Connecting the ambitwistor and the sectorized heterotic strings

Abstract

The sectorized description of the (chiral) heterotic string using pure spinors has been misleadingly viewed as an infinite tension string. One evidence for this fact comes from the tree level 3-point graviton amplitude, which we show to contain the usual Einstein term plus a higher curvature contribution. After reintroducing a dimensionful parameter $\ell$ in the theory, we demonstrate that the heterotic model is in fact two-fold, depending on the choice of the supersymmetric sector, and that the spectrum also contains one massive (open string like) multiplet. By taking the $\ell\to\infty$ limit, we finally show that the ambitwistor string is recovered, reproducing the unexpected heterotic state in Mason and Skinner's RNS description.

30 pages, one figure. Clarifications and references added. Published version