta _kG)=()^{ϵ_j}\underset{\beta =1}{\overset{3}{}}d\tau _\beta d\theta _\beta ((b_1\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)\hfill \\ \hfill +(& 1)^{ϵ_i}(Y\delta _iG)(b_1\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+(1)^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}(Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(b_1\delta _kG)).\hfill \end{array}$$

The fact that the above expression vanishes follows from the $`Q`$ invariance of the unperturbed correlators and the invariance under $`b_1`$. The details of the relevant calculation can be found in appendix A.

The final property we have to check is $`V`$-invariance, i.e. $`d(i_V\omega )=0`$. More explicitly, one must show that

$$\frac{}{\lambda ^i}\underset{\beta =1}{\overset{3}{}}d\tau _\beta d\theta _\beta ()^{ϵ_j}Y(\tau _1)\delta _jG(\tau _1,\theta _1)Y(\tau _2)[Q,G](\tau _2,\theta _2)\pm (ij)=0.$$

For comments on this proof we refer the reader again to appendix A.

This concludes our discussion of the BV structure of the boundary superstring field theory. We now employ the above formalism to investigate the master action.

b. The relation between $`S_F`$ and $`Z`$

The spacetime action of SBSFT (again up to an irrelevant sign factor) follows directly from equation (1), the definition of the vector field $`V`$ and the definition of the odd symplectic form $`\omega `$

$$dS_F=𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2𝑑\theta _1𝑑\theta _2Y(\tau _1)dG(\tau _1,\theta _1)Y(\tau _2)[Q,G](\tau _2,\theta _2).$$

Furthermore, since we make the assumption that ghosts and matter are decoupled, we may set $`G=C𝒱`$, in which case the action takes the form

$$dS_F=𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2𝑑\theta _1𝑑\theta _2Y(\tau _1)C(\tau _1,\theta _1)d𝒱(\tau _1,\theta _1)Y(\tau _2)[Q,C𝒱](\tau _2,\theta _2).$$

In the following discussion we perform an explicit calculation of this expression and demonstrate how it relates to the superdisk partition function $`Z`$.

Let us start by making the simplifying assumption that $`𝒱`$ has a definite scaling dimension $`h`$. The commutator $`[Q,C𝒱]`$ is given more explicitly by

$$[Q,C𝒱]=\{Q,C\}𝒱C\{Q,𝒱\}.$$

Moreover, the following two equations hold

$$\{Q,C\}=C_\tau C\frac{1}{4}(D_\theta C)(D_\theta C)$$

$$\{Q,𝒱\}=C_\tau 𝒱\frac{1}{2}(D_\theta C)(D_\theta 𝒱)+h(_\tau C)𝒱.$$

Substituting them back into equation (1) gives

$$[Q,C𝒱]=[(1h)C_\tau C\frac{1}{4}(D_\theta C)(D_\theta C)]𝒱+\frac{1}{2}C(D_\theta C)(D_\theta 𝒱).$$

An explicit calculation of the normal ordered expression $`Y[Q,C𝒱]`$ in components (see appendix B for details) gives

$$Y[Q,C𝒱]=\left((1h)Yc_\tau c\frac{1}{4}Y\gamma ^2\right)𝒱+\frac{1}{2}\theta (Y\gamma ^2Yc_\tau c)D_\theta 𝒱+\left(h\frac{1}{2}\right)\theta c_\tau ce^\varphi D.$$

Non-vanishing amplitudes require three insertions of the $`c`$ ghost and therefore only the last term in the above expression contributes to the action. Hence,

$$dS_F=\left(\frac{1}{2}h\right)_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2c(\tau _1)c(\tau _2)_\tau c(\tau _2)_{bc}e^{\varphi (\tau _1)}e^{\varphi (\tau _2)}_{\beta \gamma }dD(\tau _1)D(\tau _2)_m.$$

Since

$$c(\tau _1)c(\tau _2)_{\tau _2}c(\tau _2)=2(\mathrm{cos}(\tau _1\tau _2)1)=4\mathrm{sin}^2\left(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right)$$

and

$$e^{\varphi (\tau _1)}e^{\varphi (\tau _2)}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2})}$$

we take

$$dS_F=(2h1)_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right)dD(\tau _1)D(\tau _2).$$

For a generic perturbation $`𝒱`$ parametrized by couplings $`\lambda ^i`$ and operators $`𝒱_i`$ of conformal weight $`h_i`$

$$𝒱=\underset{i}{}\lambda ^i𝒱_i$$

and the above equation becomes

$$\frac{S_F}{\lambda ^i}=\left(h_j\frac{1}{2}\right)\lambda ^jG_{ij}(\lambda )$$

where

$$G_{ij}=2_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right)D_i(\tau _1)D_j(\tau _2).$$

These equations should be compared to equations (2.9) and (2.10) of reference  for the bosonic case.

