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The closed bosonic string on a pp-wave background

University of British Columbia

We study the classical solutions and spectrum of the closed bosonic string on a pp-wave background. The classical solution is found in two distinct cases, and in one of those cases it is then quantized. Classical scalar, vector, and graviton fields are studied on the same background, and the spectrum of the fields is found for comparison. Finally, the quantized string is compared to the graviton in the appropriate limits and we conclude that the [character omitted] function regularization of the normal ordering constant is completely successful at matching the classical graviton spectrum to linear order in [character omitted]. Additional evidence in favour of the [character omitted] function regularization is found by considering the BRST central charges.

Text

2011-02-28

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31852

Physics

University of British Columbia

Graduate