format: text

text:
# Contents

## 1 Introduction

Dirichlet branes (D-branes)  have played crucial roles in the study of non-perturbative aspects of string theory. D-branes are often referred to as solitons in string theory. However, to treat them really as solitons, one needs to work in the framework of string field theory. In open string field theory, D-brane exists by definition because open string with Neumann boundary conditions in all space-time directions is equivalent to the open string with its ends on a space-time filling D-brane. Still, it is important to know whether lower dimensional D-branes are contained in open string field theory as solitons .

Open string theory in constant B-field background has a description in terms of non-commutative coordinates . Instantons and solitons  on such non-commutative spaces have been studied extensively and interesting non-abelian structures similar to Chan-Paton matrix algebra were found. Indeed, these non-abelian structures were regarded as low energy descriptions of Chan-Paton matrix , and projection operators  or partial isometries  appeared as typical elements in the description of these instantons or solitons. On the other hand, Witten’s cubic open string field theory itself defines a non-commutative geometry . The 3-string interaction vertex defines a non-commutative associative product in open string field algebra. It is tempting to expect that microscopic description of D-branes can be obtained by applying the techniques in non-commutative solitons to Witten’s cubic open string field theory. Some projection operators in open string field algebra have been constructed  along this line of thought.

There are several equivalent descriptions for open string in constant background B-field. The background can be regarded as constant B-field, as well as constant gauge field strength or infinitely many lower dimensional D-branes with non-commuting Chan-Paton matrices. In this article, I will call these descriptions as B-picture, F-picture, and D-picture, respectively. The equivalence is most explicitly shown by the method introduced by Ishibashi . These descriptions are mapped to each other by a change of variables.

In this article, I apply the Ishibashi’s method to study the equivalence of these three descriptions in Witten’s cubic open string field theory. This is a natural direction to pursuit since field theory is an appropriate framework for the description of backgrounds and change of variables.

The organization of this article is as follows. In section 2, I study the equivalence of B-picture and F-picture. Open string field theory in B-picture was also studied in , where it was found that the target space coordinates become non-commutative. It was also found that there is a map to the theory with commutative coordinates. I point out this map is essentially the map between B-picture and F-picture. Although important steps have already been made in these preceding works , I believe this new viewpoint makes the physical picture of the map clearer. Since F-picture variables are the original variables, i.e. the same to the variables without background B-field, this means that the algebra of non-commutative coordinates is already contained in the original open string field algebra. I also give care to the treatment of subtlety in the map that arises at the boundaries of open string. In section 3, I study the map between B-picture and D-picture. From this map I obtain the expression of Chan-Paton matrices in terms of B-picture variables. Through the map between B-picture and F-picture, it is also possible to express them in terms of F-picture variables. This means that Chan-Paton matrix algebra is contained in the original open string field algebra. Since Chan-Paton matrix is associated with lower dimensional D-branes, the appearance of the Chan-Paton algebra in open string field algebra ensures that lower dimensional D-branes can be described as some field configurations in Witten’s cubic open string field theory. Section 4 is devoted to the summary and discussions.

## 2 Equivalence Of B-Field And Gauge Field Strength In Open String Field Theory

### 2.1 Review Of Witten’s Open String Field Theory In Background B-field

#### Witten’s Cubic Open String Field Theory

I start from recalling the open string theory without B-field background. The worldsheet action is given by

$`S={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau _0^\pi 𝑑\sigma \left\{g_{ij}\eta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j\right\}}.`$ (2.1)
Here, $`\eta ^{\alpha \beta }\text{diag}(1,1)(\alpha =0,1)`$, $`\sigma ^0=\tau `$, $`\sigma ^1=\sigma `$, and the target space metric $`g_{ij}(i,j=0,\mathrm{},25)`$ is flat. The equation of motion for $`X^i(\tau ,\sigma )`$ is given by

$`g_{ij}\left(\ddot{X}^j(\tau ,\sigma )X_{}^{j}{}_{}{}^{\prime \prime }(\tau ,\sigma )\right)=0,`$ (2.2)
where the differentials $`_\tau `$ and $`_\sigma `$ are denoted by dot $`\dot{}`$ and prime $`^{}`$, respectively. There are two possible boundary conditions. One is the Neumann boundary condition

$`X_{}^{i}{}_{}{}^{}(\tau ,\sigma )=0,(\sigma =0,\pi )`$ (2.3)
and another is the Dirichlet boundary condition

$`\dot{X}^i(\tau ,\sigma )=const.(\sigma =0,\pi )`$ (2.4)
Here, I consider the case with Neumann boundary conditions for all directions. Then, $`X^i(\tau ,\sigma )`$ can be expanded as

$`X^i(\tau ,\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}x_n^i(\tau )\phi _n^c(\sigma ),`$ (2.5)
where $`\phi _n^c(\sigma )`$ are ortho-normal complete basis for functions on $`0\sigma \pi `$ with Neumann boundary conditions at $`\sigma =0,\pi `$:

$`\phi _n^c(\sigma )=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}\mathrm{cos}n\sigma ,(n0)`$
$`\phi _0^c(\sigma )=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}}.`$ (2.6)
I will use Hamiltonian formalism on the worldsheet in order to describe string field theory in operator formalism . In Heisenberg picture, I have111 I use the same letters for the fields in Lagrangian formalism and Hamiltonian formalism. Readers might not be confused in the context.

$`X^i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}x_n^i\phi _n^c(\sigma ).`$ (2.7)
The canonical conjugate momentum $`P_i(\sigma )`$ of $`X^i(\sigma )`$ is given by

$`P_i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}g_{ij}\dot{X}^j(\sigma ).`$ (2.8)
$`P_i(\sigma )`$ also satisfies Neumann boundary conditions and can be expanded as

$`P_i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}p_{in}\phi _n^c(\sigma ).`$ (2.9)
The canonical commutation relations between modes turn out to be

$`[x_m^i,x_n^j]=0,[p_{im},p_{jn}]=0,[x_m^i,p_{jn}]=i\delta _j^i\delta _{mn}.`$ (2.10)
The Hamiltonian of this system becomes

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left\{(2\pi \alpha ^{})^2g^{ij}p_{in}p_{jn}+g_{ij}x_n^ix_n^jn^2\right\}.`$ (2.11)
The equations of motion in Heisenberg picture are given by

$`\dot{x}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`i[H,x_n^i]=2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{jn},`$ (2.12)
$`\dot{p}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`i[H,p_{in}]={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}g_{ij}n^2x_n^j.`$ (2.13)
To fix reparametrization invariance, one introduces ghost action $`S^{gh}`$:

$`S^{gh}={\displaystyle d^2\sigma \left(b_{++}_{}c^++b_{}_+c^{}\right)}.`$ (2.14)
The ghost fields have mode expansions

$`c^+(\tau ,\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}c_ne^{in(\tau +\sigma )},c^{}(\tau ,\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}c_ne^{in(\tau \sigma )},`$ (2.15)
$`b_{++}(\tau ,\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}b_ne^{in(\tau +\sigma )},b_{}(\tau ,\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}b_ne^{in(\tau \sigma )}.`$ (2.16)
The kinetic part of string field action is constructed using the BRST charge

$`Q={\displaystyle \underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}:c_n\left(L_n^X+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}L_n^{gh}\right):.`$ (2.17)
Here, the matter Virasoro generator $`L_n^X`$ is given by

$`L_n^X={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}:\alpha _n\mathrm{}^i\alpha _{\mathrm{}}^j:,`$ (2.18)
where

$`\alpha _n^i={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}}(2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{jn}inx_n^i).`$ (2.19)
and $`::`$ denotes the normal ordering. The ghost Virasoro generator $`L_n^{gh}`$ is given by

$`L_n^{gh}={\displaystyle \underset{m=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}(nm):b_{n+m}c_m:.`$ (2.20)
The action of the cubic open string field theory is given as follows

$`𝐒={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}R(1,2)||\mathrm{\Psi }_1(Q^{(2)}|\mathrm{\Psi }_2)+{\displaystyle \frac{g}{3}}{}_{123}{}^{}V_3||\mathrm{\Psi }_{1}^{}|\mathrm{\Psi }_2|\mathrm{\Psi }_3.`$ (2.21)
Here, the 3-string interaction vertex is defined by the overlap condition

$`V_3|\left(X^{i(r+1)}(\sigma )X^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\right)=0,(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$
$`V_3|(P_i^{(r+1)}(\sigma )+P_i^{(r)}(\pi \sigma ))=0.(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$ (2.22)
The matter part of the string vertex has a form

$`V_3^X|={}_{123}{}^{}0|\mathrm{exp}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{r,s=1,2,3}{m,n0}}{}}a_m^{i(r)}V_{3mn}^{rs}a_n^{j(s)}),`$ (2.23)
where creation operators $`a_n^i`$ and annihilation operators $`a_n^i`$ are defined by

$`a_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}n}}}(2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{jn}inx_n^i),(n1)`$
$`a_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}n}}}(2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{jn}+inx_n^i),(n1)`$
$`a_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}}(4\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{j0}ix_0^i),`$
$`a_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}}(4\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{j0}+ix_0^i).`$ (2.24)
In this article, the explicit form of the coefficients $`V_{3mn}^{rs}`$ is not used, see  for details. Also I do not study the ghost part since it is not modified by constant background B-field. The matter part of the identity string field $`|I`$, the reflector $`R(1,2)|`$ and the inverse reflector $`|R(1,2)`$ are given by

$`|I`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{n,m}{}}a_n^iC_{nm}a_m^j\right)|0,`$ (2.25)
$`R(1,2)|`$ $`=`$ $`{}_{12}{}^{}0|\mathrm{exp}(g_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{n,m}{}}a_n^{i(1)}C_{nm}a_m^{j(2)}),`$ (2.26)
$`|R(1,2)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left(g_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{n,m}{}}a_n^{i(1)}C_{nm}a_m^{j(2)}\right)|0_{12},`$ (2.27)
where $`C_{nm}=(1)^n\delta _{nm}`$. $`|I`$ and $`R(1,2)|`$ satisfy the following overlap conditions

$`\left(X^i(\sigma )X^i(\pi \sigma )\right)|I`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (2.28)
$`\left(P_i(\sigma )+P_i(\pi \sigma )\right)|I`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (2.29)
$`R(1,2)|\left(X^{i(r+1)}(\sigma )X^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\right)=0,(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$ (2.30)
$`R(1,2)|(P_i^{(r+1)}(\sigma )+P_i^{(r)}(\pi \sigma ))=0.(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$ (2.31)
The star product of string fields is defined by

$$|AB_1={}_{234}{}^{}V_3|A_{3}^{}|B_4|R(1,2).$$
(2.32)
One can define integration $``$ in string field algebra by

$`{\displaystyle }\mathrm{\Psi }={}_{1}{}^{}I|\mathrm{\Psi }_{1}^{},{}_{1}{}^{}I|=R(1,2)|I_2.`$ (2.33)
The identity string field satisfies222I dropped the normalization factor for simplisity.

