2D Principal Chiral Field at Large N as a Possible Solvable 2D String Theory

Principal chiral models on a d-1 dimensional simplex are introduced and studied analytically in the large $N$ limit. The $d = 0, 2, 4$ and $\infty$ models are explicitly solved. Relationship with standard lattice models and with few-matrix systems in the double scaling limit are discussed.

We consider a two-dimensional scalar field theory with a nilpotent current algebra, which is dual to the Principal Chiral Model. The quantum theory is renormalizable and not asymptotically free: the theory is strongly coupled at short distances (encountering a Landau pole). We suggest it can serve as a toy model for $\lambda\phi^{4}$ theory in four dimensions, just as the principal chiral model is a useful toy model for Yang-Mills theory. We find some classical wave solutions...

An anomaly-free quantum theory of a relativistic string is constructed in two-dimensional space-time. The states of the string are found to be similar to the states of a massless chiral quantum particle. This result is obtained by generalizing the concept of an ``operator'' in quantum field theory.

I give an overview of open, closed and heterotic N=2 strings. At the tree level I derive the effective field theories of all the strings, and discuss the group theory of the N=2 open string and the interaction between its open and closed sectors. At one loop N=2 string loop amplitudes and partition functions have incurable infra-red divergences, and show puzzling disagreements on the dimension of spacetime when compared to their effective field theories. I show that the close...

These lecture notes are based on a blackboard course given at the XVII Modave Summer School in Mathematical Physics held from 13 -- 17 September 2021 in Brussels (Belgium), and aimed at Ph.D. students in High Energy Theoretical Physics. We start with introducing classical integrability in finite-dimensional systems to set the stage for our main purpose: introducing two-dimensional classical field theories which are integrable. We focus on their zero-curvature formulation thro...

A low energy bound in a class of chiral solitonic field theories related the infrared physics of the SU(N) Yang-Mills theory is established.

This paper summarizes our rather lengthy paper, "Algebra of the Infrared: String Field Theoretic Structures in Massive ${\cal N}=(2,2)$ Field Theory In Two Dimensions," and is meant to be an informal, yet detailed, introduction and summary of that larger work.

I explore the possibility of finding an equivalent string representation of two dimensional QCD. I develop the large N expansion of the ${\rm QCD_2}$ partition function on an arbitrary two dimensional Euclidean manifold. If this is related to a two-dimensional string theory then many of the coefficients of the ${1\over N}$ expansion must vanish. This is shown to be true to all orders, giving strong evidence for the existence of a string representation.

We describe a new correspondence between four-dimensional conformal field theories with extended supersymmetry and two-dimensional chiral algebras. The meromorphic correlators of the chiral algebra compute correlators in a protected sector of the four-dimensional theory. Infinite chiral symmetry has far-reaching consequences for the spectral data, correlation functions, and central charges of any four-dimensional theory with ${\mathcal N}=2$ superconformal symmetry.

We review some aspects of the construction of self-dual gravity and the associated field theory of ${\cal N}=2$ strings in terms of two-dimensional sigma models at large $N$. The theory is defined through a large $N$ Wess-Zumino-Witten model in a nontrivial background and in a particular double scaling limit. We examine the canonical structure of the theory and describe an infinite-dimensional Poisson algebra of currents.