Complete action for open superstring field theory

TL;DR

This paper constructs a comprehensive open superstring field theory action incorporating both Neveu-Schwarz and Ramond sectors, ensuring gauge invariance and correct spectrum reproduction within the superconformal ghost framework.

Contribution

It introduces a complete action for open superstring field theory that unifies the Neveu-Schwarz and Ramond sectors with consistent gauge invariance and spectrum accuracy.

Findings

The action matches the Wess-Zumino-Witten-like form for the NS sector.

The Ramond sector is incorporated via a projected string field in the small Hilbert space.

Gauge invariance is maintained for the combined action.

Abstract

We construct a complete action for open superstring field theory that includes the Neveu-Schwarz sector and the Ramond sector. For the Neveu-Schwarz sector, we use the string field in the large Hilbert space of the superconformal ghost sector, and the action in the Neveu-Schwarz sector is the same as the Wess-Zumino-Witten-like action of the Berkovits formulation. For the Ramond sector, it is known that the BRST cohomology on an appropriate subspace of the small Hilbert space reproduces the correct spectrum, and we use the string field projected to this subspace. We show that the action is invariant under gauge transformations that are consistent with the projection for the string field in the Ramond sector.