Loop Corrected Tachyon Condensation

TL;DR

This paper investigates loop corrections in boundary string field theory, proposing a novel approach to effective actions, and computes decay rates and tension corrections for unstable branes, advancing understanding of quantum effects in string theory.

Contribution

It introduces a new method for defining loop corrections in BSFT via closed string channel factorization, differing from traditional partition function calculations.

Findings

Loop corrections can be described through closed string channel factorization.

Decay rates of unstable branes are computed with loop effects included.

Loop corrections to brane tensions are quantified in perturbative string theory.

Abstract

We study loop corrections in boundary string field theory (BSFT). After commenting on problems with quantizing the tree level BSFT as an ordinary field theory, we discuss the tree level coupling to closed strings and define the loop corrections via factorization in the closed string channel. This description is weakly coupled in the vicinity of the closed string vacuum. Our proposal for the one-loop effective action differs in general from computing the annulus or cylinder partition functions. We also compute the decay rates and the loop corrections to the tensions of unstable branes in perturbative string theory.