$`|II=|I.`$ (2.34)
The open string field action (2.21) can be rewritten into the following form

$`\text{S}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Psi }(Q\mathrm{\Psi })}+{\displaystyle \frac{g}{3}}\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }.`$ (2.35)
#### Open String Theory In Constant Background B-field

Next, I review the open string theory in constant background B-field $`B_{ij}`$. This background is described by the worldsheet action

$`S={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau _0^\pi 𝑑\sigma \left\{g_{ij}\eta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j2\pi \alpha ^{}ϵ^{\alpha \beta }B_{ij}_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j\right\}}.`$ (2.36)
Here, $`ϵ^{01}=1`$. To avoid the special features of space-time non-commutativity , I only consider the case $`B_{0i}0`$. The equations of motion is given by

$`g_{ij}\left(\ddot{X_B}^j(\tau ,\sigma )X_{B}^{j}{}_{}{}^{\prime \prime }(\tau ,\sigma )\right)=0,`$ (2.37)
where I have introduced the suffix $`B`$ to explicitely indicate the dependence on the B-field. The boundary conditions are modified from (2.3) by the presence of the B-field:

$`g_{ij}X_{B}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\tau ,\sigma )+b_{ij}\dot{X_B}^j(\tau ,\sigma )=0.(\sigma =0,\pi )`$ (2.38)
Here, $`b_{ij}=2\pi \alpha ^{}B_{ij}`$. In Hamiltonian formalism, the boundary conditions (2.38) can be treated as constraints  (I use notation similar to ). The mode expansions of $`X_B^i(\sigma )`$ and its canonical variable $`\widehat{P}_i(\sigma )`$ are given as follows:

$`X_B^i(\sigma )=\widehat{X}^i(\sigma )+\theta ^{ij}Q_j(\sigma ),`$ (2.39)
$`\widehat{P}_i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left\{g_{ij}\dot{X_B}^j(\sigma )+b_{ij}X_{B}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma )\right\},`$ (2.40)
$`\widehat{X}^i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_n^i\phi _n^c(\sigma ),Q_i(\sigma )=\widehat{p}_{i0}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}}\left(\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}\widehat{p}_{in}\phi _n^s(\sigma ),`$ (2.41)
$`\widehat{P}_i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{p}_{in}\phi _n^c(\sigma ).`$ (2.42)
Here, $`\phi _n^s(\sigma )`$ are ortho-normal basis for functions on $`0\sigma \pi `$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions at $`\sigma =0,\pi `$:

$`\phi _n^s(\sigma )=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}\mathrm{sin}n\sigma ,`$ (2.43)
and $`\theta ^{ij}`$ is defined by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\theta ^{ij}}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{1}{g+b}}b{\displaystyle \frac{1}{gb}}){}_{}{}^{ij}.`$ (2.44)
The modes $`\widehat{x}_m^i`$ and $`\widehat{p}_{jn}`$ satisfy the canonical commutation relations

$`[\widehat{x}_m^i,\widehat{x}_n^j]=[\widehat{p}_{im},\widehat{p}_{jn}]=0,[\widehat{x}_m^i,\widehat{p}_{jn}]=i\delta _{mn}\delta _j^i.`$ (2.45)
These commutation relations lead to the following commutation relations

$`[X_B^i(\sigma ),X_B^j(\sigma ^{})]=i\theta ^{ij}\left(\delta _{0,\sigma +\sigma ^{}}\delta _{2\pi ,\sigma +\sigma ^{}}\right),`$
$`[X_B^i(\sigma ),\widehat{P}_j(\sigma ^{})]=i\delta _j^i\delta ^c(\sigma ,\sigma ^{}),[\widehat{P}_i(\sigma ),\widehat{P}_j(\sigma ^{})]=0,`$ (2.46)
where

$`\begin{array}{ccc}\delta _{0,\sigma }\hfill & =\hfill & 1,(\sigma =0)\hfill \\ & =\hfill & 0,(\sigma 0)\hfill \end{array}\begin{array}{ccc}\delta _{\pi ,\sigma }\hfill & =\hfill & 1,(\sigma =\pi )\hfill \\ & =\hfill & 0,(\sigma \pi )\hfill \end{array}`$ (2.51)
and

$`\delta ^c(\sigma ,\sigma ^{})={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\phi _n^c(\sigma )\phi _n^c(\sigma ^{}).`$ (2.52)
Notice the non-commutativity of $`X_B^i(\sigma )`$ at the boundaries. The Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}(B)`$ of this system becomes

$`\widehat{H}(B)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left\{(2\pi \alpha ^{})^2G^{ij}\widehat{p}_{in}\widehat{p}_{jn}+G_{ij}\widehat{x}_n^i\widehat{x}_n^jn^2\right\},`$ (2.53)
where

$`G_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`g_{ij}(bg^1b)_{ij},`$
$`G^{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{1}{g+b}}g{\displaystyle \frac{1}{gb}}){}_{}{}^{ij}.`$ (2.54)
$`B`$ of $`\widehat{H}(B)`$ indicates the dependence on the background B-field. The equations of motion in Heisenberg picture are given by

$`\dot{\widehat{x}}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`i[\widehat{H}(B),\widehat{x}_n^i]=2\pi \alpha ^{}G^{ij}\widehat{p}_{jn},`$ (2.55)
$`\dot{\widehat{p}}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`i[\widehat{H}(B),\widehat{p}_{in}]={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}G_{ij}\widehat{x}_n^jn^2.`$ (2.56)
### 2.2 Map Between B-picture and F-picture

In the previous subsection, the effect of the B-field is treated as boundary conditions (2.38). Since the second term in the action (2.36) is a total derivative, it can be integrated to the surface term:

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau _0^\pi 𝑑\sigma \left\{g_{ij}\eta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j2\pi \alpha ^{}ϵ^{\alpha \beta }B_{ij}_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j\right\}}`$ (2.57)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau _0^\pi 𝑑\sigma \left\{g_{ij}\eta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j\right\}}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau b_{ij}X^i(\pi )\dot{X}^j(\pi )}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau b_{ij}X^i(0)\dot{X}^j(0)}.`$
Then, the effect of $`B_{ij}`$ appears as interactions at the boundaries. It should be regard as open string background, i.e. constant background gauge field strength. I call this description F-picture, and call the description in the previous subsection B-picture. These descriptions should be equivalent since both start from the same action. The equivalence is most explicitly shown by the method introduced by Ishibashi , and I will utilize his method. In order to clearly distinguish the boundary interactions from the boundary conditions, one first shifts the positions of the boundary terms to $`\sigma =ϵ`$ and $`\sigma =\pi ϵ`$, $`(ϵ>0)`$ and take the limit $`ϵ0`$ later. This procedure ensures that the boundary terms contribute to the equation of motion, instead of changing the boundary conditions. Then, the equation of motion is given by

$`g_{ij}\left(\ddot{X^j}(\tau ,\sigma )X_{}^{j}{}_{}{}^{\prime \prime }(\tau ,\sigma )\right)+b_{ij}\left(\dot{X}^j(\tau ,\pi ϵ)\delta ^c(\pi ϵ,\sigma )\dot{X}^j(\tau ,ϵ)\delta ^c(ϵ,\sigma )\right)=0,`$ (2.58)
with Neumann boundary conditions:

$`g_{ij}X_{}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\tau ,\sigma )=0.(\sigma =0,\pi )`$ (2.59)
$`X^i(\tau ,\sigma )`$ can be expanded as

$`X^i(\tau ,\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}x_n^i(\tau )\phi _n^c(\sigma ).`$ (2.60)
In terms of the modes, the equations of motion (2.58) can be rewritten as

$`g_{ij}(\ddot{x}_n^j+n^2x_n^j)+b_{ij}\left(\dot{X}^j(\pi ϵ)\phi _n^c(\pi ϵ)\dot{X}^j(ϵ)\phi _n^c(ϵ)\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (2.61)
The canonical momentum $`P_i(\sigma )`$ of $`X^i(\sigma )`$ is given by

$`P_i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g_{ij}\dot{X}^j(\sigma )+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}b_{ij}\left(X^j(\pi ϵ)\delta ^c(\pi ϵ,\sigma )X^j(ϵ)\delta ^c(ϵ,\sigma )\right)\right).`$ (2.62)
$`P_i(\sigma )`$ also satisfies the Neumann boundary conditions and can be expanded as

$`P_i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}p_{in}\phi _n^c(\sigma ).`$ (2.63)
The variables in F-picture, $`x_n^i`$ and $`p_{in}`$, are identified with the variables without the background B-field, i.e. (2.7) and (2.8), respectively. What is changed by the B-field is the Hamiltonian. It is given by

$`H_I^ϵ`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}g_{ij}\left(\dot{x}_n^i\dot{x}_n^j+n^2x_n^ix_n^j\right),`$ (2.64)
where the suffix $`ϵ`$ indicates the dependence on the cut off and $`\dot{x}_n^i`$ is solved in terms of $`p_{in}`$ and $`x_n^i`$:

$`\dot{x}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{jn}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(g^1b)_{}^{i}{}_{j}{}^{}\left(X^j(\pi ϵ)\phi _n^c(\pi ϵ)X^j(ϵ)\phi _n^c(ϵ)\right).`$ (2.65)
This is also an equation of motion of $`x_n^i`$ in Heisenberg picture. The equation of motion for $`p_{in}`$ is given by

$`\dot{p}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`i[H_I^ϵ,p_{in}]`$ (2.66)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}g_{ij}n^2x_n^j{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}b_{ij}((\dot{X}^j(\pi ϵ)\phi _n^c(\pi ϵ)\dot{X}^j(ϵ)\phi _n^c(ϵ)).`$
I will show the equivalence of the two descriptions by constructing a one-to-one map between B-picture variables $`(\widehat{x}_n^i,\widehat{p}_{in})`$ and F-picture variables $`(x_n^i,p_{in})`$. This map is obtained in the following way . In the interval $`0\sigma \pi `$, one can Fourier expand $`(\sigma \frac{\pi }{2})`$ and $`\phi _m^s(\sigma )`$ by $`\phi _n^c(\sigma )`$, and so as $`X_B^i(\sigma )`$. Then, one equates $`X^i(\sigma )=X_B^i(\sigma )`$ in the interval $`0<\sigma <\pi `$. By comparing the coefficients of $`\phi _n^c(\sigma )`$, one obtains the expression of $`x_n^i`$ in terms of $`\widehat{x}_n^i`$ and $`\widehat{p}_{in}`$. Here, the limit $`ϵ0`$ is taken as

