Tree scattering amplitudes of the spin-4/3 fractional superstring II: the twisted sectors

TL;DR

This paper extends the analysis of tree-level scattering amplitudes in the spin-4/3 fractional superstring theory to include twisted-sector states, demonstrating their decoupling and providing explicit examples in a specific model.

Contribution

It introduces the calculation of tree amplitudes with twisted-sector states in the spin-4/3 superstring, highlighting the absence of certain emission vertices and analyzing a c=5 model.

Findings

Amplitudes with two twisted-sector states satisfy decoupling conditions.

Explicit tree scattering amplitudes are computed in a c=5 free boson model.

The model's target space is 3D Minkowski space with fermionic twisted states.

Abstract

The spin-4/3 fractional superstring is characterized by a world-sheet chiral algebra involving spin-4/3 currents. The discussion of the tree-level scattering amplitudes of this theory presented in hepth/9310131 is expanded to include amplitudes containing two twisted-sector states. These amplitudes are shown to satisfy spurious state decoupling. The restriction to only two external twisted-sector states is due to the absence of an appropriate dimension-one vertex describing the emission of a single twisted-sector state. This is analogous to the ``old covariant'' formalism of ordinary superstring amplitudes in which an appropriate dimension-one vertex for the emission of a Ramond-sector state is lacking. Examples of tree scattering amplitudes are calculated in a c=5 model of the spin-4/3 chiral algebra realized in terms of free bosons on the string world-sheet. The target space of this model is three-dimensional flat Minkowski space-time and the twisted-sector physical states are fermions in space-time. Since the critical central charge of the spin-4/3 fractional superstring theory is 10, this c=5 model is not consistent at the string loop level.