Search

We consider the relativistic scattering of unequal-mass scalar particles through graviton exchange in the small-angle high-energy regime. We show the self-consistency of expansion around the eikonal limit and compute the scattering amplitude up to the next-to-leading power correction of the light particle energy, including gravitational effects of the same order. The first power correction is suppressed by a single power of the ratio of momentum transfer to the energy of the light particle in the rest frame of the heavy particle, independent of the heavy particle mass. We find that only gravitational corrections contribute to the exponentiated phase in impact parameter space in four dimensions. For large enough heavy-particle mass, the saddle point for the impact parameter is modified compared to the leading order by a multiple of the Schwarzschild radius determined by the mass of the heavy particle, independent of the energy of the light particle., Comment: Basic results are unchanged, but many arguments have been revised, and several calculations given in dimensional regularization. One new figure. 17 pages, six figures

We construct the Faddeev-Kulish asymptotic states in a quantum field theory of electric and magnetic charges. We find that there are two kind of dressings: apart from the well known (electric) Wilson line dressing, there is a magnetic counterpart which can be written as a 't Hooft line operator. The 't Hooft line dressings are charged under the magnetic large gauge transformation (LGT), but are neutral under electric LGT. This is in contrast to the Faddeev-Kulish dressings of electrons, which can be written as a Wilson line operator and are charged under electric LGT but neutral under magnetic LGT. With these dressings and the corresponding construction of the coherent states, the infrared finiteness of the theory of electric and magnetic charges is guaranteed. Even in the absence of magnetic monopoles, the electric and magnetic soft modes exhibit the electromagnetic duality of vacuum Maxwell theory. Using only the asymptotic form of three-point interactions in a field theory of electric and magnetic charges, we show that the leading magnetic dressings, like the leading electric ones, are exact in the field theory of electric and magnetic charges, in accordance with a conjecture of Strominger. We then extend the construction to perturbative quantum gravity in asymptotically flat spacetime, and construct gravitational 't Hooft line dressings that are charged under dual supertranslations. The duality in the quantum theory between the electric and magnetic soft charges and their dressings is thus made manifest., 26 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Physical Review D

We construct Faddeev-Kulish states in QED and perturbative quantum gravity to subleading order in the soft momentum expansion and to first order in the coupling constant, using the charge conservation formula of asymptotic symmetries associated with the tree-level subleading soft theorems. We demonstrate that the emission and absorption of soft photons/gravitons in dressed amplitudes vanish. The fact that no additional soft radiation may be added to a dressed amplitude supports the claim that, in the dressed state formalism, the soft and hard sectors of scattering processes are correlated. We also show that the dressed virtual amplitudes are equivalent to the infrared-finite part of the traditional amplitudes constructed using Fock states. Since there is no real soft radiation in the asymptotic Hilbert space, the dressed state formalism gives the same cross sections as the Bloch-Nordsieck method., 31 pages, 4 figures

We develop a unified framework for the construction of soft dressings at boundaries of spacetime, such as the null infinity of Minkowski spacetime and the horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole. The construction is based on an old proposal of Mandelstam for quantizing QED and considers matter fields dressed by Wilson lines. Along time-like paths, the Wilson lines puncturing the boundary are the analogs of flat space Faddeev-Kulish dressings. We focus on the Schwarzschild black hole where our framework provides a quantum-field-theoretical perspective of the Hawking-Perry-Strominger viewpoint that black holes carry soft hair, through a study of the Wilson line dressings, localized on the horizon., Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures, matches the published version

We show explicitly that, among the scattering amplitudes constructed from eigenstates of the BMS supertranslation charge, the ones that conserve this charge, are equal to those constructed from Faddeev-Kulish states. Thus, Faddeev-Kulish states naturally arise as a consequence of the asymptotic symmetries of perturbative gravity and all charge conserving amplitudes are infrared finite. In the process we show an important feature of the Faddeev-Kulish clouds dressing the external hard particles: these clouds can be moved from the incoming states to the outgoing ones, and vice-versa, without changing the infrared finiteness properties of S matrix elements. We also apply our discussion to the problem of the decoherence of momentum configurations of hard particles due to soft boson effects., Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures

Recently it has been shown that infrared divergences in the conventional S-matrix elements of gauge and gravitational theories arise from a violation of the conservation laws associated with large gauge symmetries. These infrared divergences can be cured by using the Faddeev-Kulish (FK) asymptotic states as the basis for S-matrix elements. Motivated by this connection, we study the action of BMS supertranslations on the FK asymptotic states of perturbative quantum gravity. We compute the BMS charge of the FK states and show that it characterizes the superselection sector to which the state belongs. Conservation of the BMS charge then implies that there is no transition between different superselection sectors, hence showing that the FK graviton clouds implement the necessary vacuum transition induced by the scattering process., Comment: 39 pages

We perform numerical simulations of gravitational collapse in Einstein-aether theory. We find that under certain conditions, the collapse results in the temporary formation of a white hole horizon.

A leading twist expansion in terms of bi-local operators is proposed for the structure functions of deeply inelastic scattering near the elastic limit $x \to 1$, which is also applicable to a range of other processes. Operators of increasing dimensions contribute to logarithmically enhanced terms which are supressed by corresponding powers of $1-x$. For the longitudinal structure function, in moment ($N$) space, all the logarithmic contributions of order $\ln^k N/N$ are shown to be resummable in terms of the anomalous dimension of the leading operator in the expansion., 9 pages, 1 figure, uses REVTEX 3.1 and axodraw

We review the physics of the ultraviolet renormalon. This mini-review is intended to be a sequel to the review by the same authors at the "QCD '96" conference last year (hep-ph/9610492)., 9 pages, LaTeX

We present a covariant formulation of the Kinoshita-Lee-Nauenberg (KLN) theorem for processes involving the radiation of soft particles. The role of the disconnected diagrams is explored and a rearrangement of the perturbation theory is performed such that the purely disconnected diagrams are factored out. The remaining effect of the disconnected diagrams results in a simple modification of the usual Feynman rules for the S-matrix elements. As an application, we show that, when combined with the Low theorem, this leads to a proof of the absence of the 1/Q corrections to inclusive processes (such as the Drell-Yan process). In this paper the Abelian case is discussed to all orders in the coupling. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

We present a sketchy review of renormalon-based phenomenology. In particular, the leading, 1/Q corrections to various observables, KLN cancellations for power-suppressed corrections and the fixation of operator matrix elements are highlighted.

We propose an S matrix approach to the quantum black hole in which causality, unitarity and their interrelation play a prominent role. Assuming the 't Hooft S matrix ansatz for a gravitating region surrounded by an asymptotically flat space-time we find a non-local transformation which changes the standard causality requirement but is a symmetry of the unitarity condition of the S matrix. This new S matrix then implies correlations between the in and out states of the theory with the involvement of a third entity which in the case of a quantum black hole, we argue is the horizon S matrix. Such correlations are thus linked to preserving the unitarity of the S matrix and to the fact that entangling unitary operators are nonlocal. The analysis is performed within the Bogoliubov S matrix framework by considering a spacetime consisting of causal complements with a boundary in between. No particular metric or lagrangian dynamics need be invoked even to obtain an evolution equation for the full S matrix. Constraints imposed by the new causality requirement and implications for the effectiveness of field theoretical descriptions and for complementarity are also discussed. We find that the tension between information preservation and complementarity may be resolved provided the full quantum gravity theory either through symmetries or fine tuning forbids the occurrence of closed time like curves of information flow. Then, even if causality is violated near the horizon at any intermediate stage, a standard causal ordering may be preserved for the observer away from the horizon. In the context of the black hole, the novelty of our formulation is that it appears well suited to understand unitarity at any intermediate stage of black hole evaporation. Moreover, it is applicable generally to all theories with long range correlations including the final state projection models., Comment: 47 pages Latex, 1 figure.Corrected typos. Some section titles changed. Minor clarifying additions to all sections. Conclusions unchanged. Accepted for publication in JHEP

The infrared behavior of perturbative quantum gravity is studied using the method developed for QED by Faddeev and Kulish. The operator describing the asymptotic dynamics is derived and used to construct an IR-finite S matrix and space of asymptotic states. All-orders cancellation of IR divergences is shown explicitly at the level of matrix elements for the example case of gravitational potential scattering. As a practical application of the formalism, the soft part of a scalar scattering amplitude is related to the gravitational Wilson line and computed to all orders., Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures

In this paper we discuss the theoretical difficulties in extracting Vub using the data from inclusive B decays. Specifically, we address the issue of the end point singularities. We perform the resummation of both the leading and next to leading end point logs and include the leading corrections to the hard scattering amplitude. We find that the resummation is a 20% −50% effect in the end point region where the resummation is valid. Furthermore, the resummed sub-leading logs dominate the resummed double logs. The consequences of this result for a model independent extraction of the mixing angle Vub are explored.