$`\underset{ϵ0}{lim}X^i(\pi ϵ)=X^i(\pi )X_B^i(\pi ),`$
$`\underset{ϵ0}{lim}X^i(ϵ)=X^i(0)X_B^i(0).`$ (2.67)
This prescription can be understood from the corresponding boundary state in closed string theory . Then, one can use (2.66) to obtain the expression of $`p_{in}`$ in terms of $`\widehat{x}_n^i`$ and $`\widehat{p}_{in}`$. The result is as follows:

$`x_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{x}_n^i\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{p}_j\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}n,`$ (2.68)
$`p_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{p}_{in}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}b_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left(\widehat{x}_{\mathrm{}}^j\theta ^{jk}{\displaystyle \underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{p}_{km}A_m\mathrm{}\right)A_\mathrm{}n{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2+n^2}{2}},`$ (2.69)
where the matrix $`A_{mn}`$ is defined as

$`\phi _n^c(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{m=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_{nm}m\phi _m^s(\sigma ),(0<\sigma <\pi )`$
$`\phi _n^s(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}(n)A_{nm}\phi _m^c(\sigma ).(0\sigma \pi )`$ (2.70)
Some properties of the matrix $`A_{mn}`$ is summarized in the appendix. Here, one must be careful since the infinite summations may depend on ordering. In (2.69), the bracket $`()`$ means that the summation over mode indices inside $`()`$ should be taken before the summation over mode indices in and outside the bracket. As an illustration, let us consider the matter fields at the “boundary”:

$`X^i(\pi )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}x_n^i\phi _n^c(\pi )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left(\widehat{x}_n^i\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{p}_j\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}n\right)\phi _n^c(\pi )`$
$``$ $`X_B^i(\pi )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_n^i\phi _n^c(\pi )\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{p}_j\mathrm{}\left({\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_\mathrm{}n\phi _n^c(\pi )\right)={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_n^i\phi _n^c(\pi )+{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\theta ^{ij}\widehat{p}_{j0}.`$
One must regard $`X^i(\pi )`$ and $`X_B^i(\pi )`$ as different operators since while $`[X^i(\pi ),X^j(\pi )]=0`$, $`[X_B^i(\pi ),X_B^j(\pi )]=i\theta ^{ij}`$. The difference between $`X^i(\pi )`$ and $`X_B^i(\pi )`$ may be interpreted as the difference of regularization prescription appeared in .

By applying the rule (2.2), the $`ϵ0`$ limit of the equations of motion (2.65) and (2.66) become

$`\dot{x}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}p_{jn}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(g^1b)_{}^{i}{}_{j}{}^{}\left(X^j(\pi )\phi _n^c(\pi )X^j(0)\phi _n^c(0)\right),`$ (2.72)
$`\dot{p}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}g_{ij}n^2x_n^j{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}b_{ij}((\dot{X}^j(\pi )\phi _n^c(\pi )\dot{X}^j(0)\phi _n^c(0)).`$ (2.73)
One can check that the equations of motion in B-picture ((2.55) and (2.56)) lead to the equations of motion in F-picture ((2.72) and (2.73)). Thus the same Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}(B)`$ gives the equations of motion of both pictures. Hence the two descriptions are equivalent.

The inverse map is given by

$`\widehat{x}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`(G^1g)_{}^{i}{}_{j}{}^{}x_n^j+\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}p_j\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}n+\delta _{n0}{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{4}}(\theta b)_{}^{i}{}_{j}{}^{}\left(X^j(\pi )+X^j(0)\right),`$ (2.74)
$`\widehat{p}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`p_{in}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}b_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}x_{\mathrm{}}^jA_\mathrm{}n{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2+n^2}{2}}.`$ (2.75)
The map can be written in the form of Unitary transformation:

$`x_n^i=U_{BF}^1\widehat{x}_n^iU_{BF},p_{in}=U_{BF}^1\widehat{p}_{in}U_{BF}.`$ (2.76)
Here, $`U_{BF}`$ is given by

$`U_{BF}=e^Ne^M,`$ (2.77)
where

$`M`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{p}_i\mathrm{}\widehat{p}_{jm}A_\mathrm{}m`$ (2.78)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\sigma {\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\sigma ^{}ϵ(\sigma \sigma ^{})\widehat{P}_i(\sigma )\widehat{P}_j(\sigma ^{}),`$
and

$`N`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}b_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_{\mathrm{}}^iA_\mathrm{}m{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2+m^2}{2}}\widehat{x}_m^j`$ (2.79)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }d\sigma B_{ij}(\widehat{X}^i(\sigma )\widehat{X}^j{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma )\widehat{X}^i{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma )\widehat{X}^j(\sigma )).`$
Here, $`ϵ(\sigma )`$ is the sign function

$`ϵ(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`1,(\sigma >0)`$ (2.80)
$`=`$ $`0,(\sigma =0)`$
$`=`$ $`1.(\sigma <0)`$
These operators have appeared in .

The 3-string vertex $`V_3|`$ can be rewritten using the variables $`\widehat{x}_n^i`$ and $`\widehat{p}_{in}`$. From (2.76), I obtain

$`V_3|=\widehat{V}_3|e^Ne^M,`$ (2.81)
where $`\widehat{V}_3|`$ satisfies the following overlap conditions for $`\widehat{X}^i(\sigma )`$ and $`\widehat{P}_i(\sigma )`$:

$`\widehat{V}_3|\left(\widehat{X}^{i(r+1)}(\sigma )\widehat{X}^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\right)=0,(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$
$`\widehat{V}_3|(\widehat{P}_i^{(r+1)}(\sigma )+\widehat{P}_i^{(r)}(\pi \sigma ))=0.(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$ (2.82)
Since the difference between the original overlap conditions (2.1) and (2.2) is just a difference of the variables, 333 Since the overlap conditions do not refer to metric, the 3-string vertex is independent from the metric .

$`\widehat{V}_3^X|={}_{123}{}^{}0|\mathrm{exp}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{r,s=1,2,3}{m,n0}}{}}\widehat{a}_m^{i(r)}V_{3mn}^{rs}\widehat{a}_n^{j(s)}),`$ (2.83)
where the creation and annihilation operators are defined in the same way as in (2.1) :

$`\widehat{a}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}n}}}(2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}\widehat{p}_{jn}in\widehat{x}_n^i),(n1)`$
$`\widehat{a}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}n}}}(2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}\widehat{p}_{jn}+in\widehat{x}_n^i),(n1)`$
$`\widehat{a}_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}}(4\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}\widehat{p}_{j0}in\widehat{x}_0^i),`$
$`\widehat{a}_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}}(4\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}\widehat{p}_{j0}+in\widehat{x}_0^i).`$ (2.84)
Using the defining properties (2.2), one can show $`\widehat{V}_3|N=0`$. From the overlap conditions,

$`\widehat{V}_3|{\displaystyle \underset{r=1}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }d\sigma \widehat{X}^{i(r)}(\sigma )\widehat{X}^{j(r)}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma )`$ (2.85)
$`=`$ $`\widehat{V}_3|{\displaystyle \underset{r=1}{\overset{3}{}}}({\displaystyle _0^{\frac{\pi }{2}}}d\sigma \widehat{X}^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\widehat{X}^{j(r)}{}_{}{}^{}(\pi \sigma )+{\displaystyle _{(\frac{\pi }{2})}^\pi }d\sigma \widehat{X}^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\widehat{X}^{j(r)}{}_{}{}^{}(\pi \sigma ))`$
$`=`$ $`\widehat{V}_3|{\displaystyle \underset{r=1}{\overset{3}{}}}({\displaystyle _\pi ^{\frac{\pi }{2}}}d\sigma \widehat{X}^{i(r)}(\sigma )\widehat{X}^{j(r)}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma )+{\displaystyle _{(\frac{\pi }{2})}^0}d\sigma \widehat{X}^{i(r)}(\sigma )\widehat{X}^{j(r)}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma ))`$
$`=`$ $`\widehat{V}_3|{\displaystyle \underset{r=1}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }d\sigma \widehat{X}^{i(r)}(\sigma )\widehat{X}^{j(r)}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma )`$
$`=`$ $`0,`$
where $`_{(p)}`$ means that the integration region starts from the point $`p`$ with the point $`p`$ itself being excluded from the integration. The equation (2.85) means $`\widehat{V}_3|N=0`$. Thus, I obtain

$`V_3|=\widehat{V}_3|e^M.`$ (2.86)
This expression was also found in  by requireing the overlap conditions for the B-picture variables:

$`V_3|\left(X_B^{i(r+1)}(\sigma )X_B^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\right)=0,(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$
$`V_3|(\widehat{P}_i^{(r+1)}(\sigma )+\widehat{P}_i^{(r)}(\pi \sigma ))=0.(0\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$ (2.87)
Note that this 3-string vertex is the same to the original one (2.1), i.e., the one with no background B-field. In , it was also shown that the 3-string vertex (2.86) can be rewritten into the following form:

$`V_3|=\widehat{V}_3|\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{r=1}{\overset{3}{}}}\theta ^{ij}\widehat{p}_{i0}^{(r)}\widehat{p}_{j0}^{(r+1)}\right).`$ (2.88)
The kinetic term of the open string field theory in the B-field background is given by the B-field dependent BRST charge $`\widehat{Q}(B)`$:

$`\widehat{Q}(B)={\displaystyle \underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}:c_n\left(\widehat{L}_n^X+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}L_n^{gh}\right):,`$ (2.89)
where the matter part of the Virasoro operator is given by

$`\widehat{L}_n^X={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}G_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}:\widehat{\alpha }_n\mathrm{}^i\widehat{\alpha }_{\mathrm{}}^j:.`$ (2.90)
Here, $`::`$ denotes the normal ordering with respect to the operators

$`\widehat{\alpha }_n^i={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}}(2\pi \alpha ^{}G^{ij}\widehat{p}_{jn}in\widehat{x}_n^i).`$ (2.91)
The open string field action in the B-field background is given by

$`𝐒(B)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}R(1,2)||\mathrm{\Psi }_1(\widehat{Q}(B)^{(2)}|\mathrm{\Psi }_2)+{\displaystyle \frac{g}{3}}{}_{123}{}^{}V_3||\mathrm{\Psi }_{1}^{}|\mathrm{\Psi }_2|\mathrm{\Psi }_3,`$ (2.92)
where, as I have explained, the 3-string vertex $`V_3|`$ is the same to the one without B-field. This is expected from the background independence of the 3-string vertex . The information of the background only appears in the BRST charge $`\widehat{Q}(B)`$.

The algebra of the original coordinates $`x_0^i`$ is commutative. On the other hand, one may regard $`\widehat{p}_{i0}`$, which commutes with hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}(B)`$, as target space momentum. Then, the canonical conjugate variable $`\widehat{x}_0^i`$ can be regarded as target space “coordinate”, and multiplication between coordinates are given by a non-commutative Moyal type product, as one can observe from eq.(2.88). With this “definition” of the coordinates, the hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}(B)`$ determines the subalgebra of open string field algebra which is regarded as algebra of target space coordinates. Notice that under the B-field background, there is no intuitive notion for target space coordinates before one defines them.

