Two Double String Theory Actions: Non-Covariance vs. Covariance

Abstract

The aim of this work is to achieve a formulation of the bosonic string theory in which T-duality appears as a manifest symmetry. Two models exhibiting this property are discussed. The first is based on the stringy extension of the Floreanini-Jackiw Lagrangians for chiral fields and is characterized by the loss of manifest covariance on the world-sheet, recovered on mass-shell. The second model exhibits two-dimensional covariance while doubling a priori the string coordinates in the target space. They are shown to be equivalent.