String Theory on Dp-plane waves

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the spectrum of solvable string models on plane wave backgrounds derived from Dp-brane geometries, focusing on S-dual F1/D1-waves in various superstring theories, and compares results with gauge and supergravity expectations.

Contribution

It derives the Kaluza-Klein spectrum, computes helicity supertraces, and tests open string consistency conditions for Dp-plane wave models, providing new insights into their spectra and amplitudes.

Findings

Kaluza-Klein spectrum of supergravities on D1/F1-waves derived

Helicity supertraces computed and matched with gauge/supergravity expectations

One-loop amplitudes in type I D1-waves shown to satisfy consistency conditions

Abstract

We study the spectrum of solvable string models on plane waves descending from non-conformal Dp-brane geometries. We mainly focus on S-dual F1/D1-waves in type IIB and type I/heterotic 10D superstrings. We derive the Kaluza-Klein spectrum of N=1,2 10D supergravities on D1/F1-waves. We compute helicity supertraces counting multiplicities and R-charges of string excitations in the plane wave geometry. The results are compared against the expectations coming from gauge/supergravity descriptions. In the type I case, the Klein, Annulus and Moebius one-loop amplitudes are computed for ten-dimensional D1-waves. We test the consistency of the open string descendant by showing that after modular transformations to the closed string channel, the three amplitudes combine themselves to reconstruct a complete square (|B>+|C>)^2. Tadpole conditions are also discussed.