To quantize the worldsheet theory, one should also choose Hilbert space. It turns out $`|\widehat{0}|e^N|\widehat{0}|^2=0`$ and $`|\widehat{0}|e^M|\widehat{0}|^2=0`$. Here, $`|\widehat{0}`$ is a Fock vacuum for the annihilation/creation operators (2.2). Therefore, $`U_{BF}=e^Ne^M`$ does not act within a single Hilbert space. But one can use linear map (2.68), (2.69) or the inverse map (2.74), (2.75) to describe F-picture operators in terms B-picture operators or vice versa. In open string field algebra, it is not precisely known what set of states should be allowed (see  for a recent discussion). It seems that one should allow transformations like $`U_{BF}`$ to treat different backgrounds in open string field algebra.

I close this section by mentioning that an interpolating picture between B-picture and F-picture might have been obtained if I had partially integrated the second term in (2.36) .

## 3 Equivalence Of B-field And Non-commuting Chan-Paton Matrices In Open String Field Theory

There is an open string worldsheet theory which is equivalent to the open string theory in B-field background discussed in the previous section . This is an open string theory on infinitely many D-branes with non-commuting Chan-Paton matrices. I will call this description D-picture. More precise description is given in the following.

### 3.1 Map Between B-picture and D-picture

The worldsheet action of what I call D-picture is given by

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau _0^\pi 𝑑\sigma \left\{g_{ij}\eta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j\overline{b}_{ij}ϵ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha X^i_\beta X^j\right\}}`$ (3.1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau (g_{ij}X_{}^{i}{}_{}{}^{}(\pi )\overline{b}_{ij}\dot{X}^i(\pi ))y_\pi ^j}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau (g_{ij}X_{}^{i}{}_{}{}^{}(0)\overline{b}_{ij}\dot{X}^i(0))y_0^j}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle }d\tau \left({\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\right)^1{}_{ij}{}^{}(y_\pi ^i\dot{y}_\pi ^jy_0^i\dot{y}_0^j),`$
where $`\overline{b}_{ij}`$ is given by

$`\overline{b}_{ij}=b_{ij}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\right)^1{}_{ij}{}^{}.`$ (3.2)
In the above the inverse of $`\theta ^{ij}`$ is considered in the appropliate subspace of the target space, i.e. if the rank of $`\theta ^{ij}`$ is $`24`$, $`\theta _{ij}^1`$ is the inverse in the $`24`$-dimensional subspace. The action (3.1) can be read off from the corresponding boundary state in closed string theory . In the boundary state, the quantum mechanical degrees of freedom $`y_0^i`$ and $`y_\pi ^j`$ arise as path integral counterparts of Chan-Paton matrices. Here, they will become infinite dimensional Chan-Paton matrices after the canonical quantization. As in the previous section, I introduce cutoff $`ϵ`$ to separate interactions from boundary conditions. Then, the equations of motion are given by

$`g_{ij}(\ddot{X_D}^j(\tau ,\sigma )X_{D}^{j}{}_{}{}^{\prime \prime }(\tau ,\sigma ))g_{ij}(y_\pi ^j\delta _{}^{c}{}_{}{}^{}(\pi ϵ,\sigma )y_0^j\delta _{}^{c}{}_{}{}^{}(ϵ,\sigma ))`$
$`+\overline{b}_{ij}\left(\dot{y}_\pi ^j\delta ^s(\pi ϵ,\sigma )\dot{y}_0^j\delta ^s(ϵ,\sigma )\right)`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (3.3)
$`g_{ij}X_{D}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\tau ,\pi ϵ)+\overline{b}_{ij}\dot{X_D^j}(\tau ,\pi ϵ)+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\right)^1{}_{ij}{}^{}\dot{y}_{\pi }^{j}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (3.4)
$`g_{ij}X_{D}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\tau ,ϵ)+\overline{b}_{ij}\dot{X_D^j}(\tau ,ϵ)+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\right)^1{}_{ij}{}^{}\dot{y}_{0}^{j}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (3.5)
where the suffix $`D`$ indicates that $`X_D^i(\tau ,\sigma )`$ satisfies the Dirichlet boundary conditions. In the above, the delta function $`\delta ^s(\sigma ,\sigma ^{})`$ for functions with Dirichlet boundary conditions is given by

$`\delta ^s(\sigma ,\sigma ^{})={\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\phi _n^s(\sigma )\phi _n^s(\sigma ^{}).`$ (3.6)
As in the previous section, I move to Hamiltonian formalism. $`X_D^i(\sigma )`$ can be expanded as

$`X_D^i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i\phi _n^s(\sigma ).`$ (3.7)
The canonical momentum of $`X_D^i(\sigma )`$ is given by

$`\stackrel{~}{P}_i(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g_{ij}\dot{X_D}^j(\sigma )+\overline{b}_{ij}X_{D}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma )\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\overline{b}_{ij}\left(y_\pi ^j\delta ^s(\pi ϵ,\sigma )y_0^j\delta ^s(ϵ,\sigma )\right).`$ (3.8)
$`\stackrel{~}{P}_i(\sigma )`$ can be expanded as

$`\stackrel{~}{P}_i(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{\stackrel{~}{p}}_{in}\phi _n^s(\sigma )+\overline{b}_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}n\stackrel{~}{x}_n^j\phi _n^c(\sigma ),`$ (3.9)
where

$`\stackrel{~}{\stackrel{~}{p}}_{in}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g_{ij}\dot{\stackrel{~}{x}}_n^j+\overline{b}_{ij}\left(y_\pi ^j\phi _n^s(\pi ϵ)y_0^j\phi _n^s(ϵ)\right)\right).`$ (3.10)
This expansion can be obtained in a similar manner that was done in  for B-picture to obtain the expansions (2.39)$``$(2.42). However, it will turn out to be more convenient to use the variable $`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}`$ defined by

$`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\stackrel{~}{P}_i(\sigma )\phi _n^s(\sigma )`$ (3.11)
$`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{\stackrel{~}{p}}_{in}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\overline{b}_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{x}_{\mathrm{}}^j\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}nn,`$
to treat the subtle prescription for summation over mode indices similar to the one appeared in (2.2). An underling reason is that the variable in B-picture corresponding to (3.8) is

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}(g_{ij}\dot{X_B}^j(\sigma )+\overline{b}_{ij}X_{B}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma ))=\theta _{ij}^1\widehat{X}^j{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma ),`$ (3.12)
and it is expanded by $`\phi _n^s(\sigma )`$. Since $`_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}\phi _n^s(\sigma )`$ is a part of $`\stackrel{~}{P}_i(\sigma )`$ which can be expanded by $`\phi _n^s(\sigma )`$, the matching between them contains no subtlety at boundaries. Notice that the map between $`\stackrel{~}{\stackrel{~}{p}}_{in}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}`$ can be written in the form of unitary transformation

$`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}=e^{\stackrel{~}{N}_{\overline{b}}}\stackrel{~}{\stackrel{~}{p}}_{in}e^{\stackrel{~}{N}_{\overline{b}}},`$ (3.13)
where

$`\stackrel{~}{N}_{\overline{b}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}\overline{b}_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{m=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{x}_{\mathrm{}}^i\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}mm\stackrel{~}{x}_m^j`$ (3.14)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\sigma \overline{b}_{ij}X_D^i(\sigma )X_{D}^{j}{}_{}{}^{}(\sigma ).`$
The map (3.13) can be regarded as a map from the variables without background B-field to those with constant background B-field $`\overline{b}_{ij}`$ in open string theory on lower dimensional D-branes. This is another reason that the variable $`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}`$ is convenient.

The canonical commutation relations between modes are given by

$`[\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i,\stackrel{~}{p}_{jm}]=i\delta _{nm},`$ (3.15)
$`[y_\pi ^i,y_\pi ^j]=i\theta ^{ij},[y_0^i,y_0^j]=i\theta ^{ij},`$ (3.16)
others give zero. The Hamiltonian of this system is given by

$`H_D^ϵ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}}g_{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left(\dot{\stackrel{~}{x}}_n^i\dot{\stackrel{~}{x}}_n^j+n^2\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i\stackrel{~}{x}_n^j\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}g_{ij}\left(y_\pi ^j\stackrel{~}{x}_n^in\phi _n^c(\pi ϵ)y_0^j\stackrel{~}{x}_n^in\phi _n^c(ϵ)\right),`$ (3.17)
where $`\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i`$ is solved in terms of $`\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}`$ by (3.10) and (3.11):

$`\dot{\stackrel{~}{x}}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}\stackrel{~}{p}_{jn}(g^1\overline{b})_{}^{i}{}_{j}{}^{}\left({\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{x}_{\mathrm{}}^j\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}nn\left(y_\pi ^j\phi _n^s(\pi ϵ)y_0^j\phi _n^s(ϵ)\right)\right).`$ (3.18)
This is also an equation of motion of $`\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i`$. Other equations of motion become

$`\dot{\stackrel{~}{p}}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`i[H_D^ϵ,\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}]`$ (3.19)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g\overline{b}g^1\overline{b}\right)_{ij}n\left(n\stackrel{~}{x}_n^j+y_\pi ^j\phi _n^c(\pi ϵ)y_0^j\phi _n^c(ϵ)\right)`$
$`+(\overline{b}g^1)_{i}^{}{}_{}{}^{j}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{p}_j\mathrm{}\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}nn,`$
$`\dot{y}_\pi ^i`$ $`=`$ $`i[H_D^ϵ,y_\pi ^i]={\displaystyle \frac{\theta ^{ij}}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g_{jk}X_{D}^{k}{}_{}{}^{}(\pi ϵ)+\overline{b}_{jk}\dot{X_D}^k(\pi ϵ)\right),`$ (3.20)
$`\dot{y}_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`i[H_D^ϵ,y_0^i]={\displaystyle \frac{\theta ^{ij}}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g_{jk}X_{D}^{k}{}_{}{}^{}(ϵ)+\overline{b}_{jk}\dot{X_D}^k(ϵ)\right).`$ (3.21)
Now, I take the $`ϵ0`$ limit of the equations of motion (3.19)$``$(3.21) with the conditions

$`\underset{ϵ0}{lim}X_D^i(\pi ϵ)=X_B^i(\pi )X_D^i(\pi ),`$
$`\underset{ϵ0}{lim}X_D^i(ϵ)=X_B^i(0)X_D^i(0).`$ (3.22)
This prescription can be understood from the corresponding boundary state in closed string field theory . Then, I obtain

