Nonrelativistic string theory in background fields

Abstract

Abstract Nonrelativistic string theory is a unitary, ultraviolet finite quantum gravity theory with a nonrelativistic string spectrum. The vertex operators of the worldsheet theory determine the spacetime geometry of nonrelativistic string theory, known as the string Newton-Cartan geometry. We compute the Weyl anomaly of the nonrelativistic string worldsheet sigma model describing strings propagating in a string Newton-Cartan geometry, Kalb-Ramond and dilaton background. We derive the equations of motion that dictate the backgrounds on which nonrelativistic string theory can be consistently defined quantum mechanically. The equations of motion we find from our study of the conformal anomaly of the worldsheet theory are to nonrelativistic string theory what the (super)gravity equations of motion are to relativistic string theory.