Self-gravitating strings in 2+1 dimensions
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, P.O. Box 4349, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309 (United States)
We present a family of classical spacetimes in 2+1 dimensions. Such a spacetime is produced by a Nambu-Goto self-gravitating string. Because of the special properties of three-dimensional gravity, the metric is completely described as a Minkowski space with [ital two] identified world sheets. In the flat limit, the standard string is recovered. The formalism is developed for an open string with massive end points, but applies to other boundary conditions as well. We consider another limit, where the string tension vanishes in geometrical units but the end masses produce finite deficit angles. In this limit, our open string reduces to the free-masses solution of Gott, which possesses closed timelike curves when the relative motion of the two masses is sufficiently rapid. It is shown that the induced world sheet Liouville mode obeys $(---[ital classically]$)--- a sinh- or cosh-Gordon differential equation, which reduces to the Liouville equation in the flat limit. A quadratic-action formulation of this system is presented. The possibility and significance of quantizing the self-gravitating string is discussed.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 6614730
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 47:10; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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