$`\dot{\stackrel{~}{x}}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \alpha ^{}g^{ij}\stackrel{~}{p}_{jn}(g^1\overline{b}){\displaystyle {}_{}{}^{i}{}_{j}{}^{}\underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{x}_{\mathrm{}}^j\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}nn,`$ (3.23)
$`\dot{\stackrel{~}{p}}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g\overline{b}g^1\overline{b}\right)_{ij}n\left(n\stackrel{~}{x}_n^j+y_\pi ^j\phi _n^c(\pi )y_0^j\phi _n^c(0)\right)`$ (3.24)
$`+(\overline{b}g^1)_{i}^{}{}_{}{}^{j}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{p}_j\mathrm{}\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}nn,`$
$`\dot{y}_\pi ^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\theta ^{ij}}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g_{jk}X_{B}^{k}{}_{}{}^{}(\pi )+\overline{b}_{jk}\dot{X_B}^k(\pi )\right),`$ (3.25)
$`\dot{y}_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\theta ^{ij}}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\left(g_{jk}X_{B}^{k}{}_{}{}^{}(0)+\overline{b}_{jk}\dot{X_B}^k(0)\right).`$ (3.26)
To obtain the map between B-picture and D-picture, one equates $`X_D^i(\sigma )=X_B^i(\sigma )`$ in the interval ($`0<\sigma <\pi `$). In this interval, one can expand $`\phi _n^c(\sigma )`$ by $`\phi _m^s(\sigma )`$ and the coefficients of $`\phi _m^s(\sigma )`$ in the both side should match and one obtains the expression of $`\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i`$ in terms of B-picture variables. Then, the expression of $`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}`$, $`y_\pi ^i`$ and $`y_0^i`$ can be obtained from (3.23)$`(\text{3.26})`$. The result is as follows:

$`\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_{\mathrm{}}^iA_\mathrm{}nn+\theta ^{ij}\left[\widehat{p}_{j0}{\displaystyle \frac{A_n}{n}}+\widehat{p}_{jn}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}\right],`$ (3.27)
$`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`\theta _{ij}^1\widehat{x}_n^jn,`$ (3.28)
$`y_\pi ^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_n^i\phi _n^c(\pi )+{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\theta ^{ij}\widehat{p}_{j0}=X_B^i(\pi ),`$ (3.29)
$`y_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_n^i\phi _n^c(0){\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\theta ^{ij}\widehat{p}_{j0}=X_B^i(0).`$ (3.30)
Using the commutation relations in B-picture (2.45), one can check that (3.27)$``$(3.30) satisfy the commutation relations in D-picture (3.15) and (3.16). One can also check that the equations of motion for the variables in B-picture lead to the equations of motion for D-picture (3.23)$``$(3.26). This means that both the equations of motion in B-picture and those in D-picture are given by the same Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}(B)`$. Thus, these two descriptions are equivalent.

The inverse map is given by

$`\widehat{x}_n^i`$ $`=`$ $`\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}\stackrel{~}{p}_{jn},(n0)`$ (3.31)
$`\widehat{x}_0^i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\left(y_\pi ^i+y_0^i\right){\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{p}_j\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \frac{\phi _{\mathrm{}}^c(\pi )+\phi _{\mathrm{}}^c(0)}{\mathrm{}}},`$ (3.32)
$`\widehat{p}_{in}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\stackrel{~}{p}_i\mathrm{}\mathrm{}A_\mathrm{}n+\theta _{ij}^1\left(n\stackrel{~}{x}_n^j+\left(y_\pi ^j\phi _n^c(\pi )y_0^j\phi _n^c(0)\right)\right).`$ (3.33)
Notice that the swallow of Chan-Paton matrices in (3.33) is similar to the phenomenon appeared in . The similarity becomes clearer if one rewrites the Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}(B)`$ in terms of D-picture variables.444 I learned this resemblance from N. Ishibashi.

One can write the map in the form of unitary transformation

$`\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}\widehat{x}_0^i\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\left(y_\pi ^i+y_0^i\right),`$ (3.34)
$`\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}\widehat{p}_{i0}\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}}\theta _{ij}^1\left(y_\pi ^jy_0^j\right),`$ (3.35)
$`\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}\widehat{x}_n^i\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`\theta ^{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}\stackrel{~}{p}_{jn},(n0)`$ (3.36)
$`\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}\widehat{p}_{in}\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`\theta _{ij}^1\stackrel{~}{x}_n^jn,(n0)`$ (3.37)
where

$`\stackrel{~}{U}_{BD}=e^{C_1}e^{C_2}e^{C_3}e^{C_4},`$ (3.38)
$`C_1`$ $`=`$ $`i{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\widehat{p}_{i0}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_n^i\left(\phi _n^c(\pi )+\phi _n^c(0)\right),`$ (3.39)
$`C_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\sqrt{\pi }}}\theta _{ij}^1\widehat{x}_0^i{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_n^j\left(\phi _n^c(\pi )\phi _n^c(0)\right),`$ (3.40)
$`C_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\theta _{ij}^1{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_{\mathrm{}}^i\phi _{\mathrm{}}^c(\pi ){\displaystyle \underset{m=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_m^j\phi _m^c(0),`$ (3.41)
$`C_4`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\theta _{ij}^1{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{m=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\widehat{x}_{\mathrm{}}^iA_\mathrm{}m{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2+m^2}{2}}\widehat{x}_m^j.`$ (3.42)
From (3.34)$``$(3.37), it is easily understood that one can further transform them by Lorenz rotation, rotation in phase space and scale transformation to obtain $`U_{BD}`$ which satisfies

$`U_{BD}\widehat{x}_0^iU_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}\left(y_\pi ^i+y_0^i\right).`$ (3.43)
$`U_{BD}\widehat{p}_{i0}U_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}}\theta _{ij}^1\left(y_\pi ^jy_0^j\right),`$ (3.44)
$`U_{BD}\widehat{x}_n^iU_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{x}_n^i,(n0)`$ (3.45)
$`U_{BD}\widehat{p}_{in}U_{BD}^1`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{p}_{in}.(n0)`$ (3.46)
Notice that from (3.27)$``$(3.30), the 3-string vertex $`V_3|=\widehat{V}_3|e^M`$ satisfies the following overlap conditions:

$`V_3|\left(X_D^{i(r+1)}(\sigma )X_D^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\right)=0,(0<\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$
$`V_3|\left(\stackrel{~}{P}_i^{(r+1)}(\sigma )+\stackrel{~}{P}_i^{(r)}(\pi \sigma )\right)=0,(0<\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$
$`V_3|\left(y_0^{i(r+1)}y_\pi ^{i(r)}\right)=0.`$ (3.47)
These are natural overlap conditions for open string field theory on lower dimensional D-branes.

### 3.2 3-string Vertex In D-picture

In this subsection I study another 3-string vertex which is naturally obtained in D-picture (see  for related issues). The 3-string vertex is divided into the overlap vertex for $`X_D^i(\sigma )`$ part and Chan-Paton matrix part.

I first construct the Chan-Paton matrix multiplication part. In the following, I assume the rank of the matrix $`\theta ^{ij}`$ is $`24`$. I set $`\theta ^{0i}=\theta ^{1i}=0`$, and set $`\theta ^{ij}=0`$ except $`\theta ^{2i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}i+1}=\theta ^{2i+\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}2}i}`$, by an appropriate rotation in the target space. Also I only consider the case where $`\theta ^{2i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}i+1}>0`$. Generalization to other cases is straightforward.

First I define creation and annihilation operators in Chan-Paton algebra as follows.

$`z_0^i=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\theta ^{2i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}i+1}}}}\left(y_0^{2i}+iy_0^{2i+1}\right),z_0^i=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\theta ^{2i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}i+1}}}}\left(y_0^{2i}iy_0^{2i+1}\right),`$
$`z_\pi ^i=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\theta ^{2i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}i+1}}}}\left(y_\pi ^{2i}iy_\pi ^{2i+1}\right),z_\pi ^i=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\theta ^{2i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}i+1}}}}\left(y_\pi ^{2i}+iy_\pi ^{2i+1}\right).`$ (3.48)
Their commutation relations are given by

$`[z_0^i,z_0^j]=\delta ^{ij},[z_\pi ^i,z_\pi ^j]=\delta ^{ij},`$ (3.49)
and otherwise zero. These operators act on the Hilbert space whose basis is labeled by $`𝐧=(n_1,n_2,\mathrm{},n_{12})`$:

$`|𝐧_0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{12}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{n_i!}}}(z_0^i)^{n_i}|0_0,`$ (3.50)
$`|𝐧_\pi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{12}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{n_i!}}}(z_\pi ^i)^{n_i}|0_\pi ,`$ (3.51)
where $`|0_0`$ and $`|0_\pi `$ are defined by the conditions

$`z_0^i|0_0=0,z_\pi ^i|0_\pi =0.`$ (3.52)
Arbitrary open string field in D-picture has Chan-Paton indices

$`|𝐧_0|𝐦_\pi .`$ (3.53)
$`|𝐧_0|𝐦_\pi `$ itself is regarded as Chan-Paton matrix. The matrix multiplication is represented by $`v_3^{CP}|`$ defined as follows:

$`v_3^{CP}|`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{r=1}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐧}{}}{}_{\pi }{}^{(r)}𝐧|{}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0}}{}^{(r+1)}𝐧|`$ (3.54)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{r=1}{\overset{3}{}}}{}_{\pi }{}^{(r)}0|{}_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}0}}{}^{(r+1)}0|\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{12}{}}}z_\pi ^{i(r)}z_0^{i(r+1)}\right).`$
The first line is a definition of the usual matrix multiplication. The form in the second line is a simpler analog of the vertex which appeared in the matrix representation of the 3-string vertex . Precisely speaking, here there appear three kinds of Chan-Paton matrices: those acting on the vector $`|𝐧_0`$, those acting on $`|𝐧_\pi `$, and those whose basis is given by (3.53). But those differences are not essential. The basis of the first type is given by $`|𝐧_0_0𝐦|`$ and the basis for the second type is given by $`|𝐧_\pi _\pi 𝐦|`$. One can isomorphically convert them into the third type by multiplying them to the identity matrix in the third type.

$`|1={\displaystyle \underset{𝐧,𝐦}{}}\delta _{\mathrm{𝐧𝐦}}|𝐧_0|𝐦_\pi ,`$ (3.55)
$`|𝐧_0{}_{0}{}^{}𝐦||1=|𝐧_0|𝐦_\pi ,|𝐧_\pi {}_{\pi }{}^{}𝐦||1=|𝐦_0|𝐧_\pi .`$ (3.56)
As an example, let us consider a map

$`z_0^iz_0^i|1=z_\pi ^i|1,z_0^iz_0^i|1=z_\pi ^i|1.`$ (3.57)
Then, the algebra (3.49) is isomorphically mapped to

$`[z_0^i|1,z_0^j|1]_{CP}=\delta ^{ij}|1,`$ (3.58)
where the subscript $`CP`$ denotes that the multiplication is defined by (3.54).

