ONE-LOOP VACUUM ENERGY AT THE TACHYON VACUUM

We consider one-loop vacuum energy at the tachyon vacuum in cubic bosonic open string field theory. The BRST operator Ql in the theory around an identity-based solution is believed to represent a kinetic operator at the tachyon vacuum. Using homotopy operators for Ql, we find that one-loop vacuum energy at the tachyon vacuum is independent of moduli such as interbrane distances. This result can be interpreted as support for the annihilation of D-branes at the tachyon vacuum even in the quantum theory.