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Tensionless strings and Galilean Conformal Algebra

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Abstract

We discuss an intriguing link between the symmetries of the tensionless limit of closed string theory and the 2-dimensional Galilean Conformal Algebra (2d GCA). 2d GCA has been studied in the context of the non-relativistic limit of AdS/CFT and more recently in flat-space holography as the proposed symmetry algebra of the field theory dual to 3d Minkowski spacetimes. It is best understood as a contraction of two copies of the Virasoro algebra. In this note, we link this to the tensionless limit of bosonic closed string theory showing how it emerges naturally as a contraction of the residual gauge symmetries of the tensile string in the conformal gauge. We also discuss a possible “dual” interpretation in terms of a point-particle like limit. We show that this different contraction, motivated by an exchange of world-sheet space and time co-ordinates, leads to the same symmetry algebra and provide further evidence in support of our claim by looking at the theory on a torus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, U.S.A.

    Arjun Bagchi

  2. School of Mathematics and the Maxwell Institute of Mathematical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, U.K.

    Arjun Bagchi

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  1. Arjun Bagchi
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ArXiv ePrint: 1303.0291

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Bagchi, A. Tensionless strings and Galilean Conformal Algebra. J. High Energ. Phys. 2013, 141 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2013)141

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