The 3-string vertex in D-picture can be constructed as

$`V_3^D|=V_3^{X_D}|v_3^{CP}|,`$ (3.59)
where $`V_3^{X_D}|`$ is defined by the overlap conditions

$`V_3^{X_D}|\left(X_D^{i(r+1)}(\sigma )X_D^{i(r)}(\pi \sigma )\right)=0,(0<\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$
$`V_3^{X_D}|(\stackrel{~}{P}_i^{(r+1)}(\sigma )+\stackrel{~}{P}_i^{(r)}(\pi \sigma ))=0.(0<\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})`$ (3.60)
Since both $`V_3|`$ and $`V_3^D|`$ satisfy the same overlap condition, they are identical up to normalization. It would be interesting to check this by a direct calculation using explicit expressions for Neumann coefficients of the 3-string vertex and the map between different pictures.

### 3.3 Chan-Paton Algebra In Open String Field Algebra

Since the map between F-picture, B-picture and D-picture has been obtained, now I can identify the Chan-Paton matrix subalgebra in the original open string field algebra. Let us extract the Chan-Paton algebra in open string field algebra whose star product is defined by (2.32), without using the expression (3.59). As can be expected from (3.56), to extract Chan-Paton subalgebra from open string field algebra, what I need to do is to just multiply $`X_B^i(0)`$ to the identity state

$`X_B^i(0)X_B^i(0)|I.`$ (3.61)
This is a map from worldsheet variable to open string field. Recall that this kind of map from worldsheet operator algebra to open string field algebra often appears in the cubic open string field theory . I obtain

$`X_B^i(0)|IX_B^j(0)|I=X_B^i(0)X_B^j(0)|I,`$ (3.62)
$`[X_B^i(0)|I,X_B^j(0)|I]_{}=[X_B^i(0),X_B^j(0)]|I=i\theta ^{ij}|I.`$ (3.63)
Here, I have used the relations

$`e^Me^N|I=|I,`$ (3.64)
$`\left(X_B^i(\sigma )X_B^i(\pi \sigma )\right)|I`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (3.65)
$`\left(\widehat{P}_i(\sigma )+\widehat{P}_i(\pi \sigma )\right)|I`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (3.66)
These relations are obtained in the similar way that was done for the 3-string vertex $`V_3|`$. Thus, the Chan-Paton algebra (3.16) is extracted from the open string field algebra. The map (3.29) and (3.30) confirms that the algebra (3.63) is identified with the Chan-Paton algebra. Once the Chan-Paton subalgebra (3.63) in open string field algebra is obtained, one can apply techniques in non-commutative solitons to obtain exact/approximate solutions. Notice that in the map between the different pictures (F,B,D), no special limit such as the so called Seiberg-Witten limit  is assumed.

Let us call the algebra generated by the string coordinate fields at the boundaries as boundary algebra. What I have shown here is that in constant B-field background, the boundary algebra is Chan-Paton algebra. It is easy to show that using the defining property of the 3-string vertex and the identity field one can map arbitrary boundary algebra to open string field algebra by the map (3.61). Therefore, I expect that arbitrary boundary algebra can be interpreted as Chan-Paton algebra.

## 4 Summary And Discussions

In this article, I have studied three equivalent descriptions of open string in constant B-field background in the framework of Witten’s cubic open string field theory.

The equivalence of B-picture and F-picture gives the map between the theory with non-commutative coordinates and commutative coordinates. Since F-picture variables are the original variables, i.e. the variables without the B-field background, this means that the algebra of non-commutative coordinates is already contained in the original open string field algebra.

On the other hand, from the equivalence of B-picture and D-picture I obtained the expression of Chan-Paton matrices in terms of B-picture variables. The Chan-Paton matrix in D-picture is shown to be the string coordinate field at the boundary in B-picture. I believe in order to find D-branes in open string field theory, one should not overlook this property, i.e. the Chan-Paton indices are on the boundaries. Using the map, I extracted the Chan-Paton algebra as subalgebra in open string field algebra. Since Chan-Paton algebra is associated with lower dimensional D-branes, this ensures that lower dimensional D-branes can be described as some field configurations in Witten’s cubic open string field theory.

There are two directions for the classification of D-branes. The one is to use the highest dimensional branes  to classify lower dimensional D-branes as topological defects. The other uses the lowest dimensional branes  to construct higher dimensional D-branes. In this article, I started from the open string field theory on space-time filling D-branes, but I could have started from open string theory on infinitely many lower dimensional D-branes. Thus, open string field algebra naturally unifies the two descriptions and appears as the most fundamental framework for the classification of D-branes. In this article, I rewrite Chan-Paton indices, which are fundamental variables in D-picture, to linear combination of variables in another picture. This strategy may be generalized and will be a powerful tool to find D-brane solutions in Witten’s cubic open string field theory. However, note that this strategy is applicable to the backgrounds which can be described by the same 3-string vertex. In other words, open string field algebra can be used to classify D-branes which are contained in that paticular open string field algebra . It will be important to investigate to what extent the 3-string vertex can describe different backgrounds.

The equivalence between boundary algebra and Chan-Paton algebra seems to hold more generally. It would be interesting to investigate the relation to the boundary algebra  in boundary open string field theory  along the line of , where a proposal for a concrete definition of the boundary open string field theory was given as a limit of continuous deformation from Witten’s cubic open string field theory.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express special thanks to N. Ishibashi for collaboration in early stage of this work as well as successive discussions. I would also like to thank F. Sugino for illuminating discussions. I would like to thank A. Futaki, A. Hashimoto, N. Nekrasov, G. Semenoff and T. Tani for questions, suggestions and pleasant conversations. Part of this work was done in KEK, and also in the IHES. I would like to thank my previous colleagues in KEK for pleasant time. I am grateful to N. Nekrasov and the IHES for warm hospitality. I am also grateful to the organizers of String Theory in greater Paris, especially B. Pioline, for giving me an opportunity to present some of the results above. This work was supported in part by the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.

## Appendix A Formulas For The Fourier Coefficients

Ortho-normal basis for the functions in $`0\sigma \pi `$ with Neumann boundary conditions at the boundaries $`\sigma =0,\pi `$:

$`\phi _n^c(\sigma )=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}\mathrm{cos}n\sigma ,(n0)`$
$`\phi _0^c(\sigma )=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}}.`$ (A.1)
Ortho-normal basis for the functions in $`0\sigma \pi `$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions at the boundaries $`\sigma =0,\pi `$:

$`\phi _n^s(\sigma )=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\pi }}}\mathrm{sin}n\sigma .`$ (A.2)
Definition of the matrix $`A_{mn}`$:

$`A_{mn}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\sigma {\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\sigma ^{}ϵ(\sigma \sigma ^{})\phi _m^c(\sigma )\phi _n^c(\sigma ^{}),`$ (A.3)
where $`ϵ(\sigma )`$ is the sign function

$`ϵ(\sigma )`$ $`=`$ $`1,(\sigma >0)`$ (A.4)
$`=`$ $`0,(\sigma =0)`$
$`=`$ $`1.(\sigma <0)`$
Explicit value of the components:

$`A_{mn}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{m^2n^2}}(\phi _m^c(\pi )\phi _n^c(\pi )\phi _m^c(0)\phi _n^c(0)).(mn)`$ (A.5)
$`=`$ $`0.(m=n)`$
Formulas:

$`\phi _n^c(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{m=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_{nm}m\phi _m^s(\sigma ),(0<\sigma <\pi )`$ (A.6)
$`\phi _n^s(\sigma )={\displaystyle \underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}(n)A_{nm}\phi _m^c(\sigma ),(0\sigma \pi )`$ (A.7)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_n\mathrm{}A_m\mathrm{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{nm}}\delta _{nm},(n0,m0)`$ (A.8)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2m^2}}\left(\phi _m^c(\pi )+\phi _m^c(0)\right),(n=0,m0)`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^2}{12}},(n=m=0)`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_n\mathrm{}A_m\mathrm{}\mathrm{}^2=\delta _{nm}.`$ (A.9)
$`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}}(\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}})={\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_0\mathrm{}\phi _{\mathrm{}}^c(\sigma ).(0\sigma \pi )`$ (A.10)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_n\mathrm{}\phi _{\mathrm{}}^c(\pi )=\delta _{n0}{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}},{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}A_n\mathrm{}\phi _{\mathrm{}}^c(0)=\delta _{n0}{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2}}.`$ (A.11)
Definition of $`A_n`$:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}A_n`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^\pi }𝑑\sigma \sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}}\left(\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}\right)\phi _n^s(\sigma )`$ (A.12)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}\left(()^n+1\right)={\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\pi }}{2n}}\left(\phi _n^c(\pi )+\phi _n^c(0)\right).`$
## Appendix B Formulas For The Target Space Tensors

$`G_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`g_{ij}(bg^1b)_{ij},G^{ij}=({\displaystyle \frac{1}{g+b}}g{\displaystyle \frac{1}{gb}}){}_{}{}^{ij}.`$ (B.1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\theta ^{ij}}{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{1}{g+b}}b{\displaystyle \frac{1}{gb}}){}_{}{}^{ij}.`$ (B.2)
$`b_{ij}=\overline{b}_{ij}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\right)^1{}_{ij}{}^{}.`$ (B.3)
$`\left(bG^1\right)_{i}^{}{}_{}{}^{j}=({\displaystyle \frac{g\theta }{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}){}_{i}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{j},\left({\displaystyle \frac{\overline{b}\theta }{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}\right){}_{i}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{j}=(gG^1){}_{i}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{j}.`$ (B.4)


text:
# A six dimensional analysis of Maxwell’s Field Equations

## I Introduction

In a recent paper , we have discussed the method proposed by Kaluza in 1921  to derive Maxwell’s equations for an electromagnetic filed in vacuum by treating electric charges in space as sources of curvature as mass does in Einstein’s theory of general relativity. In Kaluza’s original paper, whereas the equations with sources follow directly form the field equations, the homogeneous ones are derived form a geometrical identity which happens to yield the correct results only with a cartesian metric. For generalized coordinates, this last result ceases to hold true. This was specifically illustrated using a Minkowsky space with spherical symmetry. Moreover, we showed further how to overcome the difficulty by introducing a 6 X 6 metric in which the sixth row and columns contain additional potentials ($`Z_i\text{}i=1,2,3;\frac{\eta }{c}`$). $`g_{66}`$ was taken equal to one and the elements $`g_{56}`$ and $`g_{66}`$ later proved to be related with two vectors $`M^\mu `$ and $`Q^\mu ,`$ both irrotational, and the full symmetric expressions for Maxwell’s equations in terms of magnetic point charges were recovered. The existence of these latter ones, although still controversial, arise in a complete natural way in the formalism.

It was also mentioned in paper  that with the results obtained therein, one can also arrive, correspondingly, to a set of completely symmetric wave equations for the field potentials, thus removing the old difficulty of being able to express the magnetic field as the curl of a vector potential.

