Supercritical N = 2 string theory

TL;DR

This paper explores N=2 string theory in higher dimensions with a linear dilaton background, revealing single-time propagation, dynamical dimensional reduction, and transitions to bosonic string theory through tachyon condensation.

Contribution

It introduces exact solutions for dimensional reduction and shows how N=2 string theory transitions to bosonic string theory via tachyon condensation in a linear dilaton background.

Findings

String states propagate in a single physical time dimension.

Exact solutions describe dynamical dimensional reduction.

Transitions from N=2 to bosonic string theory via tachyon condensation.

Abstract

The N=2 string is examined in dimensions above the critical dimension (D=4) in a linear dilaton background. We demonstrate that string states in this background propagate in a single physical time dimension, as opposed to two such dimensions present when the dilaton gradient vanishes in D=4. We also find exact solutions describing dynamical dimensional reduction and transitions from N=2 string theory to bosonic string theory via closed-string tachyon condensation.