For a unitary theory, the integral appearing in equation (1) is expected to give a positive definite metric $`G_{ij}`$. Indeed, the Hilbert space of a unitary theory should have, by definition, a positive definite norm given by the time ordered expectation value. In particular, for a Hilbert space of odd excitations, this statement implies that we should be able to write an expectation value of the form $`D(x_1)D(x_2)`$ as $`\mathrm{sign}(x_1x_2)f_D(x_1x_2)`$, with $`f_D`$ being a positive function. Combining this extra $`\mathrm{sign}`$ factor with the sine in the integral of (1) gives a manifestly positive form to the metric $`G_{ij}`$.

Also, equation (1) cannot be correct in general because $`(\frac{1}{2}h_j)\lambda ^j`$ is not a covariant expression on the space of theories. The relevant argument goes exactly the same way as in the bosonic case . The correct covariant generalization of (1) is given by

$$\frac{S_F}{\lambda ^i}=\beta ^jG_{ij}.$$

Thus, along the RG flow

$$\frac{S_F}{\mathrm{log}t}=\beta ^i\frac{S_F}{\lambda _i}=\beta ^i\beta ^jG_{ij}$$

where $`t`$ is an RG (length) scale parameter. Since $`G_{ij}`$ is positive definite, $`S_F`$ is a monotonically decreasing function and also stationary at the conformal points. Furthermore, as we show in the following discussion, $`S_F`$ equals to the disk partition function $`Z`$. Therefore, $`S_F`$ can be identified with the boundary entropy and the above analysis agrees very nicely with the conjecture of \[32,,33\] in the context of boundary CFT.

In order to prove the conjectured relation $`S_F=Z`$, we make use of the “two-systems” approach introduced in . According to this, we assume that the matter system consists of two decoupled subsystems with partition functions $`Z_1`$ and $`Z_2`$. Thus, the combined matter partition function $`Z`$ equals the product $`Z_1Z_2`$ and the expansion (1) takes the form

$$𝒱=\underset{i}{}\lambda ^iV_i+\underset{k}{}\rho ^k\stackrel{~}{V}_k$$

with $`\lambda ^i`$ couplings for the first system and $`\rho ^k`$ couplings for the second system. Accordingly, (1) becomes

$$dS_F=_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right)dD(\tau _1)\left(\underset{i}{}(2h_i1)\lambda ^iD_i(\tau _2)+\underset{k}{}(2h_k1)\rho ^k\stackrel{~}{D}_k(\tau _2)\right).$$

After substituting into this equation the full expansion of $`dD`$ we get two kinds of terms. One involves two point functions of the form $`D_iD_j`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{D}_k\stackrel{~}{D}_l`$. The other involves mixed terms of the form $`D_i\stackrel{~}{D}_k`$. Since the two systems are decoupled these mixed correlators factorize into a product of two one-point functions, which are identically zero because the bottom components $`D`$ are fermionic. Moreover, even if these terms were not zero, the resulting expression would involve the integral of $`\mathrm{sin}(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2})`$ over the circle and hence it would still be vanishing. The bosonic case, on the other hand, involved several non-vanishing mixed terms and these were responsible for the extra term with the $`\beta `$ function on the right side of (1). Thus, we find that

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill dS_F=_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\mathrm{sin}& \left(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right)(\underset{i,j}{}(2h_i1)\lambda ^id\lambda ^jD_j(\tau _1)D_i(\tau _2)+\hfill \\ \hfill +& \underset{k,l}{}(2h_l1)\rho ^ld\rho ^k\stackrel{~}{D}_k(\tau _1)\stackrel{~}{D}_l(\tau _2)).\hfill \end{array}$$

