# Strings with Negative Stiffness and Hyperfine Structure

## Abstract

We propose a new string model by adding a higher-order gradient term to the rigid string, so that the stiffness can be positive or negative without loosing stability. In the large-$`D`$ approximation, the model has three phases, one of which with a new type of generalized “antiferromagnetic” orientational correlations. We find an infrared-stable fixed point describing world-sheets with vanishing tension and Hausdorff dimension $`D_H=2`$. Crumpling is prevented by the new term which suppresses configurations with rapidly changing extrinsic curvature.

PACS: 11.25.Pm

1. So far, fundamental strings  can be quantized only in critical spacetime dimensions $`D_\mathrm{c}`$, due to the difficulty of handling the Liouville field, which does not decouple in dimensions different from $`D_\mathrm{c}`$. Strings in four space-time dimensions, however, are of great physical importance since they are supposed to describe the confining phase of non-Abelian gauge theories , as confirmed by recent precision numerical tests . As yet, there exists no consistent quantum theory of such strings. Attempts in this direction based on discrete models for the Liouville field failed , since these could not be generalized beyond one dimension. Further hope was based on strings with extrinsic curvature stiffness , but the infrared irrelevance of stiffness did not prevent the world-sheets from crumpling .

Recent progress in this field is based on a new type of action. In its local formulation , the string action is induced by an antisymmetric tensor field. This action realizes explicitly the necessary zig-zag invariance of confining strings . It can be derived without extra assumptions  for the confining phase of compact $`U`$(1) gauge theories . The resulting strings are dual versions of the magnetic strings of the Abelian Higgs model . Moreover, the action is a specific form of an earlier-proposed class of actions which would generate surfaces with non-trivial elastic properties .

The characteristic of the effective string action obtained by integrating out the tensor field is a non-local interaction with negative stiffness between world-sheet elements. Such an interaction has been shown  to produce the correct high-temperature behavior of confining strings known from large-$`N`$ QCD calculations . Moreover, it has been proposed  as a mechanism leading to smooth strings, with “long-range” orientational correlations, a fact confirmed by recent numerical simulations .

In this letter we report on further progress in this field by considering the simplest possible model in this class of actions, obtained by adding to the rigid string the next-order gradient term.

2. The new model is defined in euclidean space by the action

$$S=d^2\xi \sqrt{g}g^{ab}𝒟_ax_\mu \left(Ts𝒟^2+\frac{1}{M^2}𝒟^4\right)𝒟_bx_\mu ,$$
(1)   
where $`𝒟_a`$ are covariant derivatives with respect to the induced metric $`g_{ab}=_ax_\mu _bx_\mu `$ on the surface $`𝐱(\xi _0,\xi _1)`$ and we have used units $`c=1`$, $`\mathrm{}=1`$. Here, the bracket has to be considered as representing the first few terms in the expansion of the non-local interaction mediated by the original antisymmetric tensor. The first term provides a bare surface tension $`2T`$, while the second accounts for rigidity  with stiffness parameter $`s`$. The last term can be written (up to surface terms) as a combination of the fourth power and the square of the gradient of the extrinsic curvature matrices, with $`M`$ being a new mass scale. It thus suppresses world-sheet configurations with rapidly changing extrinsic curvature; due to its presence, the stiffness $`s`$ can be positive or negative, as is actually the case  when the stiffness is generated dynamically by a tensor field in four-dimensional space-time. Note that the action (1) is not Weyl invariant, so that no conformal anomaly appears.

We analyze the model (1) in the large-$`D`$ approximation along the lines of Ref. . To this end we introduce a Lagrange multiplier matrix $`L^{ab}`$ to enforce the constraint $`g_{ab}=_ax_\mu _bx_\mu `$, extending the action (1) to

$$S+d^2\xi \sqrt{g}L^{ab}\left(_ax_\mu _bx_\mu g_{ab}\right).$$
(2)   
Then we parametrize the world-sheet in a Gauss map by $`x_\mu (\xi )=(\xi _0,\xi _1,\varphi ^i(\xi ))`$, $`(i=2,\mathrm{},D1)`$, where $`\beta /2\xi _0\beta /2`$, $`R/2\xi _1R/2`$ and $`\varphi ^i(\xi )`$ describe the ($`D`$-2) transverse fluctuations. With the usual homogeneity and isotropy ansatz $`g_{ab}=\rho \delta _{ab}`$, $`L^{ab}=Lg^{ab}`$ of infinite surfaces ($`\beta ,R\mathrm{}`$) at the saddle point, we obtain

