Fractional Bosonic Strings

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a simple generalization of bosonic string theory in the framework of the theory of fractional variational problems. Specifically, we present a fractional extension of the Polyakov action, for which we compute the general form of the equations of motion and discuss the connection between the new fractional action and a generalization the Nambu-Goto action. Consequently, we analyse the symmetries of the modified Polyakov action and try to fix the gauge, following the classical procedures. Then we solve the equations of motion in a simplified setting. Finally, we present an Hamiltonian description of the classical fractional bosonic string and introduce the fractional light-cone gauge. It is important to remark that, throughout the whole paper, we thoroughly discuss how to recover the known results as an "integer" limit of the presented model.