After setting

$$a=\underset{j}{}a_j(\lambda )d\lambda ^j=\underset{j}{}d\lambda ^j\left[_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right)\underset{i}{}(2h_i1)\lambda ^iD_j(\tau _1)D_i(\tau _2)_1\right]$$

$$\stackrel{~}{a}=\underset{k}{}\stackrel{~}{a}_k(\rho )d\rho ^k=\underset{k}{}d\rho ^k\left[_D𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right)\underset{l}{}(2h_l1)\rho ^l\stackrel{~}{D}_k(\tau _1)\stackrel{~}{D}_l(\tau _2)_2\right]$$

we can write equation (1) in a compact form as

$$dS_F=aZ_2+Z_1\stackrel{~}{a}.$$

The one-forms $`a`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ can be related to the partition functions $`Z_1`$ and $`Z_2`$ by using the fact that $`d^2S_F=0`$. Setting to zero the coefficient of $`d\lambda ^id\rho ^k`$ in the expression of $`d^2S_F`$ gives

$$dZ_1\stackrel{~}{a}adZ_2=0.$$

Since the two systems are decoupled, this implies the existence of a non-zero constant $`g`$ such that

$$a=gdZ_1,\stackrel{~}{a}=gdZ_2.$$

$`g`$ cannot be zero because $`\omega `$ is non-degenerate. In fact, as we show in the next section, conformal perturbation theory fixes the value of $`g`$ to 1. Thus, putting everything together gives

$$dS_F=d(Z_1Z_2)$$

or

$$S_F=Z.$$

The above derivation of the equality between the master action and the superdisk partition function was carried under the assumption that the matter system consists of two decoupled subsystems. However, as pointed out in , this restriction is not necessary. One can consider any matter system and carry out the above analysis by adding an auxiliary decoupled system. At the end of the calculation the auxiliary system can be suppressed by setting its couplings to a fixed value.

c. Some calculations in conformal perturbation theory

In the previous section we used a general argument to show the relation

$$_iS_F=g_iZ$$

where $`g`$ is a constant factor. We examine now this relation from the point of view of conformal perturbation theory up to 3rd order on the bare couplings $`\lambda ^i`$ of the boundary perturbations. In particular, we consider the following expansion of equations (1) and (1) around the conformal point

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill _iS_F& =2(h_j\frac{1}{2})(\lambda ^jd\tau _1d\tau _2\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}D_i(\tau _1)D_j(\tau _2)_0+\hfill \\ & \lambda ^j\lambda ^kd\tau _1d\tau _2d\tau _3\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}D_i(\tau _1)D_j(\tau _2)U_k(\tau _3)_0)\hfill \end{array}$$

and compare it to the corresponding expansion of the disk partition function

$$_iZ=\lambda ^j𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2U_i(\tau _1)U_j(\tau _2)_0+\frac{1}{2}\lambda ^j\lambda ^k𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2𝑑\tau _3U_i(\tau _1)U_j(\tau _2)U_k(\tau _3)_0.$$

According to (1), we should be able to verify the following two equations

$$2(h_j\frac{1}{2})𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}D_i(\tau _1)D_j(\tau _2)_0=g𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2U_i(\tau _1)U_j(\tau _2)_0$$

in second order, and

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2(h_j\frac{1}{2})𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2d& \tau _3\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}D_i(\tau _1)D_j(\tau _2)U_k(\tau _3)_0+(jk)=\hfill \\ & g𝑑\tau _1𝑑\tau _2𝑑\tau _3U_i(\tau _1)U_j(\tau _2)U_k(\tau _3)_0.\hfill \end{array}$$

in third order.

For the second order computation, the explicit form of the correlators is as follows

$$D_i(\tau _1)D_j(\tau _2)_0=\frac{c\delta _{h_i,h_j}}{\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right|^{2h}}\mathrm{sign}(\tau _1\tau _2),$$

$$U_i(\tau _1)U_j(\tau _2)_0=\frac{b\delta _{h_i,h_j}}{\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right|^{2h+1}},$$

with $`h=h_i=h_j`$. After evaluating the relevant integrals by using the general expression

$$_0^{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _1}{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _2}{2\pi }\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right|^z=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{z}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\frac{z}{2})},$$

equation (1) becomes

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2(h\frac{1}{2})c\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1h)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{3}{2}h)}& =gb\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(h)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}h)}\hfill \\ \hfill 2ch& =gb.\hfill \end{array}$$

This equation, with $`g=1`$, is a consequence of the SUSY Ward identities on the worldsheet. For a short derivation see appendix C.

