Critical string from non-Abelian vortex in four dimensions

In a class of non-Abelian solitonic vortex strings supported in certain N = 2 super-Yang-Mills theories we search for the vortex which can behave as a critical fundamental string. We use the Polchinski-Strominger criterion of the ultraviolet completeness. We identify an appropriate four-dimensional bulk theory: it has the U(2) gauge group, the Fayet-Iliopoulos term and four flavor hypermultiplets. It supports semilocal vortices with the world-sheet theory for orientational (size) moduli described by the weighted CP(2,2) model. The latter is superconformal. Its target space is six-dimensional. The overall Virasoro central charge is critical. We show that the world-sheet theory on the vortex supported in this bulk model is the bonafide critical string. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.