Indeed, if magnetic monopoles are accounted for, the divergence of the magnetic field cannot vanish. This equation has led to different approaches starting from the pioneering work of Dirac  who proposed the idea of considering a singularity along an axis with the monopole at the origin, so the magnetic field can still be taken as a curl in the vector potential in every region of space not containing such line. This idea, as well as other approaches have been discussed by many other authors  , all of them foreign to Kaluza’s ideas.

What we explicitly want to show in this paper is that in the 6D formalism presented in Ref. , the two additional potentials lead to two equivalent formulations for the electromagentic field, and therefore, such potentials can be treated in a completely symmetrical way. It is worth noticing that a similar four potential has been considered before , but the expressions for the electromagentic fields differ from those obtained within Kaluza’s framework.

We also want to stress that the inclusion of magnetic monopoles within Kaluza’s scheme is not new. It has been done by several authors in different contexts using five dimensions and associating singularities with monopoles . What is entirely new in this treatment is the use of a 6D metric which allows the introduction of monopoles keeping all symmetries between the fields and the potentials.

In section II we briefly recapitulate the results of Ref. , in section III we discuss the wave equations for the additional potentials and derive the continuity equations for electric and magnetic charges. We finally leave section IV for some pertinent concluding remarks.

## II General Background

As it has been discussed at length in the literature, physicists have long searched for magnetic monopoles. The main reason is very simple: symmetry. Electromagnetic theory would become much more symmetric if terms proportional to magnetic charges and current densities are added to the Maxwell equations. This has been very clearly pointed out in the literature, such equations adopt a very elegant and symmetric structure. But some inconsistences appear if one turns to work with the electromagnetic potentials. The magnetic field cannot be represented as a curl anymore, since its divergence is now supposed to be proportional to a magnetic charge density. In Jackson´s textbook , a solution for a particular problem is mathematically stated without major obstacles. Some other authors, in the spirit of Jackson, have proposed to represent a magnetic monopole as a singularity in a four dimensional space-time in which the vector potential is discontinuous. Since in this case the potential is not differentiable, the definition of the field tensor, in terms of potentials, ceases to hold. Then, the magnetic field would have a vanishing divergence in all the four dimensional space, except at the monopole´s position. This argument solves the problem but introduces an undesirable asymmetry in the definitions of magnetic and electric potentials. An alternative solution to this problem can be found following the line of Kaluza´s theory in a 6D space time. In order to include a magnetic charge and preserve full symmetry in electromagnetic theory, five dimensions are not enough. The fifth dimension introduced by Kaluza was characterized by the condition $`\frac{dx^5}{dt}=\frac{q}{m}`$, $`q`$ being the charge, $`m`$ its mass and the cylindrical condition $`\frac{}{x^5}=0`$. Analagously, a sixth dimension is now introduced according to the conditions

$$\frac{dx^6}{dt}=\frac{g}{m}$$
(1)
$$\frac{}{x^6}=0$$
(2)
where in Eq. (1), $`g`$ is the magnetic charge and $`m`$ is the rest mass of the particle.

For the sake of simplicity, the metric tensor to work with will consist in a 6D generalization of Minkowky´s space time with the new entries:

$$g_{n6}=g_{6n}=Z_nn=1,2,3$$
(3)
and

$$g_{46}=g_{64}=\frac{\eta }{c}$$
(4)
Here, the quantities $`Z_n`$ and $`\eta `$ will be interpreted later. At present we shall regard them as two potentials, one of scalar type $`\eta `$ and one of a vector type $`Z_n`$. This is done in order to preserve symmetry with the conventional theory. For the time being, the coefficients $`g_{56}=g_{65}`$ are left undetermined, but will be accounted in a rigorous way later. With the proposed metric, the Chistoffel symbols become,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\beta 5}^\alpha =A_{,\beta }^\alpha A_{,\alpha }^\beta +Z^\alpha g_{56,\beta },$$
(5)
and

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\beta 6}^\alpha =Z_{,\beta }^\alpha Z_{,\alpha }^\beta +A^\alpha g_{56,\beta }.$$
(6)
where $`A^n`$ is the ordinary vector potential. The Christoffel symbols may also be obtained by requiring that a magnetic field and an electrically charged particle, as well, move along geodesics in this space-time, and comparing its equation of motion with the Lorentz’s force, which now includes a symmetric term depending on $`g`$. An example of this procedure was worked out by Stephani  in a pure gravitational context. Thus, the proposed Lorentz force reads:

$$\frac{d^2x^\alpha }{dt^2}=\frac{q}{m}\left[\epsilon _{\beta \gamma }^\alpha \frac{x^\beta }{t}B^\gamma +E^\alpha \right]+\frac{g}{m}\left[\epsilon _{\beta \gamma }^\alpha \frac{x^\beta }{t}E^\gamma B^\alpha \right],$$
(7)
where $`\epsilon _{\beta \gamma }^\alpha `$ is Levi Civita’s tensor. The Christoffel symbols become those of the five dimensional theory, plus the new ones corresponding to the sixth dimension namely,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{6n}^m=\epsilon _{sn}^mE^s,`$

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{64}^n=B^n.`$

Comparing both sets of values for the Christoffel symbols (see Appendix A), the definitions of the electric and magnetic fields are obtained. Because there are two sets of Christoffel symbols, we obtain two equivalent forms of expressing the electromagnetic field namely,

$$E^k=\phi ^{,k}A_{,4}^k,$$
(8)
$$B^k=\eta ^{,k}Z_{,4}^k,$$
(9)
$$E^k=\epsilon _{lm}^kZ^{l,m}+M^k,$$
(10)
$$B^k=\epsilon _{lm}^kA^k+Q^k.$$
(11)
If the vectors $`M^k`$, $`Q^k`$ are defined as:

$$M^k=\left[\begin{array}{c}Z^2g_{65,3}\hfill \\ Z^3g_{65,1}\hfill \\ Z^1g_{65,2}\hfill \end{array}\right]Q^k=\left[\begin{array}{c}A^2g_{56,3}\hfill \\ A^3g_{56,1}\hfill \\ A^1g_{56,2}\hfill \end{array}\right],$$
(12)
both fields can be represented in two different ways, and become completely symmetric. Here $`Z^n`$ and $`A^n`$ with n=1,2,3 are the electric and magnetic vector potentials respectively. The new set of definitions account for a duality in the components of the electromagnetic field. With this dual conception of the field tensor, all the theory can be reformulated including magnetic monopoles and wave equations for the potentials can be obtained. This was shown in Ref. .

Eqs. (10) and (11) show the importance of the quantities $`g_{56}`$ and $`g_{65}`$ which are postulated to be independent of time and equal to each other (the metric tensor is symmetric). Then, introducing expressions (10) and (11) in Maxwell’s equations for the divergence of the fields (Eqs. (22) and (23) ), the relation between the new vectors $`M^k`$ and $`Q^k`$ is given by:

$$𝐐=\frac{\rho }{\epsilon _0}\frac{q}{m},$$
(13)
$$𝐌=\frac{\rho }{\epsilon _0}\frac{g}{m},$$
(14)
The vectors $`𝐌`$ and $`𝐐`$ in this equations contain space derivatives of $`g_{56}=g_{65}.`$ If this quantity is proposed as a constant value, then both electric and magnetic fields would have zero divergence. In such a case, neither magnetic nor electric charges would fit in the theory. Note that these vectors are irrotational, a fact that is sustained by a generalized Helmholtz theorem .

The role of these vectors becomes transparent when the new definitions for the fields are replaced in the electromagnetic vector equations. The full implications of this step will be discussed in the following section.

As it was mentioned in the introduction, there is an inherent asymmetry in the way used by Kaluza to derive Maxwell´s equations. The inhomogeneous equations are derived from the field equation . The other two equations are a consequence of making the cylindrical condition act over an expression that is identically zero by itself so no additional information can be extracted from it. Instead, when the theory is formulated in 6 dimensions, the field equation can be used twice, once for each extra dimension and therefore both pairs of equations can be obtained. In order to analyze this last statement, we start from a stress tensor, which reads:

$$T^{5\nu }=\rho v^5v^\nu ,$$
(15)
$$T^{6\nu }=\rho v^6v^\nu .$$
(16)
Here $`\rho `$ is the rest mass density and $`v^\nu =\frac{dx^\nu }{ds}`$ with $`\mu ,`$ $`\nu `$ running from one to six . Ricci’s tensor is calculated by contracting the Riemann-Christoffel curvature tensor and, considering the curvature scalar equal to zero, the field equation becomes

$$G_{\mu \nu }=R_{\mu \nu }=\kappa T_{\mu \nu }$$
(17)
The stress tensor includes now several components porportional to the electric and magnetic current densities. Using $`v^5=\frac{q}{m}`$ and $`v^6=\frac{g}{m}`$ we have that,

$$R_{\mu 5}=\kappa T_\mu =\alpha J_\mu $$
(18)
$$R_{\mu 6}=\kappa T_{\mu 6}=\alpha K_\mu $$
(19)
where $`J^\mu =\rho \frac{q}{m}v^\mu `$ and $`K^\mu =\rho \frac{g}{m}v^\mu `$ with $`\mu =1,2,3,4`$.

Making $`\mu =1,2,3,`$expressions (18) and (19) become, in vector form,

$$\times 𝐄=\frac{1}{c}\frac{𝐁}{t}𝐊$$
(20)
$$\times 𝐁=\frac{𝐄}{t}+\mu _0𝐉$$
(21)
and if we take $`\mu =4,`$in those same equations, the following well-known expressions are obtained:

$$\mathrm{}𝐄=\frac{\rho }{\epsilon _0}\frac{q}{m}$$
(22)
$$\mathrm{}𝐁=\mu _0\rho \frac{g}{m}$$
(23)
In the absence of magnetic charge ($`g=0`$), the usual electromagnetic equations are recovered. In the presence of magnetic charges, the stress tensor has new components which, by means of the field equation, lead to a full symmetric set of electromagnetic equations.

## III Wave Equations for Electromagnetic Potentials

After the lengthy but necessary account of the main results required to tackle the crucial question in this paper, we will now assess the usefulness of the 6D space in deriving the wave equation for the new potentials $`\eta `$ and $`Z^n`$ introduced in Eqs. (3) and (4). without resorting to arguments concerning singularities. In fact, if we now substitute the definitions of the vectors $`E^k`$, $`B^k`$ given in Eqs. (8-9) into Eqs. (22-23), one finds that

$$^2\eta +\frac{}{t}𝐙=\mu _0\rho \frac{g}{m}.$$
(24)
It is important to notice that in order to obtain the wave equations, it becomes necessary to introduce one additional fact, namely, the condition that the Lorentz’s gauge $`A_{,\mu }^\mu =0`$ has to be also applied to the new vector potential $`Z^n`$, so that $`Z_{,\mu }^\mu =0`$ .