Similarly, in third order we have the correlators

$$D_i(\tau _1)D_j(\tau _2)U_k(\tau _3)_0=\frac{C_{ijk}\mathrm{sign}(\tau _1\tau _2)}{\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right|^{h_i+h_jh_k\frac{1}{2}}\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _2\tau _3}{2}\right|^{h_j+h_kh_i+\frac{1}{2}}\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _3}{2}\right|^{h_i+h_kh_j+\frac{1}{2}}},$$

$$U_i(\tau _1)U_j(\tau _2)U_k(\tau _3)_0=\frac{B_{ijk}}{\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right|^{h_i+h_jh_k+\frac{1}{2}}\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _2\tau _3}{2}\right|^{h_k+h_jh_i+\frac{1}{2}}\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _3}{2}\right|^{h_i+h_kh_j+\frac{1}{2}}}.$$

By using the general expression

$$\begin{array}{cc}& _0^{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _1}{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _2}{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _3}{2\pi }\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}\right|^a\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _2\tau _3}{2}\right|^b\left|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _3}{2}\right|^c\hfill \\ \hfill =& \frac{1}{\pi ^{3/2}}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}(1+a))\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}(1+b))\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}(1+c))\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\frac{1}{2}(a+b+c))}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\frac{1}{2}(a+b))\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\frac{1}{2}(b+c))\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\frac{1}{2}(a+c))}.\hfill \end{array}$$

we can evaluate all terms in (1). The result of this calculation for $`g=1`$ is

$$2B_{ijk}\left(\frac{1}{2}h_i\right)=\left(\frac{1}{2}h_ih_jh_k\right)\left(C_{ijk}\left(\frac{1}{2}+h_kh_ih_j\right)+C_{ikj}\left(\frac{1}{2}+h_jh_ih_k\right)\right).$$

Since $`C_{ijk}=C_{ikj}`$, the above equation becomes

$$B_{ijk}=\left(\frac{1}{2}h_ih_jh_k\right)C_{ijk}.$$

Again, we can verify this relation, as well as the symmetry properties of the constants $`C_{ijk}`$, by using the SUSY Ward identities. The relevant details can be found in appendix C.

Another important statement of the previous section was the identification of the worldsheet partition function $`Z`$ with the boundary entropy of \[32,,33\]. We can check this identification by an explicit conformal perturbation theory calculation, showing the decrease of the partition function under the renormalization group flow. We perturb the worldsheet action by some relevant operator very close to marginality and as a result the worldsheet theory flows towards a nearby conformal fixed point, where we can still use perturbation theory to calculate the new value of the partition function. A similar calculation can be found in appendix E of reference .

Thus, consider the boundary perturbation $`𝒱`$ with conformal weight $`h=1/2y`$ and $`0<y1/2`$. For simplicity, we assume that the RG flow is closed under this perturbation and that there is no mixing with other fields. The corresponding beta function up to second order equals

$$\beta (\lambda )=y\lambda \frac{B}{\pi }\lambda ^2,$$

with $`B=B_{𝒱𝒱𝒱}`$ the 3-point function constant appearing in (1). This $`\beta `$ function implies the existence of a nearby fixed point given by

$$\beta (\lambda ^{})=0\lambda ^{}=\frac{y\pi }{B}1.$$

In order to verify (1), consider an ultraviolet (length scale) cut-off $`l`$, an RG length scale parameter $`t`$ and the boundary perturbation for bare coupling $`\lambda `$ written in the form

$$S_{\mathrm{bdy}}=\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^y\lambda \frac{d\tau }{2\pi }U(\tau ).$$

In this relation, $`\lambda `$, $`\tau `$ and $`U`$ are dimensionless.

Expanding the partition function to quadratic order in the coupling and using the OPE

$$U(\tau _1)U(\tau _2)\frac{B}{|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}|^{h+1/2}}U(\tau _2)$$

gives

$$\begin{array}{cc}& e^{S_{\mathrm{bdy}}}=1+\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^y\lambda \frac{d\tau }{2\pi }U(\tau )+\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{2y}\lambda ^2\frac{d\tau _1}{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _2}{2\pi }U(\tau _1)U(\tau _2)\hfill \\ & =1+\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^y\lambda \frac{d\tau }{2\pi }U(\tau )+\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{2y}\lambda ^2\frac{d\tau _1}{2\pi }U(\tau _1)\frac{d\tau _2}{2\pi }\frac{B}{|\mathrm{sin}\frac{\tau _1\tau _2}{2}|^{h+1/2}}\hfill \\ & =1+\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^y\lambda \frac{d\tau }{2\pi }U(\tau )+\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{2y}\lambda ^2\frac{B}{\sqrt{\pi }}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{y}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1+y}{2})}\frac{d\tau }{2\pi }U(\tau )\hfill \\ & 1+\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^y\lambda \frac{d\tau }{2\pi }U(\tau )+\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{2y}\lambda ^2\frac{B}{y\pi }\frac{d\tau }{2\pi }U(\tau ).\hfill \end{array}$$

