Boundary Superstring Field Theory Annulus Partition Function in the Presence of Tachyons

TL;DR

This paper calculates the boundary superstring field theory partition function on an annulus with tachyon profiles, revealing non-trivial R-R sector contributions and constructing a boundary state description of D-branes with tachyons.

Contribution

It introduces a boundary state formulation for D-branes with linear tachyons and explores open/closed string duality in this context.

Findings

R-R sector contributes non-trivially to the effective action

Boundary state description of D-branes with tachyons constructed

Open string quantization in tachyonic backgrounds analyzed

Abstract

We compute the Boundary Superstring Field Theory partition function on the annulus in the presence of independent linear tachyon profiles on the two boundaries. The R-R sector is found to contribute non-trivially to the derivative terms of the space-time effective action. In the process we construct a boundary state description of D-branes in the presence of a linear tachyon. We quantize the open string in a tachyonic background and address the question of open/closed string duality.