The spontaneous compactification of the closed bosonic string

We argue that the higher space–time derivative terms that occur in closed bosonic string field theory are reminiscent of those found in the Landau theory of liquid-crystal transitions. We examine the lowest level approximation of the closed bosonic string and find evidence for the existence of a new vacuum that spontaneously breaks Lorentz and translation symmetries. This effect can be interpreted as a spontaneous compactification of the theory.