In the last step we have set $`y0`$. Considering now these terms as a correction to the initial perturbation, we find

$$\frac{\delta \lambda (t)}{\delta \mathrm{ln}t}=y\lambda (t)+\frac{B}{\pi }\lambda (t)^2,$$

which gives precisely the beta function (1).

In terms of the bare coupling $`\lambda =\lambda (l)`$, the partition function up to 3rd order is given by

$$Z=1+\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{2y}\lambda ^2\frac{d\tau _1}{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _2}{2\pi }U(\tau _1)U(\tau _2)_0+\frac{1}{6}\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{3y}\lambda ^3\frac{d\tau _1}{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _2}{2\pi }\frac{d\tau _3}{2\pi }U(\tau _1)U(\tau _2)U(\tau _3)_0.$$

After substituting the CFT expressions (1) (with normalization $`b=1`$) and (1) we obtain

$$Z=1+\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{2y}\lambda ^2\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(y\frac{1}{2})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(y)}+\frac{1}{6}\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{3y}\lambda ^3B\frac{1}{\pi \sqrt{\pi }}\frac{(\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}y))^3\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{3}{2}y)}{(\mathrm{\Gamma }(y))^3},$$

which in the $`y0`$ limit simplifies to

$$Z=1y\lambda ^2\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{2y}\frac{8}{3\pi }B\lambda ^3\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^{3y}.$$

This equation can be re-expressed in terms of the renormalized coupling $`\lambda (t)`$ by solving the $`\beta `$ function equation (1). The solution gives

$$\lambda =\left(\frac{t}{l}\right)^y\frac{\lambda (t)}{1\frac{\lambda (t)}{\lambda ^{}}(1(\frac{t}{l})^y)}.$$

Expanding this expression up to second order in $`\lambda (t)`$ and substituting the result into (1) gives

$$Z=1y\lambda (t)^2\frac{2}{3\pi }\lambda (t)^3B.$$

Thus, in the IR limit where $`\lambda (t)\lambda ^{}`$, the total change of the disk partition function between the UV and IR fixed points becomes

$$\delta Z=\frac{\pi ^2y^3}{3B^2}.$$

This result was also obtained in . As expected, we find that $`Z`$ decreases under the renormalization group flow.

5. DISCUSSION

The aim of the above discussion was to show that on a formal level the construction of the (classical) boundary string field theory for the $`NS`$ sector of the superstring is more or less parallel to the analogous construction of the bosonic case. However, in the superstring case there are certain extra subtle points. The first is the requirement to preserve worldsheet supersymmetry. We satisfy it by using a superspace formalism that is manifestly supersymmetric. A second subtlety in the superstring case arises from the involved nature of the superconformal ghosts. Vertex operators can be chosen in different pictures and this choice involves the insertion of appropriate picture changing operators inside the correlation functions.

After defining the appropriate BV structure the spacetime action is determined by (1). Under the additional assumption of ghost and matter decoupling, this action takes a simpler and more appropriate for calculations form. Using the two-systems analysis of  and conformal perturbation theory up to third order we verified that the master action is non other than the disk partition function, exactly as it was conjectured in . This identification also suggests that the spacetime action can also be thought of as the boundary entropy of \[32,,33\]. It takes the right value at the conformal points and decreases along the RG flow.

Nevertheless, this construction of boundary superstring field theory is not at all complete. First of all, the above analysis has to be extended appropriately to include the $`R`$ sector. Secondly, the presented formalism is plagued by the same problems that characterize the analogous construction of the bosonic case. Very simply put, the construction is too formal. The space of all theories (with varying local boundary interaction terms) gives rise to serious ultraviolet divergences, especially when one tries to add non-renormalizable boundary interaction terms. These terms correspond to higher massive excitations of the open string and they certainly have to be included in any acceptable formulation of string field theory.

