Field Theories from Bundles of Strings

Abstract

We propose that at low energy four dimensional bosonic strings may form bound states where they become bundled together much like the filaments in a cable. We inspect the properties of these bundles in terms of their extrinsic geometry. This involves both torsion and curvature contributions, and leads to four dimensional field theories where the bundles appear as closed knotted solitons. Field theories that allow for this interpretation include the Faddeev model, the Skyrme model, the Yang-Mills theory, and a Hartree-type field theory model of a two-component plasma.