Related papers: Portrait of the String as a Random Walk
We analyze tree-level string amplitudes in a linear dilaton background, motivated by its use as a gauge-invariant tracer of string interactions in scattering experiments and its genericity among simple perturbative string theory limits. A…
Lattice-based string formation algorithms can, at least in principle, be reduced to the study of the statistics of the corresponding aperiodic random walk. Since in three or more dimensions such walks are transient this approach necessarily…
We consider string theory in a time dependent orbifold with a null singularity. The singularity separates a contracting universe from an expanding universe, thus constituting a big crunch followed by a big bang. We quantize the theory both…
We study tree-level scattering processes of arbitrary string states using the DDF formalism and suitable coherent vertex operators. We obtain new exact compact formulae for heavy-heavy-light-light scattering amplitudes in open or closed…
We revisit the study of string theory close to the Hagedorn temperature with the aim towards cosmological applications. We consider interactions of open and closed strings in a gas of D$p-$branes, and/or one isolated D$p$-brane, in an…
The string shooter experiment uses counter-rotating pulleys to propel a closed string forward. Its steady state exhibits a transition from a gravity dominated regime at low velocity towards a high velocity regime where the string takes the…
Intrinsic and extrinsic geometric properties of string world sheets in curved space-time background are explored. In our formulation, the only dynamical degrees of freedom of the string are its immersion coordinates. Classical equation of…
We compute the cross section for scattering of light string probes by randomly excited closed strings. For high energy probes, the cross section factorizes and can be used to define effective form factors for the excited targets. These form…
Hard spheres in Newtonian fluids serve as paradigms for Non-Newtonian materials phenomena exhibited by colloidal suspensions. A recent experimental study (Cheng et al. 2011 Science, 333, 1276) showed that upon application of shear to such a…
In an analysis of the gravitational lensing by two relativistic cosmic strings, we argue that the formation of closed time-like curves proposed by Gott is unstable in the presence of particles (e.g. the cosmic microwave background…
We study the behavior of the random walk in a continuum independent long-range percolation model, in which two given vertices $x$ and $y$ are connected with probability that asymptotically behaves like $|x-y|^{-\alpha}$ with $\alpha>d$,…
We consider a one dimensional elastic string as a set of massless beads interacting through springs characterized by anisotropic elastic constants. The string, driven by an external force, moves in a medium with quenched disorder. We…
Arguably the simplest model of a cosmological singularity in string theory, the Lorentzian orbifold $\Real^{1,1}/boost$ is known to lead to severe divergences in scattering amplitudes of untwisted states, indicating a large backreaction…
We present analytical results on the propagation of a classical string in non-zero modes through the singularity of the compactified Milne space. We restrict our analysis to a string winding around the compact dimension of spacetime. The…
Is string theory uniquely determined by self-consistency? Causality and unitarity seemingly permit a multitude of putative deformations, at least at the level of two-to-two scattering. Motivated by this question, we initiate a systematic…
In string theory the coupling ``constants'' appearing in the low-energy effective Lagrangian are determined by the vacuum expectation values of some (a priori) massless scalar fields (dilaton, moduli). This naturally leads one to expect a…
We study the scattering of a massless and neutral test particle in the gravitational field of a body (the string star) made of a large number of scalar states of the superstring. We consider two cases, the one in which these states are…
We attempt to understand the fate of spacelike gravitational singularities in string theory via the quantum stress tensor for string matter in a fixed background. We first approximate the singularity with a homogeneous anisotropic…
A novel probe of D-brane dynamics is via scattering of a high energy ripple traveling along an attached string. The inelastic processes in which the D-brane is excited through emission of an additional attached string is considered.…
We study a periodic vibrating string composed of a finite sequence of string segments connected periodically, with each segment characterized by a constant linear mass density. The main purpose is to provide a configuration that can mimic…