# Questions about Type HE Matrix String Theory

I was reading the heterotic string section of this thesis desertation by Luboš Motl, since I think I now understand the Type IIA Matrix String Theory. The only thing I knew about Type HE Matrix Strings, however, was:

That It has a gauge-group of $O(N)$.

From the paper, I can see that the Type HE Matrix Strings, in order to be consistent, need some sort of "extra terms" (wrt the BFSS Lagrangian Density/SuperYM Lagrangian Density ) in order to exist in 11-Dimensional spacetime.

Now,

• What is the intuition behind this; intuitively, why does the absence of these "extra terms" cause such problems in 11-Dimensional spacetime. Given the amount of intuition behind Type IIA Matrix Strings, I expect that there may be some intuition in Type HE Matrix Strings too ?

• Where does the new gauge group of $O(N)$ come from when the gauge group of BFSS itself, was $U(N)$ all along.

• Dear Dimension10, too bad. I was convinced that much of the thesis was dedicated exactly to answering these questions of yours and a few similar questions. ;-) – Luboš Motl Sep 30 '13 at 15:48
• @LubošMotl: Actually, my question is mainly about the intuition; i.e., is there a similar, elegant intuition for Type HE matrix strings, as there is for the Type IIA? About the infinite $N$ being finite $N$ being related to the momentum being non - zero and finite, etc. – Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir Oct 1 '13 at 14:51