Doubled \alpha'-Geometry

TL;DR

This paper develops a doubled-coordinate field theory to compute ' corrections in string theory, revealing how T-duality remains unchanged while gauge symmetries are deformed, with a cubic action in a double metric.

Contribution

It introduces a new doubled-coordinate framework that captures ' corrections and deforms gauge symmetries within a consistent, finite ' order truncation.

Findings

T-duality remains unchanged with ' corrections.

Gauge transformations are deformed by '-dependent brackets.

The theory features a cubic action in a double metric field.

Abstract

We develop doubled-coordinate field theory to determine the \alpha' corrections to the massless sector of oriented bosonic closed string theory. Our key tool is a string current algebra of free left-handed bosons that makes O(D,D) T-duality manifest. While T-dualities are unchanged, diffeomorphisms and b-field gauge transformations receive corrections, with a gauge algebra given by an \alpha'-deformation of the duality-covariantized Courant bracket. The action is cubic in a double metric field, an unconstrained extension of the generalized metric that encodes the gravitational fields. Our approach provides a consistent truncation of string theory to massless fields with corrections that close at finite order in \alpha'.