For RNS string matter normalized by and , put and . Then . The noncentral part of is . The distributional derivative identity , with a vanishing coincident Grassmann bilinear, converts this to . Use the chiral equation of motion to identify . Quantum normal ordering adds a central contact term proportional to , the local form of the N=1 super-Virasoro algebra central extension.
The Polyakov action has independent worldsheet metric and embedding fields . Varying the metric before imposing a gauge gives
Worldsheet diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformations allow conformal gauge locally. The Weyl factor then cancels out of the classical action, leaving
These are free two-dimensional scalar fields, but the surviving metric equations require
Equivalently, and . Gauge fixing does not license dropping these Virasoro constraints.
For an ordinary open string, the boundary conditions relate the two chiral sectors. With , their independent Fourier generators are
The classical oscillator Poisson brackets give the classical Virasoro constraint algebra
Thus they are first-class constraints. In the quantum theory one applies normal ordering to the product and uses . The oscillator commutator gives
For example, for the extra vacuum term is . This exhibits the Virasoro central extension rather than concealing it in a classical constraint equation. The matter central charge is ; the worldsheet ghost fields have charge . Quantum consistency sets and the string intercept to one.
In old covariant string quantization the physical-state Virasoro conditions for an open string are
Physical string states are then identified modulo physical null string states. One does not impose both positive and negative generators as annihilation conditions: their central extension would obstruct that prescription. The resulting null-state quotient of a string agrees with the transverse light-cone spectrum at nonzero momentum.
At , the oscillator vacuum is a single spacetime scalar field with : the bosonic tachyon. At , write . The zero-mode equation gives , and gives . The null descendant identifies . This leaves 24 physical polarizations of a massless gauge vector.
At , use the level-two open-string polarization decomposition
The mass is . The oscillator commutators give all the nontrivial positive-mode conditions:
Higher positive modes annihilate this level. To see the quotient explicitly, the 25 transverse-parameter null states , with , shift
The additional level-two scalar Virasoro null state shifts
Substitution into the two physical equations verifies the null-state conditions; the second residual is . Because is timelike, these null shifts span all components of , so choose a representative with . The physical conditions then say and . In the rest frame this is a traceless second-rank tensor in 25 spatial dimensions, with polarizations. The light-cone basis independently gives states and symmetric states . Hence
For the fermionic extension, an explicit convention prevents ambiguity in the signs. Keep worldsheet signature and use
Take and the constant parameter to be real Grassmann-odd Majorana components, with . Put . Apart from the common factor , the combined Lagrangian is
The rigid transformations can be written
or, in components,
For the part, the bosonic variation is , while the fermionic variation is . Anticommuting the constant parameter past the fermion is essential in the second term. The first terms cancel. The other chiral component works in the same way, giving the chiral proof of rigid worldsheet supersymmetry
Thus the action is invariant off shell up to a boundary term. The transformation is a genuine supersymmetry: on its commutator for parameters is the translation
On the same translation follows using and ; the remaining cross terms are proportional to these Dirac equations. This is on-shell closure of rigid worldsheet supersymmetry. On a surface with boundary, compatible endpoint conditions must make the boundary flux vanish. On a compact worldsheet, a constant parameter must preserve the spin structure; the local identity alone does not make a constant transformation compatible with every antiperiodic sector.
The fermions contribute to the worldsheet stress-energy tensor and produce a fermionic superconformal current. In holomorphic normalization with ,
The free-field contractions give and conformal weight for , where . Consequently the modes obey the N=1 super-Virasoro algebra
Dropping the central terms gives the classical graded constraint algebra. Integer gives the Ramond sector; half-integer gives the Neveu–Schwarz sector. In the displayed conformal-plane convention in the Ramond sector. Shifting to the Ramond vacuum-normal-ordered zero mode gives the usual Ramond supercurrent zero-mode square .
