A Note on Nonperturbative Instability in String Theory

TL;DR

This paper explores nonperturbative instabilities in string theory using worldsheet methods, focusing on open bosonic strings and D-instantons to compute decay probabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a worldsheet approach to describe nonperturbative instabilities in string theory, specifically analyzing D-instantons as bounce solutions in open bosonic strings.

Findings

Computed the exponential decay factor for stringy instabilities.

Demonstrated the role of D-instantons as barriers in decay processes.

Abstract

We investigate the possibility that stringy nonperturbative instabilities are described by worldsheet methods. We focus on the case of open bosonic string theory, where the D-instanton plays a role of the bounce, i.e. it describes barrier penetration. In the process, we compute the exponential factor in a decay probability.