Locally Anisotropic Gravity and Strings

Abstract

An introduction into the theory of locally anisotropic spaces (modelled as vector bundles provided with compatible nonlinear and distinguished linear connections and metric structures and containing as particular cases different types of Kaluza--Klein and/or extensions of Lagrange and Finsler spaces) is presented. The conditions for consistent propagation of closed strings in locally anisotropic background spaces are analyzed. The connection between the conformal invariance, the vanishing of the renormalization group beta--function of the generalized sigma--model and field equations of locally anisotropic gravity is studied in detail.