A New Description of the Superstring

Abstract

This is a review of the new manifestly spacetime-supersymmetric description of the superstring. The new description contains N=2 worldsheet supersymmetry, and is related by a field redefinition to the standard RNS description. It is especially convenient for four-dimensional compactifications since SO(3,1) super-Poincaré invariance can be made manifest. Parts of this work have been done in collaboration with Warren Siegel and Cumrun Vafa. This review is based on lectures given at the VIII J.A. Swieca summer school and should be easily accesible to anyone familiar with the RNS superstring description.

Corrected coefficients in eqs. (3.22),(3.23),(4.15)

Cited by in corpus (36)

• Super-Poincare Covariant Quantization of the Superstring
• Superstring Theory on AdS_2 x S^2 as a Coset Supermanifold
• Pure Spinor Formalism as an N=2 Topological String
• Covariant Quantization of Superstrings Without Pure Spinor Constraints
• Manifest Electromagnetic Duality in Closed Superstring Field Theory
• Quantization of the Type II Superstring in a Curved Six-Dimensional Background
• Explaining the Pure Spinor Formalism for the Superstring
• Quantization of the Superstring with Manifest U(5) Super-Poincare Invariance
• On the Worldsheet Derivation of Large N Dualities for the Superstring
• Current Algebra of the Pure Spinor Superstring in AdS(5) x S(5)
• First Massive State of the Superstring in Superspace
• Constrained BV Description of String Field Theory
• Non-Kaehler attracting manifolds
• Superspace Action for the First Massive States of the Superstring
• Higher Point Spin Field Correlators in D=4 Superstring Theory
• Massive Supermultiplets in Four-Dimensional Superstring Theory
• On gauge couplings and thresholds in Type I Gepner models and otherwise
• Higher-Spin States of the Superstring in an Electromagnetic Background
• Higher Loop Spin Field Correlators in D=4 Superstring Theory
• Pure Spinor Strings in TsT Deformed Background
• Missing Mirrors: Type IIA Supergravity on the Resolved Conifold
• Exploring The Lambda Model Of The Hybrid Superstring
• Semiclassical equivalence of Green-Schwarz and Pure-Spinor/Hybrid formulations of superstrings in AdS(5) x S(5) and AdS(2) x S(2) x T(6)
• Superstring field theory in the democratic picture
• Topological M Theory from Pure Spinor Formalism
• Fermionic one-loop amplitudes of the RNS superstring
• Pregeometrical Formulation of Berkovits' Open RNS Superstring Field Theories
• GSO(-) Vertex Operators and Open Superstring Field Theory in Hybrid Variables
• Black Hole Partition Function using Hybrid Formalism of Superstrings
• Non-planar Diagrams and Non-commutative Superspace in Dijkgraaf-Vafa theory
• A note on topological amplitudes in hybrid string theory
• Superstring Sigma Model Computations Using the Pure Spinor Formalism
• Renormalisation of the non-anticommutativity parameter at two loops
• TASI Lectures on Perturbative String Theory and Ramond-Ramond Flux
• On the N=2 Superstring BRST Operator
• N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in d=4 and its Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization by spinor superfields