Strings in Noncompact Spacetimes: Boundary Terms and Conserved Charges

Abstract

We study some of the novel properties of conformal field theories with noncompact target spaces as applied to string theory. Standard CFT results get corrected by boundary terms in the target space in a way consistent with the expected spacetime physics. For instance, one-point functions of general operators on the sphere and boundary operators on the disk need not vanish; we show that they are instead equal to boundary terms in spacetime. By applying this result to vertex operators for spacetime gauge transformations with support at infinity, we derive formulas for conserved gauge charges in string theory. This approach provides a direct CFT definition of ADM energy-momentum in string theory.

29 pages, Harvmac

References in corpus (4)

• Don't Panic! Closed String Tachyons in ALE Spacetimes
• Strings in AdS_3 and the SL(2,R) WZW Model. Part 3: Correlation Functions
• Localized Tachyons and RG Flows
• On free energy of 2-d black hole in bosonic string theory

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Spacetime Energy Decreases under World-sheet RG Flow
• Twisted Tachyon Condensation in Closed String Field Theory
• String Scattering from Decaying Branes
• Sphere and disk partition functions in Liouville and in matrix integrals
• N-point functions in rolling tachyon background
• The Torus One-Point Diagram in Two-Dimensional String Cosmology
• Boundary terms in string field theory
• A boundary term for open string field theory