Celestial OPEs and w1+∞ algebra from worldsheet in string theory

A bstract Celestial operator product expansions (OPEs) arise from the collinear limit of scattering amplitudes and play a vital role in celestial holography. In this paper, we derive the celestial OPEs of massless fields in string theory from the worldsheet. By studying the worldsheet OPEs of vertex operators in worldsheet CFT and further examining their behaviors in the collinear limit, we find that new vertex operators for the massless fields in string theory are generated and become dominant in the collinear limit. Mellin transforming to the conformal basis yields exactly the celestial OPEs in celestial CFT. We also derive the celestial OPEs from the collinear factorization of string amplitudes and the results derived in these two different methods are in perfect agreement with each other. Our final formulae of celestial OPEs are applicable to general dimensions, corresponding to Einstein-Yang-Mills theory supplemented by some possible higher derivative interactions. Specializing to 4D, we reproduce all the celestial OPEs for gluon and graviton in the literature. We consider various string theories, including the open and closed bosonic string, as well as the closed superstring theory with N N = 1 and N N = 2 worldsheet supersymmetry. In the case of N N = 2 string, we also derive all the SL (2, R) SL 2 ℝ ¯ descendant contributions in the celestial OPE; the soft sector of such OPE just yields the w 1+∞ algebra after rewriting in terms of chiral modes. Our stringy derivation of celestial OPEs thus initiates the first step towards the microscopic realization of celestial CFT dual to string theory in flat spacetime.