Propagation of perturbations along strings

Abstract

A covariant formalism for physical perturbations propagating along a string in an arbitrary curved spacetime is developed. In the case of a stationary string in a static background the propagation of the perturbations is described by a wave-equation with a potential consisting of 2 terms: The first term describing the time-dilation and the second is connected with the curvature of space. As applications of the developed approach the propagation of perturbations along a stationary string in Rindler, de Sitter, Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstrom spacetimes are investigated.