Stringy Jacobi fields in Morse theory

Abstract

We consider the variation of the surface spanned by closed strings in a spacetime manifold. Using the Nambu-Goto string action, we induce the geodesic surface equation, the geodesic surface deviation equation which yields a Jacobi field, and we define the index form of a geodesic surface as in the case of point particles to discuss conjugate strings on the geodesic surface.