The Standard Model from lines of force

Treating electric flux lines as the dynamical degrees of freedom of gauge theories leads to a representation of Wilson loop associated with a closed curve C for Abelian gauge theories. In this representation C is spanned by world-sheets of tensionless spinning strings with contact interactions. This is a first step in building a new kind of string theory to describe the Standard Model where the gauge fields are in the Coulomb phase because the string tension is taken to zero and the quarks and leptons live on the boundary of the string world-sheet. The project will generalize this construction non-Abelian gauge theory and by constructing the appropriate boundary theory to describe matter it will develop this further into a full string theory of the Standard Model.