In order to tackle these divergences an appropriate cut-off has to be introduced. The cut-off should respect the rotational invariance, the $`b_1`$ Ward identities and $`V`$-invariance (i.e. the invariance under the closed BRST charge $`Q`$) 6 Given the previous invariances, $`V`$-invariance is equivalent to the statement that the boundary interaction does not modify the BRST charge. See \[4,,34\] for further comments on this point.. In the superstring case it should also respect worldsheet supersymmetry. A cut-off can be chosen to respect all of the above symmetries except for $`V`$-invariance. Because of this, at the end of the calculation one would like to remove the cut-off in such a way that the $`V`$-invariance of the antibracket is restored. The relevant discussion of  for certain integrable boundary interactions in the bosonic case revealed that the removal of the cut-off presented difficulties. It is not clear however whether this poses an insurmountable obstacle in making sense of the notion of a space of open string theories with local boundary interactions. One expects similar difficulties in the superstring case as well.

Because of such problems the question of whether this formalism can provide a rigorous and full formulation of open string field theory is still open. It might be possible, however, that a more careful application of the BV formalism could provide the needed resolution of the above subtleties.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank I. Ellwood, A. Hanany, D. Kutasov, F. Larsen, A. Parnachev and B. Zwiebach for useful discussions. The work of V.N. is supported by DOE grant DE-FG02-90ER40560. The work of N.P. is partially supported by funds provided by DOE under the cooperative research agreement DE-FC02-94ER40818.

Appendix A

By definition we have

$$\begin{array}{cc}& d\omega (\delta _iG,\delta _jG,\delta _kG)=()^{ϵ_j}\underset{\beta =1}{\overset{3}{}}d\tau _\beta d\theta _\beta ((b_1\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)\hfill \\ \hfill +& (1)^{ϵ_i}(Y\delta _iG)(b_1\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+(1)^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}(Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(b_1\delta _kG)),\hfill \end{array}$$

with $`ϵ_i=ϵ(\delta _iG)`$.

Let us consider the following Ward identities for $`b_1`$

$`b_1(\delta _iG(Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG))=0`$

$`(b_1\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+()^{ϵ_i}\delta _iG(b_1Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}\delta _iG(Y\delta _j)G(b_1Y\delta _kG)=0,`$

$`b_1((Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(Y\delta _kG))=0`$

$`(b_1Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(Y\delta _kG)+()^{ϵ_i}(Y\delta _iG)(b_1\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}(Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(b_1Y\delta _kG)=0,`$

$`b_1((Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG)=0`$

$`(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG+()^{ϵ_i}(Y\delta _iG)(b_1Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}(Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(b_1\delta _kG)=0.`$

Adding the last three identities, separating the appropriate terms and integrating gives

$`d\omega (\delta _iG,\delta _jG,\delta _kG)=`$

$`()^{ϵ_j+1}_{\beta =1}^3d\tau _\beta d\theta _\beta (()^{ϵ_i}\delta _iG(b_1Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}\delta _iG(Y\delta _jG)(b_1Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`(b_1Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(Y\delta _kG)+()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}(Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(b_1Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG+()^{ϵ_i}(Y\delta _iG)(b_1Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG).`$

We have three pairs of terms, each of them labelled by the same statistics factor in front. These pairs are actually vanishing. To see that, let us consider for example the pair

$$(b_1Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(Y\delta _kG)+(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG.$$

For the unperturbed correlator $`\mathrm{}_0`$ we can write the following two Ward identities for the BRST charge $`Q`$:

$`\xi (0)Q\left((b_1Y\delta _iG)(\tau _1,\theta _1)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(\tau _2,\theta _2)(Y\delta _kG)(\tau _3,\theta _3)e^{{\scriptscriptstyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta 𝒱}}\right)_0=`$

$`X(0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\tau _1,\theta _1)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(\tau _2,\theta _2)(Y\delta _kG)(\tau _3,\theta _3)`$

$`\xi (0)(Qb_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{1+ϵ_i}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(Y\delta _kG)+()^{ϵ_i}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi (QY\delta _jG))(Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(QY\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j+ϵ_k}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)[Q,e^{{\scriptscriptstyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta 𝒱}}]_0=`$

