Light-Cone Gauge for N=2 Strings

TL;DR

This paper introduces a double light-cone gauge approach for N=2 strings, simplifying their quantization by revealing their zero modes and clarifying their relation to N=4 strings.

Contribution

It presents a novel gauge fixing method that directly shows the equivalence of N=2 and N=4 strings and simplifies their covariant quantization.

Findings

Demonstrates the reduction of N=2 strings to zero modes using the double light-cone gauge.

Shows the equivalence between N=4 and N=2 strings.

Reveals an unconventional gauge feature swapping commuting and anticommuting degrees of freedom.

Abstract

Covariant quantization of self-dual strings in 2+2 flat dimensions reduces them to their zero modes, a consequence of extended world-sheet supersymmetry. We demonstrate how to arrive at the same result more directly by employing a `double' light-cone gauge. An unconventional feature of this gauge is the removal of anticommuting degrees of freedom by commuting symmetries and vice versa. The reducibility of the N=4 string and its equivalence with the N=2 string become apparent.