On the central charge of spacetime current algebras and correlators in string theory on AdS ₃

Abstract: Spacetime Virasoro and affine Lie algebras for strings propagating in AdS₃ are known to all orders in α′. The central extension of such algebras is a string vertex, whose expectation value can depend on the number of long strings present in the background but should be otherwise state-independent. In hep-th/0106004, on the other hand, a state-dependent expectation value was found. Another puzzling feature of the theory is lack of cluster decomposition property in certain connected correlators. This note shows that both problems can be removed by defining the free energy of the spacetime boundary conformal field theory as the Legendre transform of the formula proposed in the literature. This corresponds to pass from a canonical ensemble, where the number of fundamental strings that create the background can fluctuate, to a microcanonical one, where it is fixed.