Algebraic Curves for Integrable String Backgrounds

Abstract

Many Ramond-Ramond backgrounds which arise in the AdS/CFT correspondence are described by integrable sigma-models. The equations of motion for classical spinning strings in these backgrounds are exactly solvable by finite-gap integration techniques. We review the finite-gap integral equations and algebraic curves for coset sigma-models, and then apply the results to the AdS(d+1) backgrounds with d=4,3,2,1.