STRINGS WITH INTERACTING ENDS

Abstract

At the classical level we study open bosonic strings. A generic description of string self-interactions localized at string ends is given. Self-interactions are characterized by two dimensionless coupling constants. The model is rewritten using complex Liouville fields. Using these Lorentz and reparametrization invariant variables, equations of motion get greatly simplified and reduce to some boundary problem for Liouville equation. Henceforth, the Nambu-Goto string model is proved to be still rnathematically tractable if we attach finite masses and interactions at string end points. With the help of semiclassical quantization, we indicate several encouraging points for hadronic strings.