String theory at the tip of the cigar

Abstract

In arXiv:1208.3930 we argued that string theory at the tip of the cigar geometry, obtained by a Wick rotation of the Schwarzschild background, exhibits unexpected features that include degrees of freedom that are confined to the tip. Using the exact worldsheet description of near extremal NS5-branes we further study string theory at the tip of the cigar and find more evidence to its surprising properties.