Interacting bosonic strings in subcritical dimensions

Interaction theory for relativistic bosonic string in spacetime dimensions below the critical value 26 is formulated using BRST techniques with an extra scalar field. One-loop zero-point amplitudes for closed strings are modular invariant. For a free scalar field, vertex operators are constructed leading to, e.g., the old dual N-tachyon tree amplitudes in D < 26. The N-tachyon one-loop expressions contain closed string poles for open strings, and are modular invariant for closed strings. However, the threshold cuts are wrong in D < 25. Only for D=25 to the considered vertex operators lead to consistency. (orig.)