Windings of twisted strings

TL;DR

This paper uncovers a new sector of twisted string theories with compact spacetime dimensions, revealing an infinite spectrum of higher spin states and unique features bridging string and field theories.

Contribution

It introduces a novel class of twisted string models with compact directions, expanding the understanding of their spectra and scattering amplitudes, and highlighting their hybrid string-field theory nature.

Findings

Spectrum includes infinite higher spin massive states

Models exhibit stringy T-duality invariance

High energy behavior resembles field theory

Abstract

Twistor string models have been known for more than a decade now but have come back under the spotlight recently with the advent of the scattering equation formalism which has greatly generalized the scope of these models. A striking ubiquitous feature of these models has always been that, contrary to usual string theory, they do not admit vibrational modes and thus describe only conventional field theory. In this paper we report on the surprising discovery of a whole new sector of one of these theories which we call "twisted strings," when spacetime has compact directions. We find that the spectrum is enhanced from a finite number of states to an infinite number of interacting higher spin massive states. We describe both bosonic and world sheet supersymmetric models, their spectra and scattering amplitudes. These models have distinctive features of both string and field theory, for example they are invariant under stringy T-duality but have the high energy behavior typical of field theory. Therefore they describe a new kind of field theories in target space, sitting on their own halfway between string and field theory.