The Galilean Superstring

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Galilean superstring, derived from a non-relativistic limit of the Green-Schwarz superstring, revealing a topological charge and a momentum bound linked to supersymmetry preservation.

Contribution

It presents the first formulation of a Galilean superstring with a Wess-Zumino term, establishing its supersymmetry algebra and associated momentum bound.

Findings

The Galilean superstring has zero tension and a topological central charge.

Unitarity imposes an upper momentum bound, saturated by supersymmetric solutions.

Extension to the Galilean supermembrane is briefly discussed.

Abstract

The action for a Galilean superstring is found from a non-relativistic limit of the closed Green-Schwarz (GS) superstring; it has zero tension and provides an example of a massless super-Galilean system A Wess-Zumino term leads to a topological central charge in the Galilean supersymmetry algebra, such that unitarity requires a upper bound on the total momentum. This Galilean-invariant bound, which is also implied by the classical phase-space constraints, is saturated by solutions of the superstring equations of motion that half-preserve supersymmetry. We discuss briefly the extension to the Galilean supermembrane.