Heterotic String Field Theory

TL;DR

This paper develops a heterotic string field theory framework in the large Hilbert space, avoiding picture-changing operators, and derives the action up to quintic order with novel nonpolynomial features.

Contribution

It constructs the Neveu-Schwarz sector of heterotic string field theory using multi-string products without picture-changing operators, revealing new nonpolynomial structures.

Findings

Constructed the heterotic string field theory action up to quintic order.

Identified a new kind of nonpolynomiality in the action.

Derived a subset of terms to all orders.

Abstract

We construct the Neveu-Schwarz sector of heterotic string field theory using the large Hilbert space of the superghosts and the multi-string products of bosonic closed string field theory. No picture-changing operators are required as in Wess-Zumino-Witten-like open superstring field theory. The action exhibits a novel kind of nonpolynomiality: in addition to terms necessary to cover missing regions of moduli spaces, new terms arise from the boundary of the missing regions and its subspaces. We determine the action up to quintic order and a subset of terms to all orders.