Heriot-Watt Mathematics Report Series
HWM00-27, 11 Dec 2000

String Theory in Electromagnetic Fields

J Ambjorn, Y M Makeenko, G W Semenoff and R J Szabo


Abstract

A review of various aspects of superstrings in background electromagnetic fields is presented. Topics covered include the Born-Infeld action, spectrum of open strings in background gauge fields, the Schwinger mechanism, finite-temperature formalism and Hagedorn behaviour in external fields, Debye screening, D-brane scattering, thermodynamics of D-branes, and noncommutative field and string theories on D-branes. The electric field instabilities are emphasized throughout and contrasted with the case of magnetic fields. A new derivation of the velocity-dependent potential between moving D-branes is presented, as is a new result for the velocity corrections to the one-loop thermal effective potential.

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