String Memories ... openly retold

TL;DR

This paper explores string theory corrections to the electromagnetic memory effect, revealing non-perturbative, long-range influences in high-energy events, with potential detectability in realistic string models.

Contribution

It introduces string corrections to EM memory, showing their non-perturbative nature and implications for high-energy physics, supported by explicit string model calculations.

Findings

String corrections are non-perturbative and long-range.

Explicit expressions for 4-point amplitudes are derived.

Potential detectability in semi-realistic string models.

Abstract

We identify string corrections to the EM memory effect. Though largely negligible in the low-energy limit, the effect become relevant in high-energy collisions and in extreme events. We illustrate our findings in a simple unoriented bosonic string model. Thanks to the coherent effect of the infinite tower of open string resonances, the corrections are non-perturbative in $\alpha'$, modulated in retarded time and slowly decaying even at large distances from the source. Remarkably compact expressions obtain for special choices of the kinematics in tree-level 4-point amplitudes. We discuss further corrections occurring at higher-points and the exponential damping resulting from broadening and shifting of the massive poles due to loops. Finally we estimate the range of the parameters and masses for detectability in semi-realistic (Type I) contexts and propose a rationale for this string memory effect.