Rigid symmetry of matter already supplies these currents, but promoting their vanishing to new gauge constraints requires coupling to worldsheet supergravity and varying its worldsheet gravitino. In superconformal gauge one retains . The fermionic current constraints and their physical-state conditions extend the bosonic Virasoro conditions. The ghost charges are , so cancellation with gives the critical dimension of the RNS superstring ; the NS and Ramond intercepts are respectively and zero. This distinguishes the global supersymmetry established above from its locally gauged string completion.
Use and keep each constant odd supersymmetry parameter on the left. The transformation of a fermion may be written or , since the bosonic derivative commutes with the parameter. The variation itself is even, so it obeys the ordinary product rule; the signs below arise when moving an odd parameter past an odd field.
First consider the transformation. Suppress target indices and put . Its bosonic part varies as
For the first fermion, moving to the left gives
The second fermion does not vary under . Since , these terms combine to . The other parameter gives the same cancellation with and . Therefore
This proves worldsheet supersymmetry invariance up to the rigid worldsheet supersymmetry boundary term, without using field equations.
For an open string, the boundary term is part of the invariance statement. For example, a Neumann endpoint has and compatible fermion gluing , . The spatial boundary flux vanishes when . Both endpoints must admit the same preserved parameter. Opposite gluing signs, giving the Neveu–Schwarz sector, do not preserve a nonzero constant parameter at both ends. Thus the local bulk identity and the existence of a global rigid charge on a particular open-string sector are distinct. The local superconformal symmetry remains the basis of the string constraints; this is consistent with the spin-structure obstruction to constant worldsheet supersymmetry.
Now write and , . The other two components vanish. The action implies , and , so these supercurrents are chiral and conserved locally. At equal time, the given canonical commutation relations imply
With , contraction with this commutator gives
The parameter-weighted charge is even. Since the parameters anticommute with the fermions,
Using the PDF's normalization yields
Thus the charge generates all the specified supersymmetry transformations. Dropping the factor in the fermion anticommutator, as happens in the converted TeX, would fail this check. The original PDF has the correct factor.
To calculate the supercurrent bracket, put and . The equal-time bosonic relations give
Bosonic and fermionic fields commute. Expanding the two current products, commuting the bosonic factors once and using the fermion anticommutator gives the noncentral part
For an ordinary smooth bilocal coefficient, the distributional derivative identity is
For the fermion bilinear, its coincident classical value, or its coincident normal-ordered value, is zero by antisymmetry against the symmetric target metric. The second term is . Since , we have . It follows that the noncentral current bracket is
This is the canonical supercurrent bracket of free RNS matter. The other chirality similarly gives and on shell.
The printed current identity is the classical, or noncentral, part of the algebra. Fully quantized coincident products require normal ordering; the matter algebra then also has a central contact term proportional to in the current anticommutator. The 10 bosons and 10 real fermions contribute matter central charge . The central term cannot be discarded in a literal quantum operator identity, although it is irrelevant to identifying the local noncentral stress tensor above.
The other brackets close on these same currents. The stress-tensor commutator contains and and, quantum mechanically, a central term. The stress-tensor–supercurrent commutator contains and , expressing the conformal weight of . The supercurrent anticommutator contains and its central term. In a conventional normalization of Fourier modes these form the N=1 super-Virasoro algebra:
Here and are central terms supported at zero total mode number; their detailed coefficients are not needed for this request. The indices are half-integers in the Neveu–Schwarz sector and integers in the Ramond sector. Opposite chiralities commute or anticommute as appropriate.
For the closed RNS string, impose a copy of the constraints in each chirality. In the Neveu–Schwarz sector, the physical conditions are
In the Ramond sector, use vacuum-normal-ordered generators with zero Ramond intercept. Then
The Ramond zero-mode equation is essential: its square gives the mass-shell condition in this convention, , and on the oscillator ground sector it is the spacetime Dirac constraint. In a convention whose unshifted plane generator has , the zero-mode equation instead sets that shifted combination to zero; these are the same condition, not competing intercepts.
