The Intriguing Structure of Non-geometric Frames in String Theory

Abstract

Non-geometric frames in string theory are related to the geometric ones by certain local O(D,D) transformations, the so-called $\beta$-transforms. For each such transformation, we show that there exists both a natural field redefinition of the metric and the Kalb-Ramond two-form as well as an associated Lie algebroid. We furthermore prove that the all-order low-energy effective action of the superstring, written in terms of the redefined fields, can be expressed through differential-geometric objects of the corresponding Lie algebroid. Thus, the latter provides a natural framework for effective superstring actions in non-geometric frames. Relations of this new formalism to double field theory and to the description of non-geometric backgrounds such as T-folds are discussed as well.