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Null vectors, spinors, and strings

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Abstract

It is shown how, in the frame of the Cartan-conception of spinors, the old theorems onminimal surfaces, as generated from null-curves, formulated by Enneper-Weierstrass (1864–1866) for 3-dimensional ordinary space, and by Eisenhart (1911) for 4-dimensional space-time, may be reformulated in terms ofcomplex 2- and 4-component projective spinors respectively. For the correspondingreal (Majorana) spinors instead the same procedure naturally leads tostrings in 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional space-time (ℝ2, 1 and ℝ3, 1). It is suggested that this close connection with Cartan-spinors, and the corresponding (projective) null-geometry, may be the clue for understanding the fundamental nature of strings.

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Communicated by G. Parisi

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Budinich, P. Null vectors, spinors, and strings. Commun.Math. Phys. 107, 455–465 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01220999

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01220999

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