For either choice, the corresponding tilded constraints hold on the other side. Both chiral mass-shell conditions and closed-string level matching are required:
The state sectors are NS–NS, NS–R, R–NS and R–R. Quotienting physical null states removes unphysical longitudinal polarizations; equivalently, use the appropriate BRST cohomology including the superconformal ghosts. A consistent superstring also specifies the GSO projection. It is an additional sector selection, not a replacement for these local super-Virasoro constraints. Physical states satisfy both chiral positive-mode and zero-mode constraints, level matching, and the null-state quotient; Ramond states additionally obey the fermionic zero-mode constraint.
Take with coordinate zero equal to and coordinate one to . In the supplied representation set
They satisfy the Clifford algebra . For anticommuting spinor components and an ordinary matrix , relabelling the two summed indices gives
Now , whereas and are symmetric. Therefore the Majorana Grassmann bilinear interchange yields
These signs require fermionic, Grassmann-odd fields; commuting spinors would have the opposite interchange signs.
In flat conformal gauge, suppress the common factor and write the combined density as . The supersymmetry variation including its odd parameter is an even derivation. From we obtain
Also , so interchanging odd spinors gives . The two density variations, with target contractions understood, are therefore
In the second term the symmetric second derivative annihilates the antisymmetric part of . Using now gives the exact off-shell identity
Thus the action is invariant when this boundary flux vanishes and the transformation preserves the field boundary conditions, for example with suitable falloff or compatible supersymmetric endpoint conditions. On a spatial circle, periodic fields admit the constant parameter; antiperiodic fermions with periodic bosons require the local superconformal treatment, since a nonzero constant parameter would make the boson variation antiperiodic. The constant parameter and ordinary derivatives describe rigid supersymmetry in flat gauge; a locally supersymmetric curved-worldsheet formulation includes the worldsheet gravitino. The result is the rigid worldsheet supersymmetry boundary term without using field equations.
For the commutator on , keep the order of the odd parameters:
For the fermion, the order is equally important. Moving through both odd factors in incurs two minus signs. Consequently
To check the spinor matrix explicitly, set , , with all four components anticommuting and monomials ordered . Then
Direct multiplication gives . Hence
Variation of the fermion action gives the Dirac equation . On this equation the second term vanishes, proving
This is on-shell closure of rigid worldsheet supersymmetry; the action's invariance was off shell, but its fermionic transformation algebra closes in this field content only on shell.
The associated superconformal current is proportional to , of conformal weight . Its fermionic modes extend the stress-tensor generators to the N=1 super-Virasoro algebra:
The modes are half-integral in the Neveu–Schwarz sector and integral in the Ramond sector. Their anticommutator giving a Virasoro generator is the conformal-mode counterpart of the translation commutator just derived. Ten coordinate bosons and ten Majorana fermions give matter central charge , canceled by the usual reparametrization and superconformal ghosts in the critical RNS string.
The fields constitute an RNS string coupled to two-dimensional worldsheet supersymmetry. The zweibein and worldsheet gravitino impose constraints; they do not supply extra propagating string polarizations. Worldsheet diffeomorphisms, local frame rotations and Weyl transformations put the metric locally in conformal gauge, . Local supersymmetry together with super-Weyl symmetry removes the worldsheet gravitino, giving superconformal gauge . On a general closed worldsheet, moduli and spin structures remain and must still be summed or integrated over; gauge fixing is not a declaration that every surface is globally a flat cylinder.
Variation with respect to the metric and worldsheet gravitino before gauge fixing gives the stress-tensor and supercurrent constraints and . The remaining matter consists of free and their worldsheet fermions. In covariant quantization, these become the N=1 super-Virasoro algebra physical-state conditions: positive Virasoro and supercurrent modes annihilate a physical state, , and the R sector also has the zero-mode condition . Null gauge states are quotiented out. Equivalently, physical states are BRST cohomology classes, so BRST-exact operators do not represent additional physical states.
