Minimal Curves in Six Dimensions

Hughston, L P and Shaw, W T. 1987. Minimal Curves in Six Dimensions. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 4(4), pp. 869-892. ISSN 0264-9381 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

Classical strings and minimal surfaces in a flat spacetime correspond to pairs of 'minimal' (i.e. null) curves in its complexification. The authors show how to find null curves in dimension six by use of twistor methods. The twistor space for C6 is the space of pure spinors for C8. They review the geometry of this space and establish a correspondence between 'pure' curves in twistor space and null ruled 2-surfaces in C6. This correspondence generates an explicit parameterisation of null curves in C6, thereby generalising the Weierstrass-Eisenhart parametrisation of null curves in C3 or C4. They also describe covariant methods for finding the periodic real null curves for string theory in real 6-space of any signature.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/4/4/021

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Computing

Dates:

DateEvent
1987Published

Item ID:

31597

Date Deposited:

14 Mar 2022 11:45

Last Modified:

14 Mar 2022 11:45

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/31597

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