The Catenary Revisited: From Newtonian Strings to Superstrings

TL;DR

This paper revisits the classical catenary problem to draw analogies with superstring dynamics, suggesting that Newtonian models can provide insights into complex phenomena like gravitational radiation from accelerated branes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analogy between Newtonian catenaries and superstring dynamics, offering a simplified perspective on complex high-energy physics processes.

Findings

Newtonian catenary models can approximate certain string behaviors

Analogies help understand gravitational radiation from branes

Simplified models provide new insights into string dynamics

Abstract

The dynamics of extended objects, such as strings and membranes, has attracted more attention in the past decades since the fundamental objects introduced in high-energy physics are no longer pointlike. Their motion is generally quite intricate to describe and usually requires the sophisticated tools of Conformal Field Theory, Quantum Field Theory and General Relativity. This article argues that the Newtonian analogy of a catenary with free ends offers a good description of some processes such as gravitational radiation by an accelerated brane.