We discuss $1/Q$ corrections to hard processes in QCD where $Q$ is a large mass parameter like the total energy in $e^+e^-$ annihilation. The main problem we address ourselves to is whether these corrections to different processes (concentrating for definiteness on the Thrust and the Drell-Yan cross section) can be related to each other in a reliable way so that the phenomenology of the $1/Q$ corrections can be developed. We derive first the relation valid to lowest order using both the renormalon and finite-gauge-boson mass techniques to check its independence on the infrared cut- off procedure. We then argue that the $1/Q$ corrections are due to soft gluons which factorize into a universal factor such that the lowest order relations are preserved in higher orders.

Investigations of high-energy graviton-graviton and gluon-gluon scattering are performed in the leading eikonal approximation for the kinematic regime of large center of mass energy and low momentum transfer. We find a double copy relation between the amplitudes of the two theories to all loop orders when, on the gauge theory side, we retain only the set of diagrams at each loop order for which the collinear divergences cancel amongst themselves. For this to happen the color structure of all diagrams in the set must be identical. Using standard field theoretic methods, it is shown that this relation is reflected in a similar double copy relationship between the classical shockwaves of the two theories as well., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, reference added, some minor clarifications added to the text

We perform numerical simulations of the gravitational collapse of a k-essence scalar field. When the field is sufficiently strongly gravitating, a black hole forms. However, the black hole has two horizons: a light horizon (the ordinary black hole horizon) and a sound horizon that traps k-essence. In certain cases the k-essence signals can travel faster than light and the sound horizon is inside the light horizon. Under those circumstances, k-essence signals can escape from the black hole. Eventually, the two horizons merge and the k-essence signals can no longer escape., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures

Numerical simulations are performed of a test scalar field in a spacetime undergoing gravitational collapse. The behavior of the scalar field near the singularity is examined and implications for generic singularities are discussed. In particular, our example is the first confirmation of the BKL conjecture for an asymptotically flat spacetime., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, references added

In this paper we study a novel means of coupling neutrinos to a Lorentz violating background k-essence field. We first look into the effect that k-essence has on the neutrino dispersion relation and derive a general formula for the neutrino velocity in the presence on a k-essence background. The influence of k-essence coupling on neutrino oscillations is then considered. It is found that a non-diagonal k-essence coupling leads to an oscillation length that goes like \lambda \sim E^{-1} where E is the energy. This should be contrasted with the \lambda \sim E dependence seen in the standard mass-induced mechanism of neutrino oscillations. While such a scenario is not favored experimentally, it places constraints on the interactions of the neutrino with a cosmological k-essence scalar background by requiring it to be flavor diagonal. All non-trivial physical effects discussed here require the speed of sound to be different from the speed of light and hence are primarily a consequence of Lorentz violation., Comment: 24 pages

A chiral invariant background field method is introduced in order to study the structure of higher order terms in chiral perturbation theory. Explicit one-loop calculations are presented together with the construction of the most general O (p6) chiral lagrangian relevant for anomalous processes. The non-renormalization of the coefficient of the Wess-Zumino term in both two and four dimensions is discussed in general.

In this paper we show that, for general scalar fields, stationary configurations are possible for shift symmetric theories only. This symmetry with respect to constant translations in field space should either be manifest in the original field variables or reveal itself after an appropriate field redefinition. In particular this result implies that neither k-Essence nor Quintessence can have exact steady state / Bondi accretion onto Black Holes. We also discuss the role of field redefinitions in k-Essence theories. Here we study the transformation properties of observables and other variables in k-Essence and emphasize which of them are covariant under field redefinitions. Finally we find that stationary field configurations are necessarily linear in Killing time, provided that shift symmetry is realized in terms of these field variables., 8 pages

