On the BRST Invariance of String Theory

Author: Rey, Soo-Jong

Year: 1988

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Wise, Mark B.

Committee Members: Wise, Mark B.; Gell-Mann, Murray; Politzer, Hugh David; Porter, Frank C.; Schwarz, John H.

Option: Physics

DOI: 10.7907/MDK4-NY02

Abstract

Radiative corrections to string scattering amplitude generate, in general, BRST anomalies due to the massless particle tadpole, the on-shell external two-point function singularities, and the intermediate unphysical cut singularities. It is proved that they originate from the boundaries of moduli space. Unitarity, analyticity, and BRST invariance are restored only after we add appropriate local counterterms to the scattering amplitudes. We show that counterterms have physical interpretations as the Fischler-Susskind mechanism, the mass renormalization, and the contact interactions respectively.

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