This condition implies

$$𝐙+\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{\eta }{t}=0,$$
(25)
which, when replaced in eq. (24), gives

$$^2\eta \frac{1}{c^2}\frac{^2\eta }{t^2}=\mu _0\rho \frac{g}{m}.$$
(26)
On the other hand, the alternative definition for $`𝐁`$ given in eq. (11) and the usual one for $`𝐄`$ (8) can be replaced in equation (21), so that

$$\times (\times 𝐀+𝐐)=\mu _0𝐉+\mu _0\epsilon _0\frac{}{t}(\mathrm{}\phi \frac{𝐀}{t}),$$
(27)
which is easily reduced to the result that

$$(𝐀)^2𝐀+\times 𝐐=\mu _0𝐉\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{\phi }{t}\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{^2𝐀}{t^2}.$$
(28)
Recalling that $`𝐐`$ is irrotational (see section 4) and using the gauge condition $`A_{,\mu }^\mu =0`$ we can rewrite Eq. (28) as:

$$^2𝐀\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{^2𝐀}{t^2}=\mu _0𝐉.$$
(29)
Following an analogous procedure, the equation for $`𝐙`$ can also be obtained. The result reads:

$$^2𝐙\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{^2𝐙}{t^2}=\frac{1}{\epsilon _0}𝐊.$$
(30)
It is now important to remark that the above procedure could be questioned by inquiring what would happen if the complementary definitions for $`𝐄`$ and $`𝐁`$ are introduced in the same field equation (20) or (21). To examine this puzzle let us now take $`𝐄`$ defined by Eq. (8) and $`𝐁`$ by Eq. (11) and substitute them into Eq. (20). This will give rise to the following result,

$$\times (\mathrm{}\phi \frac{𝐀}{t})=\frac{}{t}(\mathrm{}\times 𝐀+𝐐)\frac{1}{\epsilon _0}𝐊,$$
(31)
and therefore

$$\frac{𝐐}{t}+\frac{1}{\epsilon _0}𝐊=0.$$
(32)
Moreover, introducing the definition given by eq. (11) for $`𝐁`$ in equation (23) and taking divergence on both sides of it, the following expressions are obtained:

$$(\times 𝐀+𝐐)=\mu _0\rho \frac{g}{m},$$
(33)
or,

$$𝐐=\mu _0\rho \frac{g}{m}.$$
(34)
Taking the time derivative of (34), the divergence in (32) and combining the resulting equations, a continuity equation for the magnetic charge is obtained, namely:

$$\frac{𝐐}{t}=\mu _0\frac{(\rho \frac{g}{m})}{t},$$
(35)
or, in a more familiar notation,

$$\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{(\rho \frac{g}{m})}{t}+𝐊=0.$$
(36)
Therefore, such a procedure generates the continuity equations, both for magnetic as well as electric charges in terms of their respective fluxes, $`𝐊`$ and $`𝐉`$. Thus the symmetry sought for the electromagnetic field equations is complete.

Summarizing, in this section, wave equations for potentials have been obtained. These equations are completely symmetric. When the new definitions are introduced into Maxwell’s equations, wave equations for potentials or continuity equations for the charges are obtained.

## IV Concluding Remarks

Under the assumption that assures the existence of magnetic monopoles, working in a six-dimensional space-time gives useful information about the nature of electromagnetic fields and potentials. In the traditional theory, the expressions for the electric and magnetic field in terms of potentials are different. This difference is caused by the absence of a magnetic charge in the formalism and leads to an asymmetric set of Maxwell’s equations. By means of an extension of Minkowski’s metric to six dimensions, symmetric Maxwell’s equations result from Einstein’s field equation. As part of the geometrical description inherent to this six dimensional space-time, an electric vector potential and a magnetic scalar potential are required. With this set of functions, dual definitions for the fields can be formulated, and, with them, four wave equations, one for each potential, $`\eta `$, $`\phi `$, $`𝐀`$ and $`𝐙`$ are obtained.

Magnetic monopoles are theoretically possible but none has been detected so far. Living in a big universe induces people to think that the possibility of its existence is not remote. Research is being done in this line. Therefore, since no magnetic charges are found yet, it is not possible to estimate the order of the charge-mass ratio of a magnetic monopole, without using quantum theory. This ratio shall characterize the sixth dimension by being equal to it’s time variation, as is expressed by Eq.(1). Meanwhile, the assumption associating a small value for $`g/m`$ seems to be correct, but this hypothesis certainly needs a stronger support.

This paper establishes something more than a different formulation of results already obtained in magnetic monopole physics. The theory of a six dimensional space-time gives additional information on the subject. The duality of the field tensor has been mentioned before  but in this work a natural origin of this property is exhibited. Six dimensions implies two four-potentials, and so, two different symmetric definitions for each field. Therefore, an electromagnetic theory including magnetic monopoles, formulated in a six-dimensional space-time, gets closer to the challenge of a universal description of all phenomena in nature based in the geometry of space-time.

## A Christoffel symbols and its relation with the electromagnetic field

There are two different mechanisms by which Christoffel symbols can be obtained. The first one consists in comparing the equation for a geodesic in a six dimensional space with a corresponding equation of motion for a charged particle under the influence of a generalized Lorentz’s force. This equation of motion reads

$$\frac{d^2x^\alpha }{dt^2}=\frac{q}{m}\left[\epsilon _{\beta \gamma }^\alpha \frac{x^\beta }{t}B^\gamma +E^\alpha \right]+\frac{g}{m}\left[\epsilon _{\beta \gamma }^\alpha \frac{x^\beta }{t}E^\gamma B^\alpha \right].$$
(A1)
For example, let’s take the first component of equation (A1):

$$\frac{d^2x^1}{dt^2}=\frac{q}{m}\frac{x^2}{t}B_3\frac{q}{m}\frac{x^3}{t}B_2+\frac{q}{m}E_1+\frac{g}{m}\frac{x^2}{t}E_3\frac{g}{m}\frac{x^3}{t}E_2\frac{g}{m}B_1,$$
(A2)
which shall be compared, as mentioned before, with the first component of a geodesic, namely,

$$\frac{d^2x^1}{dt^2}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{5\nu }^1\frac{q}{m}\frac{dx^\nu }{ds}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{6\nu }^1\frac{g}{m}\frac{dx^\nu }{ds}=0.$$
(A3)
Equation (A3), after running the indices from 1 to 6, turns out as follows

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d^2x^1}{dt^2}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{51}^1{\displaystyle \frac{q}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{dx^1}{ds}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{52}^1{\displaystyle \frac{q}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{dx^2}{ds}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{53}^1{\displaystyle \frac{q}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{dx^3}{ds}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{54}^1{\displaystyle \frac{q}{m}}{\displaystyle \frac{dx^4}{ds}}+`$

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{61}^1\frac{g}{m}\frac{dx^1}{ds}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{62}^1\frac{g}{m}\frac{dx^2}{ds}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{63}^1\frac{g}{m}\frac{dx^3}{ds}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{64}^1\frac{g}{m}\frac{dx^4}{ds}=0.$$
(A4)
Now, comparing equations (A2) and (A4) one obtains

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{51}^1=0,$$
(A5)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{52}^1=B_3,$$
(A6)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{53}^1=B_2,$$
(A7)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{54}^1=\frac{1}{c}E_1;$$
(A8)
and

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{61}^1=0,$$
(A9)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{62}^1=E_3,$$
(A10)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{63}^1=E_2,$$
(A11)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{64}^1=\frac{1}{c}B_1.$$
(A12)
The second mechanism to obtain Christoffel symbols consists in introducing the metric elements in their definition, see ref. . The expressions for symbols in equations (A5) to (A12) are given below

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{51}^1=\frac{1}{2}g^{11}\left(\frac{g_{51}}{x^1}\frac{g_{51}}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}g^{15}\frac{g_{55}}{x^1}=0\text{},$$
(A13)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{52}^1={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{11}\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_{51}}{x^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{52}}{x^1}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{16}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{56}}{x^2}}`$

$$=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{A_1}{x^2}\frac{A_2}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}Z_1\frac{g_{56}}{x^2},\text{}$$
(A14)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{53}^1={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{11}\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_{51}}{x^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{53}}{x^1}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{16}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{56}}{x^3}}`$

$$=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{A_1}{x^2}\frac{A_3}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}Z_1\frac{g_{56}}{x^3},\text{}$$
(A15)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{54}^1=\frac{1}{2}g^{11}\left(\frac{g_{51}}{x^4}\frac{g_{54}}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}g^{16}\frac{g_{56}}{x^4}=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{A_1}{x^4}+\frac{1}{c}\frac{\varphi }{x^1}\right);\text{}$$
(A16)
and

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{61}^1=\frac{1}{2}g^{11}\left(\frac{g_{61}}{x^1}\frac{g_{61}}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}g^{16}\frac{g_{66}}{x^1}=0\text{},$$
(A17)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{62}^1={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{11}\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_{61}}{x^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{62}}{x^1}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{15}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{65}}{x^2}}`$

$$=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{Z_1}{x^2}\frac{Z_2}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}A_1\frac{g_{65}}{x^2},\text{}$$
(A18)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{63}^1={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{11}\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_{61}}{x^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{63}}{x^1}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{15}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{65}}{x^3}}`$

$$=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{Z_1}{x^2}\frac{Z_3}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}A_1\frac{g_{65}}{x^3},\text{}$$
(A19)
$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{64}^1=\frac{1}{2}g^{11}\left(\frac{g_{61}}{x^4}\frac{g_{64}}{x^1}\right)+\frac{1}{2}g^{15}\frac{g_{56}}{x^4}=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{Z_1}{x^4}+\frac{1}{c}\frac{\eta }{x^1}\right).\text{}$$
(A20)
The time independence of $`g_{56}`$ is justified by equations (A16) and (A20). For example, the symbols calculated in Eq. (A16) should be $`E_1/c`$, which, considering the traditional definition for the electric field in terms of potentials should read $`\left(A_1/x^4+(\varphi /c)/x^1\right)`$.

Comparing equations (A5) to (A12) and (A13) to (A20) the relations between the fields and the potentials can be expressed as follows

$$E^\nu =\frac{\varphi }{x^\nu }\frac{A_\nu }{t},$$
(A21)
$$E^\nu =\epsilon _{\beta \gamma }^\nu \left(\frac{Z_\beta }{x^\gamma }\frac{Z_\gamma }{x^\beta }\right)+M^\nu ,$$
(A22)
$$B^\nu =\frac{\eta }{x^\nu }\frac{Z_\nu }{t},$$
(A23)
$$B^\nu =\epsilon _{\beta \gamma }^\nu \left(\frac{A_\beta }{x^\gamma }\frac{A_\gamma }{x^\beta }\right)+Q^\nu .$$
(A24)
The reason for having two equivalent expressions for each field in terms of potentials comes from a duality in Faraday’s tensor which can be expressed in terms of the equivalence in Christoffel symbols with indices 5 and 6. For example,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{64}^1=\frac{1}{c}B_1=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{52}^3.$$
(A25)