Classical string propagation in gravitational fields

Abstract

The motion of a string in curved spacetime is discussed in detail. The basic formalism for string motion in Minkowski spacetime and in curved spacetime is presented. The description applies to cosmic strings as well as to fundamental strings. Major ansatze for solving the string equations of motion are reviewed. In particular, the ``null string ansatz'', which is relevant to strings in strong gravitational fields, is emphasised. The formalism is applied to the motion of strings in 5-dimensional Kaluza-Klein black hole backgrounds with electric and magnetic charge. Such background spacetimes have been of interest lately, particularly from the point of view of fundamental string theory. It is shown that interesting results, relating to the extra dimension as seen by the string, are obtained even at the classical level.