The Hagedorn transition and the number of degrees of freedom of string theory

Joseph J. Atick, Edward Witten

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

626 Scopus citations

Abstract

Extending recent discussions of the Hagedorn transition in string theory, we argue that this transition is a first-order phase transition with a very large heat (corresponding to a genus-zero contribution to the free energy that appears above the critical temperature). Formally analyzing the k-loop contributions to the free energy at temperatures far above the Hagedorn temperature leads to a number of interesting speculations about the underlying degrees of freedom in string theory.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)291-334
Number of pages44
JournalNuclear Physics, Section B
Volume310
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 5 1988
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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