Graviton and Massive Symmetric Rank-Two Tensor in String Theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the interactions of massless and massive spin-two particles in string theory, revealing how the massive tensor's behavior approaches that of the graviton at high energies with dominant string corrections.

Contribution

It explicitly calculates cubic interactions of graviton and massive symmetric rank-two tensor in string theory, including string corrections, and analyzes their high-energy limits.

Findings

Massive symmetric rank-two tensor interactions differ from graviton interactions.

In the high energy limit, the massive tensor's cubic action matches that of the graviton.

String corrections dominate the behavior of the massive tensor at high energies.

Abstract

Spin-two particles appear in the spectra of both open and closed string theories. We studied a graviton and massive symmetric rank-two tensor in string theory, both of which carry spin two. A graviton is a massless spin-two particle in closed string theory while a symmetric rank-two tensor is a massive particle with spin two in open string theory. Using Polyakov's string path integral formulation of string scattering amplitudes, we calculated cubic interactions of both spin-two particles explicitly, including $\ap$-corrections (string corrections). We observed that the cubic interactions of the massive spin-two particle differed from those of the graviton. The massive symmetric rank-two tensor in open string theory becomes massless in the high energy limit where $\ap \rightarrow \infty$ and $\ap$-correction terms, containing higher derivatives, dominate: In this limit the local cubic action of the symmetric rank-two tensor of open string theory coincides with that of the graviton in closed string theory.