Twisted Strings in Three-dimensional Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper investigates the classical and quantum dynamics of fundamental strings in BTZ black holes with NSNS flux, revealing insights into string behavior, energy spectra, and the effects of three-dimensional gravity on the surrounding spacetime.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of string dynamics in BTZ backgrounds, clarifies subtleties in flux choices, and connects Euclidean partition functions with Lorentzian spectra.

Findings

Matching energies of short and long strings in different analyses

Fixing subtleties in Lorentzian NSNS flux choice

Interpreting off-shell degrees of freedom as coset orbifold

Abstract

We revisit the classical dynamics of fundamental strings in BTZ black holes with NSNS flux. We analyse probe strings in the black hole background and determine their classical energy using a Nambu-Goto action. Three-dimensional gravity has a non-local effect on the metric surrounding a massive object which can be measured by winding strings. We also study the behaviour of short and long strings in the Wess-Zumino-Witten orbifold and show that their energy matches the long string probe analysis. In the process, we fix subtleties in the Lorentzian choice of NSNS flux. In Euclidean signature, we analyse the one-loop fundamental string partition function on the BTZ black hole and interpret the off-shell degrees of freedom as those of a coset orbifold. Finally, we speculate on how to identify the quantum Lorentzian string spectrum from the Euclidean orbifold partition function.