Nonstandard signature of spacetime, superstrings and the split composition algebras (Q583391): Difference between revisions

In [Mod. Phys. Lett. A 3, 47-55 (1988)] the authors have shown that the four classical string theories (in the dimensions \(D=3,4,6\) and 10) can be considered in a unified way if the superstring action and the supersymmetry transformations are defined in terms of SL(2,A), where \(A={\mathbb{R}},{\mathbb{C}},{\mathbb{Q}}\) (quaternions) or \({\mathbb{O}}\) (octonions) is the corresponding division algebra. In the paper under consideration it is argued that if, in the above construction, the division algebras are replaced by the corresponding split algebras, one obtains the classical superstring theories in the space-times of the signatures (2,2) (for \(A={\mathbb{C}}(-1))\), (3,3) (for \(A={\mathbb{Q}}(-1))\) and (5,5) (for \(A={\mathbb{O}}(- 1))\).