The Other Spectral Flow

Abstract

Recently we showed that the spectral flow acting on the N=2 twisted topological theories gives rise to a topological algebra automorphism. Here we point out that the untwisting of that automorphism leads to a spectral flow on the untwisted N=2 superconformal algebra which is different from the usual one. This "other" spectral flow does not interpolate between the chiral ring and the antichiral ring. In particular, it maps the chiral ring into the chiral ring and the antichiral ring into the antichiral ring. We discuss the similarities and differences between both spectral flows. We also analyze their action on null states.