The GHY boundary term from the string worldsheet to linear order

Abstract

Using the method of images we derive the boundary term of the Einstein-$Γ^2$ action in half-space from the spherical worldsheet to first order in $α'$ and to linear order in the metric perturbation around flat half-space. The $Γ^2$ action, written down by Einstein more than 100 years ago, includes a boundary term that consists of the Gibbons-Hawking-York action along with two additional terms that are functions of the metric, normal vector, and tangential derivatives. With this boundary term, the total (bulk + boundary) sphere effective action has a well-posed variational principle for Dirichlet boundary conditions.