Tachyon couplings from S-matrix elements in bosonic string theory

Abstract

We introduce a systematic framework for constructing spacetime and D-brane effective actions in bosonic string theory, encompassing both tachyon and massless modes. The actions are required to be gauge invariant and compatible with the expansion of sphere- and disk-level S-matrix elements. Our central proposal stipulates that, for each closed- or open-string channel, S-matrix poles involving an odd number of tachyons must be reproduced via an expansion in the effective action, whereas those with an even number of tachyons must be matched exactly. This criterion imposes strong selection rules: the bulk action contains only even powers of closed-string tachyon fields, and the D-brane action only even powers of open-string tachyon fields. In contrast, couplings of closed-string tachyons to D-branes are less constrained and allow both even and odd field multiplicities. As a concrete application, we analyze the disk-level amplitude involving two closed-string tachyons and demonstrate that the resulting linear and quadratic tachyon-D-brane interactions coincide precisely with those of type 0 theory. This is consistent with the duality between the orbifold of type 0 theory and the compactification of bosonic string theory on \(T^{16}\).