Wilson loop of the heterotic sigma model and the sv-map

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Wilson loop representation for the heterotic sigma model, demonstrating that the single-valued projection (sv) arises from contour sums in the Wilson loop, providing a new geometric understanding of sv in string theory.

Contribution

It proposes a Wilson loop formulation for the heterotic sigma model and shows sv originates from contour sums, advancing the geometric interpretation of the sv-map.

Findings

Wilson loop acts as the exact fermion propagator in heterotic string physics.

sv arises from a sum of two opposite-directed Wilson loop contours.

Explicit three- and four-loop calculations illustrate the contour sum mechanism.

Abstract

The single-valued projection (sv) is a relation between scattering amplitudes of gauge bosons in heterotic and open superstring theories. Recently we have studied sv from the aspect of nonlinear sigma models [1], where the gauge physics of open string sigma model is under the Wilson loop representation but the gauge physics of heterotic string sigma model is under the fermionic representation since the Wilson loop representation is absent in the heterotic case. There we showed that the sv comes from a sum of six radial orderings of heterotic vertices on the complex plane. In this paper, we propose a Wilson loop representation for the heterotic case and using the Wilson loop representation to show that sv comes from a sum of two opposite-directed contours of the heterotic sigma model. We firstly prove that the Wilson loop is the exact propagator of the fermion field that carry the gauge physics of the heterotic string in the fermionic representation. Then we construct the action of the heterotic string sigma model in terms of the Wilson loop, by exploring the geometry of the Wilson loop and by generalizing the nonabelian Stokes's theorem [2], [3], [4] to the fermionic case. After that, we compute some three loop and four loop diagrams as an example, to show how the sv for $\zeta_2$ and $\zeta_3$ arises from a sum of the contours of the Wilson loop. Finally we conjecture that this sum of contours of the Wilson loop is the mechanism behind the sv for general cases.