$`X(0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)`$

and

$`\xi (0)Q\left((b_1Y\delta _iG)(\tau _1,\theta _1)(Y\delta _jG)(\tau _2,\theta _2)(\xi Y\delta _kG)(\tau _3,\theta _3)e^{{\scriptscriptstyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta 𝒱}}\right)_0=`$

$`X(0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\tau _1,\theta _1)(Y\delta _jG)(\tau _2,\theta _2)(\xi Y\delta _kG)(\tau _3,\theta _3)`$

$`\xi (0)(Qb_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{1+ϵ_i}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(QY\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG)+()^{1+ϵ_i+ϵ_j}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi (QY\delta _kG))+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j+ϵ_k}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG)[Q,e^{{\scriptscriptstyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta 𝒱}}]_0=`$

$`X(0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG).`$

We have explicitly inserted a $`\xi `$ insertion in the center of the disk to saturate the zero mode of the $`\xi \eta `$ system . This insertion is absent from similar expressions in the main text, but its presence is always implied. The left hand side of these Ward identities is obtained by pushing the BRST current contour onto the boundary and the right hand side by shrinking it to zero radius around the center of the disk.

Solving in the above identities for $`\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(Y\delta _kG)`$ and $`\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG`$ and adding the resulting expressions gives

$`\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)\delta _jG(Y\delta _kG)+\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)\delta _kG=`$

$`()^{ϵ_i}\xi (0)(Qb_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+()^{ϵ_i+ϵ_j}\xi (0)(Qb_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi (QY\delta _jG))(Y\delta _kG)+()^{ϵ_j+1}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(QY\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{ϵ_i+1}X(0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)+`$

$`()^{ϵ_j}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(QY\delta _kG)+\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi (QY\delta _kG))+`$

$`()^{ϵ_j+ϵ_k}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(\xi Y\delta _jG)(Y\delta _kG)[Q,e^{{\scriptscriptstyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta 𝒱}}]_0+`$

$`()^{ϵ_k}\xi (0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG)[Q,e^{{\scriptscriptstyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta 𝒱}}]_0+`$

$`()^{ϵ_j+ϵ_i+1}X(0)(b_1Y\delta _iG)(Y\delta _jG)(\xi Y\delta _kG).`$

Since, the position of the $`\xi `$ insertions is irrelevant, we can move appropriately the $`\xi `$ insertion (on the boundary) in the above expressions and after integrating over $`\tau `$ and $`\theta `$ we take

$$\underset{\beta =1}{\overset{3}{}}d\tau _\beta d\theta _\beta \left((b_1Y\delta _iG)\delta _jGY\delta _kG+(b_1Y\delta _iG)Y\delta _jG\delta _kG\right)=0.$$

Continuing in the same fashion for the other two pairs we conclude that $`d\omega =0`$.

The proof of $`V`$-invariance of $`\omega `$ goes in a similar way. The only addition is the use of the identity $`\{Q,b_1\}=v^a_a`$, where $`v^a_a`$ is the generator of rotations on the disk, as well as the use of the identity

$$𝑑\tau 𝑑\theta v^a_a(Y\delta G)=0.$$

Appendix B

In this appendix we would like to show equation (1). From (1) we have

$$[Q,C𝒱]=[(1h)C_\tau C\frac{1}{4}(D_\theta C)(D_\theta C)]𝒱+\frac{1}{2}C(D_\theta C)(D_\theta 𝒱).$$

In components, the above equation involves the expressions 7 All products of fields appearing here are normal ordered in the usual CFT fashion, i.e. $`AB(w)=\frac{dz}{2\pi i}\frac{1}{zw}A(z)B(w)`$.

$$C_\tau C=c_\tau c+\theta (\gamma _\tau cc_\tau \gamma ),$$

$$(D_\theta C)(D_\theta C)=\gamma ^2+2\theta \gamma _\tau c,$$

$$CD_\theta C=c\gamma +\theta (\gamma ^2c_\tau c).$$

Since $`Y=\xi ce^{2\varphi }`$ we easily deduce by using the relevant OPEs that

$$Y\gamma =ce^\varphi .$$

Hence, acting with $`Y`$ on the above equations gives the following expressions

$$YC_\tau C=Yc_\tau c+\theta Y\gamma _\tau c=Yc_\tau c\theta c_\tau ce^\varphi ,$$

$$Y(D_\theta C)(D_\theta C)=Y\gamma ^2+2\theta Y\gamma _\tau c=Y\gamma ^22\theta c_\tau ce^\varphi ,$$

$$YCD_\theta C=\theta (Y\gamma ^2Yc_\tau c).$$

Combining these equations with (1) gives

$`Y[Q,C𝒱]=((1h)(Yc_\tau c\theta c_\tau ce^\varphi \frac{1}{4}Y\gamma ^2+2\frac{1}{4}\theta c_\tau ce^\varphi )𝒱+\frac{1}{2}\theta (Y\gamma ^2Yc_\tau c)D_\theta 𝒱=`$