$`S`$ $`=2{\displaystyle d^2\xi \left[T+L(1\rho )\right]}`$ (4)   
$`+{\displaystyle d^2\xi _a\varphi ^iV(T,s,M,L,𝒟^2)_a\varphi ^i},`$   
where

$`V(T,s,M,L,𝒟^2)`$ $`=T+Ls𝒟^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{M^2}}𝒟^4,`$ (5)   
Integrating over the transverse fluctuations, in the infinite area limit, we get the effective action

$`S^{\mathrm{eff}}`$ $`=2A_{\mathrm{ext}}\left[T+L(1\rho )\right]`$ (7)   
$`+A_{\mathrm{ext}}{\displaystyle \frac{D2}{8\pi ^2}}\rho {\displaystyle d^2p\mathrm{ln}\left[p^2V(T,s,M,L,p)\right]},`$   
where $`A_{\mathrm{ext}}=\beta R`$ is the extrinsic, physical, space-time area. For large $`D`$, the fluctuations of $`L`$ and $`\rho `$ are suppressed and these variables take their “classical values”, determined by the two saddle-point equations

$$0=f(T,s,M,L),\rho =\frac{1}{f^{}(T,s,M,L)},$$
(8)   
where the prime denotes a derivative with respect to $`L`$ and the “saddle-function” $`f`$ is defined by

$`f(T,s,M,L)`$ $`L`$ (10)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{D2}{8\pi }}{\displaystyle 𝑑pp\mathrm{ln}\left[p^2V(T,s,M,L,p)\right]}.`$   
Using (8) in (7) we get $`S^{\mathrm{eff}}=2\left(T+L\right)A_{\mathrm{ext}}`$ showing that $`𝒯=2\left(T+L\right)`$ is the physical string tension.

The stability condition for the euclidean surfaces is that $`V(T,s,M,L,p)`$ be positive for all $`p^20`$. However, we shall require the same condition also for $`p^20`$, so that strings propagating in Minkowski space-time are not affected by the propagating states of negative norm which plague rigid strings. The stability condition becomes thus $`\sqrt{T+L}|sM/2|`$, which allows us to introduce the real variables $`R`$ and $`I`$ defined by

$$R^2\frac{M}{2}\sqrt{T+L}+\frac{sM^2}{4},I^2\frac{M}{2}\sqrt{T+L}\frac{sM^2}{4}.$$
(11)   
In terms of these, the kernel $`V`$ can be written as

$$M^2V(T,s,M,L,p)=\left(R^2+I^2\right)^2+2\left(R^2I^2\right)p^2+p^4.$$
(12)   
3. In order to distinguish the various phases of our model we compute two correlation functions. First, we consider the orientational correlation function $`g_{ab}(\xi \xi ^{})_a\varphi ^i(\xi )_b\varphi ^i(\xi ^{})`$ for the normal components of tangent vectors to the world-sheet. From (4) this is given by

$$g_{ab}(\xi \xi ^{})=\frac{\delta _{ab}}{8\pi ^2}d^2p\frac{1}{V(T,s,M,L,p)}\mathrm{e}^{i\sqrt{\rho }p(\xi \xi ^{})}.$$
(13)   
In terms of $`R`$ and $`I`$, the Fourier components can be writtens as

$$\frac{1}{V(T,s,M,L,p)}=\frac{M^2}{2RI}\mathrm{Im}\frac{1}{p^2+(RiI)^2},$$
(14)   
from where we obtain the following exact result for the diagonal elements $`gg_{aa}`$ of (13):

$$4\pi g(d)=\frac{M^2}{2RI}\mathrm{Im}K_0\left(\left(RiI\right)\sqrt{\rho }d\right),$$
(15)   
where $`d|\xi \xi ^{}|`$ and $`K_0`$ is a Bessel function of imaginary argument .

