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We present a new formulation of the tensionless string ($T= 0$) where the space-time conformal symmetry is manifest. Using a Hamiltonian BRST scheme we quantize this {\em Conformal String} and find that it has critical dimension $D=2$. This…
I discuss some aspects of conformal defects and conformal interfaces in two spacetime dimensions. Special emphasis is placed on their role as spectrum-generating symmetries of classical string theory.
Classical rotating closed string are folded strings. At the folding points the scalar curvature associated with the induced metric diverges. As a consequence one cannot properly quantize the fluctuations around the classical solution since…
We consider critical curves -- conformally invariant curves that appear at critical points of two-dimensional statistical mechanical systems. We show how to describe these curves in terms of the Coulomb gas formalism of conformal field…
We study a string theory which is exclusively based on extrinsic curvature action. It is a tensionless string theory because the action reduces to perimeter for the flat Wilson loop. We are able to solve and quantize this high-derivative…
Conformal symmetry provides a systematic approximation to QCD in both its perturbative and nonperturbative domains. One can use the AdS/CFT correspondence between Anti-de Sitter space and conformal gauge theories to obtain an analytically…
A piecewise flat manifold is a triangulated manifold given a geometry by specifying edge lengths (lengths of 1-simplices) and specifying that all simplices are Euclidean. We consider the variation of angles of piecewise flat manifolds as…
The quantization of circular strings in an anti-de Sitter background spacetime is performed, obtaining a discrete spectrum for the string mass. A comparison with a four-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic spacetime coupled to a conformal…
We discuss various aspects of the calculation of correlation functions in conformal theories coupled to quantized 2-dimensional gravity. The main emphasis lies on the construction of a continuation in the number of insertions of the…
String Quantum Gravity is motivated and introduced. Advances in the study of the classical and quantum string dynamics in curved spacetime are reported: 1-New Classes of Exact Multistring solutions in curved spacetimes. 2-Mass spectrum of…
We consider classical and quantum strings in the conformally invariant background corresponding to the SL(2,R) WZWN model. This background is locally anti-de Sitter spacetime with non-vanishing torsion. Conformal invariance is expressed as…
Two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) can be defined through its correlation functions. These must satisfy certain consistency conditions which arise from the cutting of world sheets along circles or intervals. The construction of a…
The two-dimensional case occupies a special position in the theory of critical phenomena due to the exact results provided by lattice solutions and, directly in the continuum, by the infinite-dimensional character of the conformal algebra.…
A string theory in $3$ euclidean spacetime dimensions is found to describe the semiclassical behavior of a certain exact physical state of quantum general relativity in $4$ dimensions. Both the worldsheet and the three dimensional metric…
In this lecture I summarize recent developments on strings propagating in curved spacetime. Exact conformal field theories that describe gravitational backgrounds such as black holes and more intricate gravitational singularities have been…
The quantum mechanics of one degree of freedom exhibiting the exact conformal SL(2,R) symmetry is presented. The starting point is the classification of the unitary irreducible representations of the SL(2,R) group (or, to some extent, its…
It is shown that conformal matter with $c_{\ssc L}\not=c_{\ssc R}$ can be consistently coupled to two-dimensional `frame' gravity. The theory is quantized, following David, and Distler and Kawai, using the derivation of their {\it ansatz}…
We prove that various classical conformal diffeomorphism groups, which are known to be essential [1], are in fact properly essential. This is a consequence of a local criterion on a conformal diffeomorphism in the form of a cohomological…
We study the conformal geometry of timelike curves in the (1+2)-Einstein universe, the conformal compactification of Minkowski 3-space defined as the quotient of the null cone of $\mathbb{R}^{2,3}$ by the action by positive scalar…
We consider an extension of a special class of conformal sigma models (`chiral null models') which describe extreme supersymmetric string solutions. The new models contain both `left' and `right' vector couplings and should correspond to…