Conformal techniques in string theory and string field theory

Description

The application of some conformal and Riemann surface techniques to string theory and string held theory is described. First a brief review (it Riemann surface techniques and of the Polyakov approach to string theory is presented. This is followed by a discussion of some features of string field theory and of its Feynman rules. Specifically, it is shown that the Feynman diagrams for Witten's string field theory respect modular invariants. and in particular give a triangulation of moduli space. The Polyakov formalism is then used to derive the Feynman rules that should follow from this theory upon gauge fixing. It should alsoibe possible to apply this derivation to deduce the Feynman rules for other gauge-fixed string field theories. Following this, Riemann surface techniques are turned to the problem of proving the equivalence of the Polyakov and light-cone formalisms. It is first shown that the light-cone diagrams triangulate moduli space. Then the Polyakov measure is worked out for these diagrams, and shown to equal that deduced from the light-cone gauge-fixed formalism. Also presented is a short description of the comparison of physical states in the two formalisms. The equivalence of the two formalisms in particular constitutes a proof of the unitarity of the Polyakov framework for the closed bosonic string.