Secondly, we compute the scaling law of the distance $`d_E`$ in embedding space between two points on the world-sheet when changing its projection $`d`$ on the reference plane. The exact relation between the two lengths is

$$d_E^2=d^2+\underset{i}{}|\varphi ^i(\xi )\varphi ^i(\xi ^{})|^2.$$
(16)   
With a computation analogous to the one leading to (15) we obtain the following behaviour:

$`d_E^2=\{\begin{array}{cc}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(R^2+I^2\right)}{16\pi 𝒯RI}}\mathrm{arctan}(I/R)\alpha d^2,\hfill & d^2\frac{1}{\alpha }\text{ ,}\hfill \\ & \\ {\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi 𝒯}}\mathrm{ln}\left(\alpha d^2/4\right)+\mathrm{const}.,\hfill & \frac{1}{\alpha }d^2\frac{1}{2\pi 𝒯}\text{ ,}\hfill \\ & \\ d^2,\hfill & d^2\frac{1}{2\pi 𝒯}\text{ ,}\hfill \end{array}`$ (17)   
with $`\alpha \left(R^2+I^2\right)\rho `$.

These results show that the model has three possible phases. The first one is realized when there are no solutions to the saddle-point equations in the allowed range of parameters, which means that, for this choice of parameters, there exist no homogeneous, isotropic surfaces. This is realized, as we shall see, for $`R`$ very small, when the spectrum of transverse fluctuations develops an instability at a finite value $`p=\sqrt{I^2R^2}`$. In this phase (I) the surfaces will form inhomogeneous structures .

If a solution to the saddle-point equations exists, two situations can be realized. For large positive stiffness $`s`$ we have $`RI`$, the asymptotic region is $`d1/R\sqrt{\rho }`$ and $`I`$ can be neglected. In this region we have

$$g(d)\frac{1}{\sqrt{R\sqrt{\rho }d}}\mathrm{e}^{R\sqrt{\rho }d},$$
(18)   
exhibiting short-range orientational order. For short distances $`d1/R\sqrt{\rho }`$, world-sheets behave as two-dimensional objects. If $`\rho `$ becomes large we have a region $`1/R\sqrt{\rho }d1/\sqrt{2\pi 𝒯}`$ in which $`d_E`$ scales logarithmically with $`d`$ and distances along the surface become large. The transition to this regime happens on the scale of the persistence length $`d_E^{\mathrm{PL}}=1/\sqrt{𝒯}`$. Above this scale world-sheets are crumpled, with no orientational correlations (if the tension is not large enough to dominate over the entire surface, causing $`\rho 1`$). This phase (R) corresponds to the behaviour of the familiar rigid strings .

For large negative stiffness $`s`$, in contrast, we have $`IR`$, the asymptotic region is $`d1/I\sqrt{\rho }`$, and $`R`$ can be neglected in $`K_0`$ for $`d1/R\sqrt{\rho }`$. In this region we have

$$8g(d)=\frac{M^2}{2RI}J_0\left(I\sqrt{\rho }d\right),$$
(19)   
with $`1/R\sqrt{\rho }`$ playing the role of an infrared cutoff for the oscillations on the scale $`1/I\sqrt{\rho }`$ over which the Bessel function $`J_0`$ varies. In this case $`d_E^O=\sqrt{I/R𝒯}`$ is the scale on which world-sheets form oscillating structures characterized by the “long-range antiferromagnetic” orientational correlations (19). Crumpling takes place only if $`1/R\sqrt{\rho }1/\sqrt{2\pi 𝒯}`$ and the corresponding persistence length is $`d_E^{\mathrm{PL}}=(1/\sqrt{𝒯})\sqrt{(\pi I/2R)+\mathrm{ln}\left(I^2/4R^2\right)}`$, which is much larger than $`1/\sqrt{𝒯}`$. Otherwise, the oscillating superstructure, which we shall call the hyperfine structure of strings, goes over directly into the tension dominated region. Such world-sheets constitute a liquid version of the “egg carton” surfaces (LEC) of the biomembrane literature . In this case $`d_E`$ scales logarithmically with $`d`$ for $`1/I\sqrt{\rho }d1/\sqrt{2\pi 𝒯}`$, and $`\rho `$ is large not because of crumpling but because of the many “hills and valleys” on the liquid egg carton; indeed there are strong orientational correlations in this region. For very small $`R`$ one can thus obtain long strings with an oscillating superstructure, a mechanism proposed in . For symmetry reasons, the transition from the rigid to the liquid egg carton phase occurs on the line $`R=I`$, where $`s=0`$. On this line the spectrum of transverse fluctuations, $`E(T,s,M,L,p)=p^2V(T,s,M,L,p)`$ acquires a roton-like minimum, as shown schematically in Fig. 1.

