\(1+1\) dimensional NCOS and its \(U(N)\) gauge theory dual (Q5946030)

The authors carry out certain consistency checks on the duality conjectures which involve noncommutative open string theory (NCOS), focusing on the \(1+1\) dimensional case which is the only one where non-commutativity is consistent with the Lorentz invariance. They investigate aspects of open string theories on D-branes with critical electric fields, and show that the massless open string modes that move in the direction of the electric field do decouple. In the studied \(1+1\) dimensional case the dual theory is \(U(N)\) SYM with electric flux, and the decoupling of massless open strings is dual to the decoupling of the \(U(1)\) degrees of freedom. It is shown that, if the direction along the electric field is compact, then there are finite energy winding closed string modes, which are dual to the Higgs branch excitations of the SYM theory, and whose energetics works accordingly. These properties provide new non-trivial evidence for the duality.