The diffeomorphism ghosts have central charge , while the bosonic superconformal ghosts have charge . Matter contributes . Therefore quantum gauge consistency requires
This is the critical dimension of the RNS superstring. In light-cone gauge in string theory, choose nonzero , make linear in worldsheet time and set . The stress-tensor and supercurrent constraints solve for the longitudinal and oscillators. Only eight transverse bosons and eight transverse fermions remain, with positive norm. This explicitly eliminates the time-like and longitudinal unphysical states.
In a chiral sector the fermions have half-integral modes in the NS sector and integral modes in the R sector. The normal-ordering constant of a string is and . The GSO projection retains odd fermion-excitation parity in the NS sector, removing its tachyonic vacuum. In the R sector it keeps one chirality of the zero-mode spinor, with oscillator parity included in the projection. The Ramond zero-mode Clifford algebra then leaves eight ground-state polarizations in light-cone gauge in string theory.
Worldsheet supersymmetry alone does not imply spacetime supersymmetry. The GSO projection makes the spinorial worldsheet currents mutually local with the retained vertex operators and pairs their NS and R states. More explicitly, let be an RNS spin field and the bosonized superghost scalar. The spacetime supercharges are generated by
and similarly in the other chiral sector. The spin field has conformal weight , and its superghost factor has weight , so the current has weight one. Its operator products generate the spacetime translation operator; schematically . This is the spacetime supercharge from an RNS spin field. For type IIA superstring theory, the left and right Ramond projections select opposite ten-dimensional Majorana-Weyl chiralities, giving 32 real supercharges and a nonchiral spacetime theory.
The massless physical states are best counted with the transverse little group . Choose the left Ramond ground representation and the right one . Then
The NS-NS sector supplies the graviton, Kalb–Ramond field and dilaton, with , and polarizations. The RR sector supplies a one-form potential and a three-form potential, with and polarizations. The mixed sectors supply two gravitinos of opposite chirality, each with polarizations, and two dilatinos, each with . Covariantly the dilatino has chirality opposite to its corresponding supersymmetry parameter; the two chirality sets are both present. Thus the massless type IIA spectrum has
These fields form the massless type IIA supergravity multiplet.
For the first massive level of a chiral RNS sector, restore through
The first positive value is one. The NS states therefore have level . A complete transverse basis after GSO projection is
All contain odd fermion-excitation parity. Their respective dimensions are , and , so the NS count is . These are the first massive GSO-projected Neveu–Schwarz states. The middle family decomposes into . Together the families assemble into the massive representations : a symmetric traceless rank-two tensor and a three-form, since and .
In the R sector, the first massive level is . If the retained right-moving ground spinor is , its two families are
The Ramond spinors have opposite zero-mode chiralities in these two families: inserting one fermionic oscillator reverses the oscillator contribution to the GSO condition, so the second family must use the opposite zero-mode chirality. Each family has states. Hence
These first massive GSO-projected Ramond states form the gamma-traceless vector-spinor representation of , of dimension . Its transverse branching is . The right-moving sector therefore contains bosons and fermions, a massive chiral superstring supersymmetry multiplet.
For the closed string, closed-string level matching requires the left and right shifted levels to agree. Both chiral sectors at this first massive mass have NS states and R states. The bosons lie in the NS-NS sector and RR sector, while the mixed sectors are fermionic. Consequently
Their total is . A massive ten-dimensional state with 32 real supercharges and no central charges has sixteen fermionic creation operators in its rest-frame supersymmetry algebra, giving a long multiplet of this size. Thus the chiral equality, the four closed sectors and level matching are consistent with the first massive type IIA long supermultiplet, rather than merely matching an isolated number of right-moving states.
Extract a mode using
In the radially ordered double contour for the anticommutator, the simple pole gives . Expanding about , the third-order pole contributes one half of its second derivative,
The remaining contour is nonzero only for . Restoring the general leading OPE coefficient gives
This is the fermionic relation in the N=1 super-Virasoro algebra.