The Three-String Vertex for a Plane-Wave Background

Abstract

The three string vertex for Type IIB superstrings in a maximally supersymmetric plane-wave background can be constructed in a light-cone gauge string field theory formalism. The detailed formula contains certain Neumann coefficients, which are functions of a momentum fraction y and a mass parameter \mu. This paper reviews the derivation of useful explicit expressions for these Neumann coefficients generalizing flat-space (\mu = 0) results obtained long ago. These expressions are then used to explore the large \mu asymptotic behavior, which is required for comparison with dual perturbative gauge theory results. The asymptotic formulas, exact up to exponentially small corrections, turn out to be surprisingly simple.