Open String Creation by S-Branes

Abstract

An sp-brane can be viewed as the creation and decay of an unstable D(p+1)-brane. It is argued that the decaying half of an sp-brane can be described by a variant of boundary Liouville theory. The pair creation of open strings by a decaying s-brane is studied in the minisuperspace approximation to the Liouville theory. In this approximation a Hagedorn-like divergence is found in the pair creation rate, suggesting the s-brane energy is rapidly transferred into closed string radiation.