Fermionic Subspaces of the Bosonic String

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a symmetric truncation of the bosonic string Hilbert space can produce all known ten-dimensional fermionic string theories, suggesting a mechanism for generating space-time fermions from bosons.

Contribution

It introduces a universal truncation method that unifies fermionic string theories and highlights the role of group theory and conformal field theory in this process.

Findings

All known ten-dimensional fermionic string theories can be derived from bosonic strings via truncation.

Group theory and conformal field theory are essential in the construction.

Evidence suggests a dynamic mechanism for generating space-time fermions from bosons.

Abstract

A universal symmetric truncation of the bosonic string Hilbert space yields all known closed fermionic string theories in ten dimensions, their D-branes and their open descendants. We highlight the crucial role played by group theory and two-dimensional conformal field theory in the construction and emphasize the predictive power of the truncation. Such circumstantial evidence points towards the existence of a mechanism which generates space-time fermions out of bosons dynamically within the framework of bosonic string theory.