We investigate decoupling of heavy Kaluza-Klein modes in an Abelian Higgs model with space-time topologies $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times S^{1}$ and $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times S^{1}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$. After integrating out heavy KK modes we find the effective action for the zero mode fields. We find that in the $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times S^{1}$ topology the heavy modes do not decouple in the effective action, due to the zero mode of the 5-th component of the 5-d gauge field $A_{5}$. Because $A_{5}$ is a scalar under 4-d Lorentz transformations, there is no gauge symmetry protecting it from getting mass and $A_{5}^{4}$ interaction terms after loop corrections. In addition, after symmetry breaking, we find new divergences in the $A_{5}$ mass that did not appear in the symmetric phase. The new divergences are traced back to the gauge-goldstone mixing that occurs after symmetry breaking. The relevance of these new divergences to Symanzik's theorem is discussed. In order to get a more sensible theory we investigate the $S^{1}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ compactification. With this kind of compact topology, the $A_{5}$ zero mode disappears. With no $A_{5}$, there are no new divergences and the heavy modes decouple. We also discuss the dependence of the couplings and masses on the compactification scale. We derive a set of RG-like equations for the running of the effective couplings with respect to the compactification scale. It is found that magnitudes of both couplings decrease as the scale $M$ increases. The effective masses are also shown to decrease with increasing compactification scale. All of this opens up the possibility of placing constraints on the size of extra dimensions., 35 pages, 6 figures

We investigate the decoupling of heavy Kaluza-Klein modes in $\phi^{4}$ theory and scalar QED with space-time topology $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times S^{1}$. We calculate the effective action due to integrating out heavy KK modes. We construct generalized RGE's for the couplings with respect to the compactification scale $M$. With the solutions to the RGE's we find the $M$-scale dependence of the effective theory due to higher dimensional quantum effects. We find that the heavy modes decouple in $\phi^{4}$ theory, but do not decouple in scalar QED. This is due to the zero mode of the 5-th component $A_{5}$ of the 5-d gauge field. Because $A_{5}$ is a scalar under 4-d Lorentz transformations, there is no gauge symmetry protecting it from getting mass and $A_{5}^{4}$ interaction terms after loop corrections. In light of these unpleasant features, we explore $S^{1}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ compactifications, which eliminate $A_{5}$, allowing for the heavy modes to decouple at low energies. We also explore the possibility of decoupling by including higher dimensional operators. It is found that this is possible, but a high degree of fine tuning is required., Comment: 9 pages, no figures; sign error on equations 20, 36, 37; Added additional references

We study the resummation of large QCD radiative corrections up to the next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy to the process $\ensuremath{\gamma}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}b\overline{b};$ i.e., we resum logarithms of the type ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}^{p}{\mathrm{ln}}^{2p}{m}^{2}/s$ and ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}^{p}{\mathrm{ln}}^{2p\ensuremath{-}1}{m}^{2}/s$ $(m$ is the quark mass). The only source of all the logarithms to this accuracy is the off-shell Sudakov form factor included into the triangle topologies of the one-loop box diagram. We prove that any other configurations of diagrams to this accuracy either cancel in subgroups or develop a universal on-shell Sudakov exponent due to the final quark antiquark lines. We study the mechanism of cancellations between the different diagrams, which leads to the simple resummed results. We show the cancellation explicitly at three loops for the leading and at two loops for the next-to-leading logarithms. We also point out the general mechanism responsible for it, and discuss how it can be extended to higher orders.

Modifications of Heisenberg's uncertainty relations have been proposed in the literature which imply a minimum position uncertainty. We study the low energy effects of the new physics responsible for this by examining the consequent change in the quantum mechanical commutation relations involving position and momenta. In particular, the modifications to the spectrum of the hydrogen atom can be naturally interpreted as a varying (with energy) fine structure constant. From the data on the energy levels we attempt to constrain the scale of the new physics and find that it must be close to or larger than the weak scale. Experiments in the near future are expected to change this bound by at least an additional order of magnitude., Comment: 8 pages, no figure. Corrected typos, added a reference with comments

We consider the infrared sensitivity of the inclusive heavy quark decay width in perturbation theory. It is shown by explicit calculations to the second loop order (when the non-Abelian nature of the QCD interactions first become apparent) that all infrared sensitive terms to logarithmic and linear accuracy cancel when the decay width is expressed in terms of the short distance mass. This in turn implies the absense of any nonperturbative ${1/m}_{Q}$ power corrections to the decay width. The cancellation is shown algebraically at the level of the Feynman integrands without any use of an explicit infrared cutoff. This result is in accordance with the implications of the KLN theorem.

