The Classical Bosonic String

Abstract

Even though we will eventually be interested in a quantum theory of interacting strings, it will turn out to be useful to start two steps back and treat the free classical string. We will set up the Lagrangian formalism which is essential for the path integral quantization which we will treat in Chap. 3.We will then solve the classical equations of motion for single free closed and open strings. These solutions will be used for the canonical quantizationwhich we will discuss in detail in the next chapter. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.