THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL STRINGY BLACK HOLE: A NEW APPROACH AND A NEW EFFECT

Abstract

The string propagation in the two-dimensional stringy black hole is investigated from a new approach. We completely solve the classical and quantum string dynamics in the Lorentzian and Euclidean regimes. In the Lorentzian case all the physics reduces to a massless scalar particle described by a Klein-Gordon type equation with a singular effective potential. The scattering matrix is found and it reproduces the results obtained by coset CFT techniques. It factorizes into two pieces: an elastic Coulombian amplitude and an absorption part. In both parts, an infinite sequence of imaginary poles in the energy appears. The generic features of string propagation in curved D-dimensional backgrounds (string stretching, fall into space-time singularities) are analyzed in the present case. A new physical phenomenon specific to the present black hole is found: the quantum renormalization of the speed of light. We find that [Formula: see text] where k is the integer in front of the WZW action. Only for k→∞ does this new effect disappear (although the conformal anomaly is present). We analyze all the classical Euclidean string solutions and exactly compute the quantum partition function. No critical Hagedorn temperature appears here.