String-induced Yang-Mills coupling to self-dual gravity

Abstract

By considering N=2 string amplitudes we determine the (2+2)-dimensional target space action for the physical degrees of freedom: self-dual gravity and self-dual Yang-Mills, together with their respective infinite towers of higher-spin inequivalent picture states. Novel `stringy' couplings amongst these fields are essential ingredients of an action principle for the effective target space field theory. We discuss the covariant description of this theory in terms of self-dual fields on a hyperspace parametrised by the target space coordinate and a commuting chiral spinor.