Witten's Ghost Vertex Made Simple (bc and bosonized ghosts)

Abstract

First, we diagonalize the bc-ghost 3-string Neumann matrices using the technique described in hep-th/0304158. Their eigenvalues are in complete agreement with the previous authors. Second, we diagonalize the N-string gluing vertices for the bosonized ghost system. And third, we verify the descent and associativity relations for the combined bosonic matter+ghost gluing vertices. We find that in order for these relations to be true, the vertices must be normalized by the factor Z_N. Here Z_N is the partition function of the bosonic matter+ghost CFT on the gluing surface, which is the unit disc with the Neumann boundary conditions and the midpoint cone like singularity specifying by the angle excess π(N-2).