The wave function of a light pseudoscalar meson is considered and nonperturbative corrections as signaled by perturbation theory are calculated. Two schemes are used, the massive gluon and the running coupling scheme. Both indicate the presence of leading power corrections of ${\cal O}(b^2)$, whose exponentiation leads to a Gaussian dependence of the wave function on the impact parameter $b$. The dependence of this correction on the light cone energy fractions of the quark and the antiquark is discussed and compared with other models for the meson., Comment: 15 pp, Latex, 2 figures, uses axodraw. Discussion of comparison with other models modified. One reference added

We discuss non perturbative corrections to the Coulomb-like potential of heavy quarks at short distances. We consider both the standard framework provided by infrared renormalons and the assumption that confinement does not allow weak fields to penetrate the vacuum. In the former case the leading correction at short distances turns out to be quadratic in r for static quarks. In the latter case we find a potential which is proportional to r as r rightarrow 0. We point out that similar effects arise due to a new kind of non perturbative correction proportional to 1/Q^2, which is unaccounted for by the operator product expansion and which was recently discussed within a different framework. Phenomenological implications of the linear correction to the potential are briefly reviewed., 13 pages, latex, 2 figures, uses epsf

We consider perturbative expansions in theories with an infrared cutoff $\lambda$. The infrared sensitive pieces are defined as terms nonanalytic in the infinitesimal $\lambda^2$ and powers of this cutoff characterize the strength of these infrared contributions. It is argued that the sum over the initial and final degenerate ( as $\lambda \to 0$) states which is required by the Kinoshita - Lee - Nauenberg theorem eliminates terms of order $\lambda^0$ and $\lambda^1$. However, the quadratic and higher order terms in general do not cancel. This is investigated in simple examples of KLN cancellations, of relevance to the inclusive decay rate of a heavy particle, at the one loop level., Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX

We present a QCD-based calculation of the exclusive semileptonic decay Lambda_b -> p l nu-bar. Using the ideas of Heavy Quark Effective Theory, we discuss the factorization of the amplitude. Further, resummed Sudakov effects are put in to ensure a consistent perturbative expansion., 12 pages with 5 figures, Latex. Full postscript version available via anonymous ftp at ftp://williams.physics.lsa.umich.edu/pubs/preprints/UM-TH-95-11.tar.Z

We consider power-like corrections in QCD which can be viewed as power surpressed infrared singularities. We argue that the presence of these singularities depends crucially on the energy resolution. In case of poor energy resolution, i.e., inclusive cross sections, there are constraints on infrared singularities expressed by the Kinoshita-Lee-Nauenberg (KLN) theorem. We rewrite the theorem in covariant notations and argue that the KLN theorem implies the extension of the Bloch-Nordsieck cancellation of logarithmic singularities to the case of linear corrections., 11 pages, Latex file, uses epsf.sty, 5 figures in a uufile

We consider $1/Q$ corrections to hard processes in QCD where Q is a large mass scale, concentrating on shape variables in $e^{+}e^{-}$ annihilation. While the evidence for such corrections can be and has been established by means of the renormalon technique, theory can be confronted with experiment only after clarifying the properties of the corresponding non-perturbative contribution. We list predictions based on the universality of the $1/Q$ terms, and compare them with the existing data. We also identify the scale of the non-perturbative contributions in terms of jet masses., 21 pages, LaTex, no figures. Comparison with other renormalon based approaches is included

In this letter we investigate the proper normalization for the B meson eikonal valence wave function used in exclusive B decays. The normalization appropriate for a hard scattering process renormalized at the scale $\mu$ is determined by calculating the short distance contribution to the purely leptonic decay., Comment: 8 pages (3 figures available upon request), UM-TH-94-05

This paper describes a general program for deriving the action of single field inflation models with nonstandard kinetic energy terms using CMBR power spectrum data. This method assumes that an action depends on a set of undetermined functions, each of which is a function of either the inflaton wave function or its time derivative. The scalar, tensor and non-gaussianity of the curvature perturbation spectrum are used to derive a set of reconstruction equations whose solution set can specify up to three of the undetermined functions. The method is then used to find the undetermined functions in various types of actions assuming power law type scalar and tensor spectra. In actions that contain only two unknown functions, the third reconstruction equation implies a consistency relation between the non-gaussianty, sound speed and slow roll parameters. In particular we focus on reconstructing a generalized DBI action with an unknown potential and warp factor. We find that for realistic scalar and tensor spectra, the reconstructed warp factor and potential are very similar to the theoretically derived result. Furthermore, physical consistency of the reconstructed warp factor and potential imposes strict constraints on the scalar and tensor spectral indices.

