On the stable radical of some non-domestic string algebras

We introduce the concept of a prime band in a string algebra $\Lambda$ and use it to associate to $\Lambda$ its finite bridge quiver. Then we introduce a new technique of `recursive systems' for showing that a graph map between finite dimensional string modules lies in its stable radical. Further we study two classes of non-domestic string algebras in terms of some connectedness properties of its bridge quiver. `Meta-$\bigcup$-cyclic' string algebras constitute the first class that is essentially characterized by the statement that each finite string is a substring of a band. Extending this class we have `meta-torsion-free' string algebras that are characterized by a dichotomy statement for ranks of graph maps between string modules--such maps either have finite rank or are in the stable radical. Their stable ranks can only take values from $\{\omega,\omega+1,\omega+2\}$.