English

Closed strings in a class of pp-wave spacetimes and the memory effect

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2024-10-15 v3 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We study closed string evolution in the pp-wave spacetime assuming different pulse shapes (square and sech-squared) in the exact gravitational wave metric. It is shown that the shape of a circular closed string deforms permanently, after the pulse has departed. The worldsheet geometry also displays characteristic permanent changes caused by the gravitational wave pulse. The above effects collectively demonstrate features akin to what is known as `memory' in gravitational wave physics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.10095,
  title  = {Closed strings in a class of pp-wave spacetimes and the memory effect},
  author = {Ayan Dey and Sayan Kar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.10095},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

24 pages, 9 figures, changes in title, text and figures, references added. To appear in Physical Review D (2024)

R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:40:07.719Z