Strings in strong gravitational fields
Gary T. HorowitzDepartment of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106Alan R. SteifDepartment of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
1990en
ABI
Abstract
String propagation in exact plane-wave solutions (with nonzero axion and dilaton fields) is analyzed. In these backgrounds, strings can undergo transitions from one state to another. Selection rules are derived which describe allowed and forbidden transitions of the string. It is shown that singular plane waves result in infinitely excited strings. An example is given of a solution whose singular properties are the opposite of an orbifold: it is geodesically complete, but still singular from the standpoint of string theory. Some implications of these results are discussed.
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Cited by 20 references