Equivalence of open/closed strings

Abstract

In this paper, we prove that the open and closed strings are $O(D,D)$ equivalent. The equivalence requires an AdS geometry near the boundaries. The $O(D,D)$ invariance is introduced into the Polyakov action by the Tseytlin's action. Traditionally, there exist disconnected open-open or closed-closed configurations in the solution space of the Tseytlin's action. The open-closed configuration is ruled out by the mixed terms of the dual fields. We show that, under some very general guidances, the dual fields are consistently decoupled if and only if the near horizon geometry is $AdS_5$. We then have open-closed and closed-open configurations in different limits of the distances of the $D3$-brane pairs. Inherited from the definition of the theory, these four configurations are of course related to each other by $O(D,D)$ transformations. We therefore conclude that both the open/closed relation and open/closed duality can be derived from $O(D,D)$ symmetries. We then demonstrate the open/closed relation does connect commutative open and closed strings. By analyzing the couplings of the configurations, the low energy effective limits of our results consequently predicts the AdS/CFT correspondence, Higher spin theory, weak gauge/weak gravity duality and a yet to be proposed strong gauge/strong gravity duality. Furthermore, we also have the Seiberg duality and a weak/strong gravitation duality as consequences of $O(D,D)$ symmetries.