Open heterotic strings

Published 29 September 2006 • Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation Joseph Polchinski JHEP09(2006)082 DOI 10.1088/1126-6708/2006/09/082

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Author affiliations

1 Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4030, U.S.A.

Dates

  1. Received 5 July 2006
  2. Accepted 6 September 2006
  3. Published

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1126-6708/2006/09/082

Abstract

We classify potential cosmic strings according to the topological charge measurable outside the string core. We conjecture that in string theory it is this charge that governs the stability of long strings. This would imply that the SO(32) heterotic string can have endpoints, but not the E8 × E8 heterotic string. We give various arguments in support of this conclusion.

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10.1088/1126-6708/2006/09/082