On the singularities of massive superstring amplitudes

Abstract

Superstring one-loop amplitudes with massive external states are shown to be in general ill-defined due to internal on-shell propagators. However, we argue that since any massive string state (in the uncompactified theory) has a finite lifetime to decay into massless particles, such amplitudes are not terms in the perturbative expansion of physical S-matrix elements: these can be defined only with massless external states. Consistent massive amplitudes require an off-shell formalism.