Relativistic String in a Pulse

Abstract

I study a relativistic open string coupling through its endpoints to a plane wave with arbitrary temporal profile. The string's transverse oscillations respond linearly to the external field. This makes it possible to solve the classical equations, and to calculate the quantum-mechanical S-matrix in closed form. I analyze the dynamics of the string as the characteristic frequency and duration of the pulse are continuously varied. I derive, in particular, the multipole expansion in the adiabatic limit of very long wavelengths, and discuss also more violent phenomena such as shock waves, cusps and null brane intersections. Apart from their relevance to the study of time-dependence in superstring theory, these results could have other applications, such as the teleportation of gravitational wave bursts by cosmic strings.

Tex file, uses harvmac, 30 pages with 4 figures. Reference added, typos and one formula corrected. Final version to appear in Annals of Physics

References in corpus (5)

• Open strings in the plane wave background I: Quantization and symmetries
• The D-instanton and other supersymmetric D-branes in IIB plane-wave string theory
• Penrose Limit and String Theories on Various Brane Backgrounds
• D-Branes on the Null-Brane
• String Theory on Dp-plane waves

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Loop Operators and the Kondo Problem
• New D1-D5-P geometries from string amplitudes
• D1D5 microstate geometries from string amplitudes
• Boundary States for Supertubes in Flat Spacetime and Godel Universe
• The supergravity fields for a D-brane with a travelling wave from string amplitudes
• Proliferation of sharp kinks on cosmic (super-)string loops with junctions
• Strings in an electric field, and the Milne Universe
• Field Redefinitions, T-duality and Solutions in Closed String Field Theories
• World-sheet duality for D-branes with travelling waves
• String Memory Effect
• One-Loop Effect of Null-Like Cosmology's Holographic Dual Super-Yang-Mills
• Unitarity Meets Channel-Duality for Rolling / Decaying D-Branes
• Fundamental branes and shock waves
• Diagonal D-branes in product spaces and their Penrose limits
• Gravitational Radiation from Travelling Waves on D-Strings
• Wetting and Minimal Surfaces
• The Space-time Transformations Between Accelerated Systems
• Lineal Trails of D2-D2bar Superstrings