In order to fully establish the phase diagram of our model, we analyze the saddle-point function $`f(T,s,M,L)`$ in (10). To this end we must prescribe a regularization for the ultraviolet divergent integral. We use dimensional regularization, computing the integral in $`(2ϵ)`$ dimensions. For small $`ϵ`$, this leads to

$`f(T,s,M,L)`$ $`=L+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^3}}\left(R^2I^2\right)\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{R^2+I^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}}`$ (21)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi ^3}}RI\left({\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}+\mathrm{arctan}{\displaystyle \frac{I^2R^2}{2RI}}\right),`$   
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mu \mathrm{exp}(2/ϵ)`$ and $`\mu `$ is a reference scale which must be introduced for dimensional reasons. The scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ plays the role of an ultraviolet cutoff, diverging for $`ϵ0`$.

The saddle-point function above is best studied by introducing the dimensionless couplings $`tT/\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$, $`mM/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`lL/\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$. A numerical analysis of the solutions of the saddle-point equation $`f(t,s,m,l)=0`$ leads to the phase diagram represented in Fig. 2 for $`m=100`$.

On the separatrix between LEC and I we have $`\rho =\mathrm{}`$, showing that world-sheets crumple for large negative stiffness and too small bare tension. The same happens for positive stiffnesses up to $`s0.002`$. For larger positive stiffnesses the graph represents the lower boundary $`I=0`$ of the stability regime. Notice that world-sheets never crumple for small enough stiffnesses (negative and positive). We therefore study in detail the case $`s=0`$. In this case, the saddle-point equations can be solved analytically since $`R=I`$. We get

$`l`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{m^2c^2}{2}}\left(1+\sqrt{1+{\displaystyle \frac{4t}{m^2c^2}}}\right),`$ (22)   
$`\rho `$ $`=\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{mc}{2\sqrt{t+l}}}\right)^1,`$ (23)   
where $`c1/32\pi ^2`$. This shows that the point ($`t^{}=0`$, $`s^{}=0`$, $`m^{}=0`$) constitutes an infrared-stable fixed-point with vanishing physical string tension $`𝒯`$. This point is characterized by long-range correlations $`g(d)=2\pi ^2/a`$, with a constant $`a`$, and by the scaling law

$$d_E^2=\frac{\pi ^2}{a}\rho ^{}d^2,\rho ^{}\left(1\frac{1}{2a}\right)^1,$$
(24)   
which shows that the Hausdorff dimension of world sheets is $`D_H=2`$. For $`s=0`$, the constant $`a`$ can be computed analytically:

$$a^2=\underset{\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{t0}{m0}}{lim}\frac{1+(2t/m^2c^2)+\sqrt{1+4t/m^2c^2}}{2},$$
(25)   
from which we recognize that $`1\rho ^{}2`$.

At the infrared fixed-point we can remove the cutoff. The renormalization of the model is easily obtained by noting that the effective action for transverse fluctuations to quadratic order decouples from other modes and is identical with the second term in (4) with $`𝒟^2=^2/\rho `$ and $`\rho `$ taking its saddle-point value. (see also ). From here we identify the physical tension, stiffness and mass as

$$𝒯=\mathrm{\Lambda }^2(t+l),𝒮=\frac{s}{\rho },=\mathrm{\Lambda }m\rho .$$
(26)   
For $`s=0`$, we can compute analytically the corresponding $`\gamma `$-functions:

$`\gamma _t`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\mathrm{\Lambda }}}\mathrm{ln}t=2+O\left({\displaystyle \frac{t}{m^2}}\right),`$ (27)   
$`\gamma _m`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\mathrm{\Lambda }}}\mathrm{ln}m=1+O\left({\displaystyle \frac{t^2}{m^4}}\right).`$ (28)   
4. In summary, the vicinity of the infrared fixed-point defines a new theory of smooth strings for which the range of the orientational correlations in embedding space is always of the same order or bigger than the length scale $`1/\sqrt{𝒯}`$ associated with the tension. The naively irrelevant term $`𝒟^4/M^2`$ in (1) becomes relevant in the large-$`D`$ approximation since it generates a string tension proportional to $`M^2`$ which takes over the control of the fluctuations after the orientational correlations die off. Note moreover, that it is exactly this new quartic term which guarantees that the spectrum $`p^2V(T,s,M,L,p)`$ has no other pole than $`p=0`$, contrary to the rigid string, which necessarily has a ghost pole at $`p^2=T/s`$.