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In Chapter 1, we give an introduction to the topic of open string field theory. The concepts presented include gauge invariance, tachyon condensation, as well as the star product.<p>In Chapter 2, we give a brief review of vacuum string field theory (VSFT), an approach to open string field theory around the stable vacuum of the tachyon. We discuss the sliver state explaining its role as projector in the space of half-string basis. We review the construction of D-brane solutions in vacuum string field theory. We show that in the sliver basis the star product correspond to a matrix product. <p>Using the material introduced in the previous chapters, in Chapter 3 we establish a translation dictionary between open and closed strings, starting from open string field theory. Under this correspondence, we show that (off--shell) level--matched closed string states are represented by star algebra projectors in open string field theory. As an outcome of our identification, we show that boundary states, which in closed string theory represent D-branes, correspond to the identity string field in the open string side. <p>We then turn to noncommutative field theories. In Chapter 4, we introduce the framework in which we will work. The tools introduced are solitons, projectors, and partial isometries.<p>The ideas of Chapter 4 are applied to specific examples in Chapter 5, where we present new solutions of noncommutative gauge theories in which coincident vortices expand into circular shells. As the theories are noncommutative, the naive definition of the locations of the vortices and shells is gauge-dependent, and so we define and calculate the profiles of these solutions using the gauge-invariant noncommutative Wilson lines introduced by Gross and Nekrasov. We find that charge 2 vortex solutions are characterized by two positions and a single nonnegative real number, which we demonstrate is the radius of the shell. We find that the radius is identically zero in all 2-dimensional solutions. If one considers solutions that depend on an additional commutative direction, then there are time-dependent solutions in which the radius oscillates, resembling a braneworld description of a cyclic universe. There are also smooth BIon-like space-dependent solutions in which the shell expands to infinity, describing a vortex ending on a domain wall.<p>In Chapter 6, we review the Fronsdal models for free high-spin fields that exhibit peculiar properties. We discuss the triplet structure of totally symmetric tensors of the free String Field Theory and their generalization to AdS background.<p>In Chapter 7, in the context of massless higher spin gauge fields in constant curvature spaces discussed in chapter 6, we compute the surface charges which generalize the electric charge for spin one, the color charges in Yang-Mills theories and the energy-momentum and the angular momentum for asymptotically flat gravitational fields. We show that there is a one-to-one map from surface charges onto divergence free Killing tensors. These Killing tensors are computed by relating them to a cohomology group of the first quantized BRST model underlying the Fronsdal action.<p><p> / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The present thesis is divided into three parts. In Part I we address a problem within Higher-Spin Gauge Theory in dimension three: namely, that of computing the asymptotic symmetry algebra of supersymmetric models, describing an infinite spectrum of integer and half-integer higher-spin fields. In Part II we investigate higher-spin theories in dimension four or greater, where we classify the consistent cross interactions between free gauge fermions of arbitrary spin and a photon or a graviton. A third part supplements the bulk of the manuscript with technical appendices. <p><p>Part I is concerned with the Higher-Spin Theory extending the anti-de Sitter orthosymplectic Supergravity in three dimensions. After recalling the construction of the latter we exhibit the structure of the former, and then explain how to generalize the boundary conditions for Supergravity to the higher-spin case. Following the usual procedure, we compute the form of the residual gauge parameter and then identify the Poisson-bracket algebra governing the asymptotic dynamics. It is found to be a nonlinear, supersymmetric algebra of the W-infinity type with same central charge as pure Gravity in the Virasoro sector, which is a subalgebra thereof. The simply supersymmetric case is treated explicitly whereas the details of the extended cases are relegated to the appendices. <p><p>Part II deals with the interaction problem for gauge fermions coupled to Electromagnetism and Gravity in flat spacetime of arbitrary dimension. First we recall the so-called BRST-Antifield techniques, which reformulate the deformation problem as a cohomological one, recasting the familiar Noether procedure for finding out interactions in a mathematically systematic way. We then use these methods to classify and obtain expressions for the gauge-invariant cubic couplings between a symmetric tensor-spinor and a spin-1 and spin-2 gauge field. With no input from previous works, we find the complete list of interaction terms with minimal assumptions and in particular shed light on the quartic obstructions to full consistency. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished