Ehlers transformations and string effective action

Abstract

We explicitly obtain the generalization of the Ehlers transformation for stationary axisymmetric Einstein equations to string theory. This is accomplished by finding the twist potential corresponding to the moduli fields in the effective two dimensional theory. Twist potential and symmetric moduli are shown to transform under an O( d, d) which is a manifest symmetry of the equations of motion. The non-trivial action of this O( d, d) is given by the Ehlers transformation and belongs to the set O(d)×O(d) O(d) .