An Application of Half-Order Differential Operators to the Superparticle and the Superstring

Abstract

Half-order differential operators are applied to both the superparticle and the Ramond, Neveu and Schwarz superstring. The part of the locally supersymmetric superparticle action including the particle position and the gravitino is expressed in the same form as that of the fermionic one. The bosonic part of the RNS superstring action consisting of the string coordinates and the auxiliary fields is expressed, in the conformal gauge, in the same form as that of the fermionic one up to surface terms. The local supersymmetry of the superparticle action and half of the supersymmetry of the RNS superstring action can be made manifest.