TY  - JOUR
AU  - Álvarez-García, Rafael
AU  - Kneißl, Christian
AU  - Leedom, Jacob M.
AU  - Righi, Nicole
TI  - Open strings and heterotic instantons
JO  - Physics letters / B
VL  - 872
IS  - arXiv:2407.20319
SN  - 0031-9163
CY  - Amsterdam
PB  - North-Holland Publ.
M1  - PUBDB-2025-05779
M1  - arXiv:2407.20319
M1  - DESY 24-114
M1  - KCL-PH-TH/2024-44
M1  - MPP-2024-157
M1  - ZMP-HH/24-15
SP  - 140037 -
PY  - 2026
N1  - 8 pages
AB  - Motivated by closed string perturbation theory arguments by S. Shenker, we consider non-perturbative effects of characteristic strength O(e−1/gs), with gs the closed string coupling constant, in supersymmetric critical heterotic string theories. We argue that in 10D such effects arise from heterotic “D-instantons,” i.e. heterotic disk diagrams, whose existence relies on a non-trivial interplay between worldsheet and spacetime degrees of freedom. In compactifications of the SemiSpin(32) heterotic string, we argue that similar effects can arise from wrapped Euclidean non-BPS “D-strings.” Two general principles arise: The first is that the consistency of those heterotic branes on which the fundamental string can end relies on an inflow mechanism for spacetime degrees of freedom. The second is that Shenker’s argument, taken to its logical conclusion, implies that all closed string theories must exhibit open strings as well.
KW  - Shenker effects (autogen)
KW  - Heterotic disk diagrams (autogen)
KW  - Open heterotic strings (autogen)
KW  - Stringy corrections (autogen)
KW  - Stringy instantons (autogen)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.physletb.2025.140037
UR  - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/643030
ER  -