Notes on conformal theory with nonprimary energy-momentum tensor that applies to the Nambu-Goto string

Abstract: I investigate the higher-derivative conformal theory which shows how the Nambu-Goto and Polyakov strings can be told apart. Its energy-momentum tensor is conserved, traceless but does not belong to the conformal family of the unit operator. To implement conformal invariance in this case, I develop the new technique that explicitly accounts for the quantum equation of motion and results in singular products. I show that the conformal transformations generated by such a nonprimary energy-momentum tensor form a Lie algebra with a central extension which in the path-integral formalism gives a logarithmically divergent contribution to the central charge. I demonstrate how the logarithmic divergence is canceled in the string susceptibility and reproduce the previously obtained deviation from KPZ-DDK at one loop.