ND Tadpoles as New String States and Quantum Mechanical Particle-Wave Duality from World-Sheet T-Duality

Journal article

We consider new objects in bosonic open string theory -- ND tadpoles, which have N(euman) boundary conditions at one end of the world-sheet and D(irichlet) at the other, must exist due to s-t duality in a string theory with both NN strings and D-branes. We demonstrate how to interpolate between N and D boundary conditions. In the case of mixed boundary conditions the action for a quantum particle is induced on the boundary. Quantum-mechanical particle-wave duality, a dual description of a quantum particle in either the coordinate or the momentum representation, is induced by world-sheet T-duality. The famous relation between compactification radii is equivalent to the quantization of the phase space area of a Planck cell. We also introduce a boundary operator - a ``Zipper'' which changes the boundary condition from N into D and vice versa.

Authors: Kogan, I; Wheater, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Phys.Lett. B
• Volume: 403
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 31-37
• Publication date: 1997-06-19
• DOI: 10.1016/S0370-2693(97)00485-1
• ISSN: 0370-2693
• Keywords: hep-th