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String field theory and tachyon dynamics

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dc.contributor.advisor Barton Zwiebach. en_US
dc.contributor.author Yang, Haitang, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology en_US
dc.contributor.other Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2008-02-28T16:29:26Z
dc.date.available 2008-02-28T16:29:26Z
dc.date.copyright 2006 en_US
dc.date.issued 2006 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/36814 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36814
dc.description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2006. en_US
dc.description Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-81). en_US
dc.description.abstract In this thesis we present some works done during my doctoral studies. These results focus on two directions. The first one is motivated by tachyon dynamics in open string theory. We calculate the stress tensors for the p-adic string model and for the pure tachyonic sector of open string field theory (OSFT). We give the energy density of lump solutions and attempt to evaluate the evolution of the pressure in rolling tachyon solutions. We discuss the relevance of the pressure calculation for the identification of the large time solution with a gas of closed strings. In the second direction, we give some results in closed string field theory (CSFT). We considered marginal deformations in CSFT. The marginal parameter, called a, is that associated with the dimension-zero primary operator cWcX&X. We use this marginal operator to test the quartic structure of CSFT and the feasibility of level expansion. We check the vanishing of the effective potential for a. In the level expansion the quartic terms generated by the cubic interactions must be canceled by the elementary quartic interaction of four marginal operators. We confirm this prediction, thus giving evidence that the sign, normalization, and region of integration Vo,4 for the quartic vertex are all correct. en_US
dc.description.abstract (cont.) This is the first calculation of an elementary quartic amplitude for which there is an expectation that can be checked. We also extend the calculation to the case of the four marginal operators associated with two space coordinates. We then try to search a critical point of the tachyon potential in CSFT. We include the tachyon, the dilaton, and massive fields in the computation. Some evidence is found for the existence of a closed string tachyon vacuum. It seems that this critical point becomes more shallow when higher level contributions are considered. We also relate fields in the sigma model and those in CSFT. Moreover, large dilaton deformations are studied numerically. Finally, we use the low-energy effective field equations that couple gravity, the dilaton, and the bulk closed string tachyon to study the end result of the physical decay process associated with the instability of closed string tachyon. We establish that whenever the tachyon induces the rolling process, the Einstein metric undergoes collapse while the dilaton rolls to strong coupling. Some more general potentials and the possible cosmological application are discussed. en_US
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2008-02-28T16:29:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 82144544.pdf: 5572761 bytes, checksum: b8a17acd70fee53126f2d11b07e7f991 (MD5) 82144544-MIT.pdf: 5572571 bytes, checksum: 41b7ce2e8b32767eab4ba687e937a337 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 en
dc.description.statementofresponsibility by Haitang Yang. en_US
dc.format.extent 81 p. en_US
dc.language.iso eng en_US
dc.publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology en_US
dc.rights M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. en_US
dc.rights.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/36814 en_US
dc.rights.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
dc.subject Physics. en_US
dc.title String field theory and tachyon dynamics en_US
dc.type Thesis en_US
dc.description.degree Ph.D. en_US
dc.contributor.department Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics. en_US
dc.identifier.oclc 82144544 en_US

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