We discuss the effects of q, ~' mixing and of the gluon anomaly in the decays q~3n °, q' o3n °, ~¢~y and ~rl' 7. These effects are particularly important for 11' ~ 3n ° in reducing the total rate by about two orders of magnitude from the naive estimate. The decay rates are calculated for various values of the 1], rl' mixing angle (0) and a reasonable fit with experiment is obtained for -20 °~0~ for the 11, analogously for the q'. The mixing between the rl and 11' is characterized by a mixing angle 0 and an analysis based on the Gell-Mann-Okubo quadratic mass formula for broken SU (3) gave an estimate of 0.~ - 10 °. A more recent analysis [ 1 ] allows a value closer to - 20 °. With a view to further testing the above picture, in this paper we will consider decays involving pseudoscalar mesons that are sensitive to the mixing angle, to the gluon anomaly and to the non-vanishing topological charges ( 01 GGI q >, < 01GGI q' ) of the physical q and q' respectively.

We point out that the strong- CP problem becomes even more pressing in the context of weak models where CP violation originates in the Higgs sector. θ renormalization is numerically too large at the one-loop level and even divergent at the two-loop level. When supersymmetry (SUSY) is introduced, many more possible sources for CP violation open up. θ renormalization could stay finite in perturbation theory, however, we find that the one-loop result turns out to be too large by orders of magnitude unless SUSY fields like gauginos and higgsinos are highly degenerate in mass or SUSY breaking proceeds in a very special way, or a Peccei-Quinn symmetry holds leading to superlight axions.

When one takes into account that different quarks have unequal masses, five-point functions associated with pentagon graphs with two external gluons (2g) are modified by terms involving quark mass ratios. In this context we prove an exact low energy theorem for the amplitudes (2g) →rjl with r,j,l in the octet of pseudoscalar Goldstone bosons. A possible manifestation of these effects could be an enhancement of processes (2g) →KK¯π over(2g) → ηππ ones as indeed are seen experimentally in ι decays. A contribution to η′ → ηππ is also found.

I discuss the phase structure of massive gauge invariant QCD (the gauged non-linear sigma model) using an operator formalism proposed by 't Hooft. The dual variables for this system are determined and the 't Hooft loop operator is constructed from these dual field variables. Its equal time commutation relations with the Wilson loop operator is explicitly verified. The system possesses two possible phases. In the semi-classical approximation (weak coupling), magnetic confinement as indicated by an area law for the expectation value of 't Hooft loops is observed. If above a certain critical coupling a condensate of vortices is formed, then the expectation value of the 't Hooft loop in the dilute vortex approximation shows a perimeter law indicating electric confinement.

We point out that neither a softly broken Peccei-Quinn symmetry nor a softly broken supersymmetry per se suffices to insure the finiteness of θ QCD renormalization. This is due to a logarithmic divergence that in general occurs in the higher loop corrections to the gluino mass.

We impose the constraint of the unitarity of the S -matrix on the theory of a closed bosonic string propagating in a background of some of its modes. The equations of motion for not only the massless but also for some of the massive modes of the string are thus consistently obtained in a weak field expansion. To a given order in the weak field expansion, they contain contributions to all orders in α′. We also show that conformal invariance guarantees that the S -matrix be unitary.

We discuss the constraints imposed by the unitary of the S -matrix on the theory of a closed basonic string propagating in a background consisting of a condensate of the string modes. The equations of motion for some of the low mass modes are thus obtained to all orders in α′ but to second order in a weak field expansion about a flat background.

We investigate the behaviour of the regulated Witten index, Δ=Tr(−1)F e−βH, in a class of exactly soluble models. We demonstrate that when the spectrum of the theory contains discrete states as well as a continuum, the index is, in general, β-dependent. If the spectrum is a purely continuous one extending to zero, the index is ill-defined and may have fractional values. The subtleties involved are discussed in detail and a possible remedy is suggested.