A Class of Exact Classical Solutions to String Theory

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a class of Lorentzian spacetimes with vanishing scalar curvature invariants are exact solutions in string theory at all orders, providing explicit spectra and potential insights into quantum gravity.

Contribution

The authors identify a class of spacetimes that are exact solutions in string theory to all perturbative orders, extending understanding of consistent backgrounds.

Findings

Spacetimes with vanishing scalar curvature invariants are exact string solutions.

Explicit spectrum can be derived for these backgrounds.

These solutions have no quantum corrections at all loop orders.

Abstract

We show that the recently obtained class of spacetimes for which all of the scalar curvature invariants vanish (which can be regarded as generalizations of pp-wave spacetimes) are exact solutions in string theory to all perturbative orders in the string tension scale. As a result the spectrum of the theory can be explicitly obtained, and these spacetimes are expected to provide some hints for the study of superstrings on more general backgrounds. Since these Lorentzian spacetimes suffer no quantum corrections to all loop orders they may also offer insights into quantum gravity.