Closed-String Tachyon Condensation and the Worldsheet Super-Higgs Effect

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how a specific gauge choice reveals that closed-string tachyon condensation in the heterotic string can be viewed as a worldsheet super-Higgs effect, where the gravitino becomes dynamical while conformal invariance is preserved.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gauge perspective that clarifies the dynamical process of tachyon condensation as a super-Higgs effect on the worldsheet.

Findings

The worldsheet gravitino absorbs the goldstino and becomes dynamical.

Conformal invariance is maintained despite the super-Higgs effect.

The gauge choice provides new insights into tachyon dynamics in string theory.

Abstract

Alternative gauge choices for worldsheet supersymmetry can elucidate dynamical phenomena obscured in the usual superconformal gauge. In the particular example of the tachyonic $E_8$ heterotic string, we use a judicious gauge choice to show that the process of closed-string tachyon condensation can be understood in terms of a worldsheet super-Higgs effect. The worldsheet gravitino assimilates the goldstino and becomes a dynamical propagating field. Conformal, but not superconformal, invariance is maintained throughout.