$`\left((1h)Yc_\tau c\frac{1}{4}Y\gamma ^2\right)𝒱+\frac{1}{2}\theta (Y\gamma ^2Yc_\tau c)D_\theta 𝒱+\left(h\frac{1}{2}\right)\theta c_\tau ce^\varphi 𝒱=`$

$$\left((1h)Yc_\tau c\frac{1}{4}Y\gamma ^2\right)𝒱+\frac{1}{2}\theta (Y\gamma ^2Yc_\tau c)D_\theta 𝒱+\left(h\frac{1}{2}\right)\theta c_\tau ce^\varphi D,$$

i.e. equation (1).

Appendix C

In this appendix we use the SUSY Ward identities on the real line in order to demonstrate relations between the coefficients of certain 2-point and 3-point functions at the conformal point.

2-point functions

The SUSY Ward identity for the 2-point functions on the real line reads

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \delta U_i(x_1)D_j(x_2)_0=0\hfill \\ \hfill _{x_1}D_i(x_1)& D_j(x_2)_0+U_i(x_1)U_j(x_2)_0=0,\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`\delta `$ denotes an infinitesimal SUSY transformation.

Plugging in (1) the CFT expressions

$$D_i(x_1)D_j(x_2)_0=\frac{c\delta _{h_i,h_j}}{|x_1x_2|^{2h}}\mathrm{sign}(x_1x_2)$$

and

$$U_i(x_1)U_j(x_2)_0=\frac{c\delta _{h_i,h_j}}{|x_1x_2|^{2h+1}}$$

with $`h=h_i=h_j`$, we conclude that

$$2ch=b.$$

3-point functions

The relevant Ward identity is

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \delta U_i(x_1)D_j(x_2)U_k(x_3)_0\hfill \\ \hfill _{x_1}D_i(x_1)D_j(x_2)U_k(x_3)_0+& U_i(x_1)U_j(x_2)U_k(x_3)_0U_i(x_1)D_j(x_2)_{x_3}D_k(x_3)_0=0.\hfill \end{array}$$

Substituting for the CFT expressions

$$U_i(x_1)U_j(x_2)U_k(x_3)_0=\frac{B_{ijk}}{|x_1x_2|^{h_i+h_jh_k+\frac{1}{2}}|x_2x_3|^{h_k+h_jh_i+\frac{1}{2}}|x_3x_1|^{h_i+h_kh_j+\frac{1}{2}}},$$

$$D_i(x_1)D_j(x_2)U_k(x_3)_0=\frac{C_{ijk}\mathrm{sign}(x_1x_2)}{|x_1x_2|^{h_i+h_jh_k\frac{1}{2}}|x_2x_3|^{h_j+h_kh_i+\frac{1}{2}}|x_3x_1|^{h_i+h_kh_j+\frac{1}{2}}}$$

gives

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill B_{ijk}(x_1& x_3)=C_{ijk}(h_i+h_jh_k\frac{1}{2})(x_1x_3)+C_{ijk}(h_k+h_ih_j+\frac{1}{2})(x_1x_2)+\hfill \\ & +C_{jki}\left(h_j+h_kh_i\frac{1}{2}\right)(x_1x_3)C_{jki}\left(h_i+h_kh_j+\frac{1}{2}\right)(x_3x_2).\hfill \end{array}$$

This equation must be valid for any value of the worldsheet variables $`x_1,x_2,x_3`$. Hence,

$$B_{ijk}=2h_iC_{ijk}+C_{jki}\left(h_k+h_jh_i\frac{1}{2}\right),$$

$$B_{ijk}=C_{ijk}(h_i+h_jh_k)+2h_kC_{jki},$$

$$C_{ijk}=C_{jki}.$$

Equivalently, the first two equations give

$$B_{ijk}=C_{ijk}\left(\frac{1}{2}h_ih_jh_k\right).$$

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