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Double field theory formulation of heterotic strings

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Abstract

We extend the recently constructed double field theory formulation of the low-energy theory of the closed bosonic string to the heterotic string. The action can be written in terms of a generalized metric that is a covariant tensor under O(D, D + n), where n denotes the number of gauge vectors, and n additional coordinates are introduced together with a covariant constraint that locally removes these new coordinates. For the abelian subsector, the action takes the same structural form as for the bosonic string, but based on the enlarged generalized metric, thereby featuring a global O(D, D + n) symmetry. After turning on non-abelian gauge couplings, this global symmetry is broken, but the action can still be written in a fully O(D, D + n) covariant fashion, in analogy to similar constructions in gauged supergravities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, U.S.A.

    Olaf Hohm & Seung Ki Kwak

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  1. Olaf Hohm
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  2. Seung Ki Kwak
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Correspondence to Olaf Hohm.

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ArXiv ePrint: 1103.2136

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Hohm, O., Kwak, S.K. Double field theory formulation of heterotic strings. J. High Energ. Phys. 2011, 96 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2011)096

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