Abstract
A logically tight proof of the No Ghost Theorem for the standard bosonic open string theory is given, and an extension is established. The latter states that 26 is the critical dimension for all levels N = n > 2 of the number operator N in the sense that for any n > 2, there are no ghosts (negative norm states) on level N = n if and only if the dimension of spacetime is no greater than 26.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brower, R. C, Spectrum-Generating A1gebra and No-Ghost Theorem for the Dual Model, Phys. Rev. 6(1972), 1655–1662.
Del Guidice, E.,Di Vecchia, P., and Fubini, S., Ann. Phys. 70(1972), 163–182.
Frenkel, I.B., Garland, H., and Zuckerman, G.J., Semi-infinite cohomology and string theory, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 83(Nov., 1986), 8442–8446.
Goddard, P., and Thorn, C. B., Compatibility of the dual pomeron with unitarity and the absence of ghosts in the dual resonance model, Physics Letters 40B(1972), 235–238.
Green, M. B., Schwartz, J. H., and Witten, E., “Superstring Theory”, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987.
Guichardet, A., “Symmetric Hilbert Spaces and Related Topics”, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1972
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Parrott, S. The No Ghost Theorem in String Theory. Results. Math. 21, 379–395 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03323095
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03323095