On type 0 string theory in solvable RR backgrounds

TL;DR

This paper explores the spectrum of type 0 string theory in solvable RR backgrounds, using Green-Schwarz formalism and orbifolding techniques, to understand stability and spectrum structure in non-supersymmetric settings.

Contribution

It provides a detailed construction of type 0 string spectra in RR backgrounds via orbifolding and Melvin backgrounds, extending understanding of non-supersymmetric string theories in curved spaces.

Findings

RR flux increases the effective mass of the tachyon.

The spectrum can be derived from type II via orbifolding.

RR flux influences the stability domain of the ground state.

Abstract

Motivated by a possibility of solving non-supersymmetric type 0 string theory in $AdS_5 \times S^5$ background using integrability, we revisit the construction of type 0 string spectrum in some solvable examples of backgrounds with RR fluxes that are common to type IIB and type 0B theories. The presence of RR fluxes requires the use of a Green-Schwarz description for type 0 string theory. Like in flat space, the spectrum of type 0 theory can be derived from the type II theory spectrum by a $(-1)^F$ orbifolding, i.e. combining the untwisted sector where GS fermions are periodic with the twisted sector where GS fermions are antiperiodic (and projecting out all spacetime fermionic states). This construction of the type 0 spectrum may also be implemented using a Melvin background that allows to continuously interpolate between the type II and type 0 theories. As an illustration, we discuss the type 0B spectrum in the pp-wave background which is the Penrose limit of $AdS_5 \times S^5$ with RR 5-form flux and also in the pp-wave background which is the Penrose limit of $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ supported by mixed RR and NSNS 3-form fluxes. We show that increasing the strength of the RR flux increases the value of the effective normal ordering constant (which determines the mass of the type 0 tachyon) and thus effectively decreases the momentum-space domain of instability of the ground state. We also comment on the semiclassical sector of states of type 0B theory in $AdS_5 \times S^5$.