String Vertex Operators and Cosmic Strings

TL;DR

This paper develops comprehensive covariant vertex operators for open and closed bosonic strings, enabling detailed study of cosmic string evolution and serving as a foundation for more realistic superstring models.

Contribution

It provides a complete set of covariant coherent and mass eigenstate vertex operators for bosonic strings, facilitating cosmic string evolution analysis and future superstring research.

Findings

Constructed covariant vertex operators with proper normalization.

Enabled calculation of unitary S-matrix elements.

Laid groundwork for realistic cosmic superstring models.

Abstract

We construct complete sets of (open and closed string) covariant coherent state and mass eigenstate vertex operators in bosonic string theory. This construction can be used to study the evolution of fundamental cosmic strings as predicted by string theory, and is expected to serve as a self-contained prototype toy model on which realistic cosmic superstring vertex operators can be based on. It is also expected to be useful for other applications where massive string vertex operators are of interest. We pay particular attention to all the normalization constants, so that these vertices lead directly to unitary S-matrix elements.