THE COMPLETE SPECTRUM OF THE W(N) STRING Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • We obtain the complete physical spectrum of the WN string, for arbitrary N. The WN constraints freeze N-2 coordinates, while the remaining coordinates appear in the currents only via their energy-momentum tensor. The spectrum is then effectively described by a set of ordinary Virasoro-like string theories, but with a non-critical value for the central charge and a discrete set of non-standard values for the spin-2 intercepts. In particular, the physical spectrum of the WN string includes the usual massless states of the Virasoro string. By looking at the norms of low-lying states, we find strong indications that all the WN strings are unitary. 1992.

published proceedings

  • NUCLEAR PHYSICS B

author list (cited authors)

  • LU, H., POPE, C. N., SCHRANS, S., & XU, K. W.

citation count

  • 20

publication date

  • October 1992