Exercise Sheet 5
String Theory Summer Term 2026
The goal of these exercises is to get used to working with BRST quantization. Throughout
this sheet, consider the bosonic string in conformal gauge.
1. The bc Ghost System
The ghost fields are fermionic worldsheet fields
b(z), c(z),
with conformal weights hb = 2 and hc = −1. Their mode expansions are
X X
b(z) = bn z −n−2 , c(z) = cn z −n+1 .
n∈Z n∈Z
The modes satisfy the canonical anticommutation relations
{bm , cn } = δm+n,0 , {bm , bn } = {cm , cn } = 0.
The ghost stress tensor is given by
T (gh) (z) = −2 : b∂c : − : (∂b)c : .
Its modes define the ghost Virasoro generators
I
(gh) dz n+1 (gh)
Ln = z T (z).
2πi
(a) Show that the ghost Virasoro generators can be written in mode form as
X
L(gh)
n = (n − m) : bn+m c−m : −a δn,0 ,
m∈Z
where a is a normal ordering constant.
(b) Compute explicitly the commutator
[L(gh) (gh)
m , Ln ]
by normal ordering the modes.
(c) Show that the result takes the form of a Virasoro algebra with central extension:
(gh) cgh 3
[L(gh) (gh)
m , Ln ] = (m − n)Lm+n + (m − m)δm+n,0 .
12
and deduce from your computation that
cgh = −26.
1
2. The BRST Charge and Nilpotency
The BRST current of the bosonic string is
1 (gh) 3
jB (z) = c(z) T (z) + T (z) + ∂ 2 c(z),
(m)
2 2
and the BRST charge is I
dz
QB = jB (z).
2πi
(a) Show that the BRST charge can be written as
X 1X
QB = c−n L(m)
n − (m − n) : c−m c−n bm+n : −a c0 ,
n
2 m,n
for a suitable normal-ordering constant a.
(b) Verify that
ctot 3
[QB , L(tot)
n ]=− (n − n)cn .
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(c) Using the Virasoro algebra, show that
Q2B = 0
if and only if the total central charge vanishes. Conclude that nilpotency of the
BRST charge requires cm = 26, and hence reproduces the critical dimension of the
bosonic string.
Hint: First show that {QB , bn } = Ltot 2
n and use this to compute [QB , bk ]. From the
result argue that Q2B has to be of the form
X
Q2B = αn c−n cn , (1)
n
and determine αn .
3. BRST Cohomology at the First Two Levels
Let | ↓⟩ denote the ghost vacuum satisfying
bn | ↓⟩ = 0 (n ≥ 0), cn | ↓⟩ = 0 (n ≥ 1).
(a) Consider the unintegrated vertex operator
V ′ (z) = c(z)ϵµ ∂X µ (z)eik·X(z) .
Show that this vertex operators corresponds to the state
µ
|Ψ⟩ = ϵµ α−1 c1 |k⟩ ⊗ | ↓⟩.
(b) Show that BRST closure implies
k 2 = 0, k · ϵ = 0.
Hint: At this level, it is sufficient to use the old covariant conditions
(L0 − 1)|Ψ⟩ = 0, L1 |Ψ⟩ = 0.
2
(c) Consider the ghost-number-zero state
|Λ⟩ = λ b−1 c1 |k⟩ ⊗ | ↓⟩.
show that
µ
QB |Λ⟩ ∝ kµ α−1 c1 |k⟩ ⊗ | ↓⟩.
using
(tot)
{QB , b−1 } = L−1 ,
(d) Conclude that
ϵµ ∼ ϵµ + λkµ
defines the same BRST cohomology class and interpret this result as a gauge re-
dundancy.
(e) Choose a frame in which
k µ = (E, 0, . . . , 0, E),
and introduce light-cone coordinates
1
X ± = √ X 0 ± X 25 .
2
Use the conditions obtained above to show that only the transverse components
ϵi , i = 1, . . . , 24,
survive in the BRST cohomology.
(f) The state
0
α−1 c1 |k⟩|⊗ ↓⟩
has negative norm. Explain why it does not correspond to a non-trivial BRST
cohomology class and show that the surviving physical states have non-negative
norm.
Remark. The result of part (f) is a non-trivial example of the no-ghost theorem: after im-
posing BRST closure and quotienting by BRST-exact states, only the transverse positive-
norm degrees of freedom remain.