Boundary Operators in Effective String Theory

Abstract

Various universal features of relativistic rotating strings depend on the organization of allowed local operators on the worldsheet. In this paper, we study the set of Neumann boundary operators in effective string theory, which are relevant for the controlled study of open relativistic strings with freely moving endpoints. Relativistic open strings are thought to encode the dynamics of confined quark-antiquark pairs in gauge theories in the planar approximation. Neumann boundary operators can be organized by their behavior under scaling of the target space coordinates X, and the set of allowed X-scaling exponents is bounded above by +1/2 and unbounded below. Negative contributions to X-scalings come from powers of a single invariant, or "dressing" operator, which is bilinear in the embedding coordinates. In particular, we show that all Neumann boundary operators are dressed by quarter-integer powers of this invariant, and we demonstrate how this rule arises from various ways of regulating the short-distance singularities of the effective theory.

LaTeX, 37 pages

References in corpus (3)

• On the effective theory of long open strings
• Effective string description of confining flux tubes
• Probing boundary-corrections to Nambu-Goto open string energy levels in 3d SU(2) gauge theory

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• Quantizing the rotating string with massive endpoints
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• Droplet-Edge Operators in Nonrelativistic Conformal Field Theories
• On Vertex Operators in Effective String Theory
• Boundary action and profile of effective bosonic strings