Kalb–Ramond field - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Kalb-Ramond field) Two-form field

In theoretical physics in general and string theory in particular, the Kalb–Ramond field (named after Michael Kalb and Pierre Ramond), also known as the Kalb–Ramond B-field or Kalb–Ramond NS–NS B-field, is a quantum field that transforms as a two-form, i.e., an antisymmetric tensor field with two indices.

The adjective "NS" reflects the fact that in the RNS formalism, these fields appear in the NS–NS sector in which all vector fermions are anti-periodic. Both uses of the word "NS" refer to André Neveu and John Henry Schwarz, who studied such boundary conditions (the so-called Neveu–Schwarz boundary conditions) and the fields that satisfy them in 1971.

Details

The Kalb–Ramond field generalizes the electromagnetic potential but it has two indices instead of one. This difference is related to the fact that the electromagnetic potential is integrated over one-dimensional worldlines of particles to obtain one of its contributions to the action while the Kalb–Ramond field must be integrated over the two-dimensional worldsheet of the string. In particular, while the action for a charged particle moving in an electromagnetic potential is given by

-q\int dx^{\mu }A_{\mu }

that for a string coupled to the Kalb–Ramond field has the form

-\int dx^{\mu }dx^{\nu }B_{\mu \nu }

This term in the action implies that the fundamental string of string theory is a source of the NS–NS B-field, much like charged particles are sources of the electromagnetic field.

The Kalb–Ramond field appears, together with the metric tensor and dilaton, as a set of massless excitations of a closed string.

References

^ Kalb, Michael; Ramond, P. (1974-04-15). "Classical direct interstring action". Physical Review D. 9 (8). American Physical Society (APS): 2273–2284. doi:10.1103/physrevd.9.2273. ISSN 0556-2821.
Losev, Andrei S.; Marshakov, Andrei; Zeitlin, Anton M. (2006). "On first-order formalism in string theory". Physics Letters B. 633 (2–3): 375–381. arXiv:hep-th/0510065. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2005.12.010. ISSN 0370-2693. S2CID 9046406.
Gaona, Alejandro; García, J. Antonio (2007-02-10). "First-order Actions and Duality". International Journal of Modern Physics A. 22 (4): 851–867. arXiv:hep-th/0610022. doi:10.1142/s0217751x07034386. ISSN 0217-751X. S2CID 51192710.
See also: Ogievetsky V. I., Polubarinov I. V. (1967). Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 4. 156 (Yad. Fiz 4, 216).
Neveu, A.; Schwarz, J.H. (1971). "Tachyon-free dual model with a positive-intercept trajectory". Physics Letters B. 34 (6). Elsevier BV: 517–518. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(71)90669-1. ISSN 0370-2693.

v t e String theory
Background	Strings Cosmic strings History of string theory First superstring revolution Second superstring revolution String theory landscape
Theory	Nambu–Goto action Polyakov action Bosonic string theory Superstring theory Type I string Type II string Type IIA string Type IIB string Heterotic string N=2 superstring F-theory String field theory Matrix string theory Non-critical string theory Non-linear sigma model Tachyon condensation RNS formalism GS formalism
String duality	T-duality S-duality U-duality Montonen–Olive duality
Particles and fields	Graviton Dilaton Tachyon Ramond–Ramond field Kalb–Ramond field Magnetic monopole Dual graviton Dual photon
Branes	D-brane NS5-brane M2-brane M5-brane S-brane Black brane Black holes Black string Brane cosmology Quiver diagram Hanany–Witten transition
Conformal field theory	Virasoro algebra Mirror symmetry Conformal anomaly Conformal algebra Superconformal algebra Vertex operator algebra Loop algebra Kac–Moody algebra Wess–Zumino–Witten model
Gauge theory	Anomalies Instantons Chern–Simons form Bogomol'nyi–Prasad–Sommerfield bound Exceptional Lie groups (G₂, F₄, E₆, E₇, E₈) ADE classification Dirac string p-form electrodynamics
Geometry	Worldsheet Kaluza–Klein theory Compactification Why 10 dimensions? Kähler manifold Ricci-flat manifold Calabi–Yau manifold Hyperkähler manifold K3 surface G₂ manifold Spin(7)-manifold Generalized complex manifold Orbifold Conifold Orientifold Moduli space Hořava–Witten theory K-theory (physics) Twisted K-theory
Supersymmetry	Supergravity Eleven-dimensional supergravity Type I supergravity Type IIA supergravity Type IIB supergravity Superspace Lie superalgebra Lie supergroup
Holography	Holographic principle AdS/CFT correspondence
M-theory	Matrix theory Introduction to M-theory
String theorists	Aganagić Arkani-Hamed Atiyah Banks Berenstein Bousso Curtright Dijkgraaf Distler Douglas Duff Dvali Ferrara Fischler Friedan Gates Gliozzi Gopakumar Green Greene Gross Gubser Gukov Guth Hanson Harvey 't Hooft Hořava Gibbons Kachru Kaku Kallosh Kaluza Kapustin Klebanov Knizhnik Kontsevich Klein Linde Maldacena Mandelstam Marolf Martinec Minwalla Moore Motl Mukhi Myers Nanopoulos Năstase Nekrasov Neveu Nielsen van Nieuwenhuizen Novikov Olive Ooguri Ovrut Polchinski Polyakov Rajaraman Ramond Randall Randjbar-Daemi Roček Rohm Sagnotti Scherk Schwarz Seiberg Sen Shenker Siegel Silverstein Sơn Staudacher Steinhardt Strominger Sundrum Susskind Townsend Trivedi Turok Vafa Veneziano Verlinde Verlinde Wess Witten Yau Yoneya Zamolodchikov Zamolodchikov Zaslow Zumino Zwiebach

This string theory-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories:

Details

See also

References