Point Particle with Extrinsic Curvature as a Boundary of a Nambu–Goto String: Classical and Quantum Model

Abstract

It is shown how a string living in a higher dimensional space can be approximated as a point particle with squared extrinsic curvature. We consider a generalized Howe–Tucker action for such a “rigid particle” and consider its classical equations of motion and constraints. We find that the algebra of the Dirac brackets between the dynamical variables associated with velocity and acceleration contains the spin tensor. After quantization, the corresponding operators can be represented by the Dirac matrices, projected onto the hypersurface that is orthogonal to the direction of momentum. A condition for the consistency of such a representation is that the states must satisfy the Dirac equation with a suitable effective mass. The Pauli–Lubanski vector composed with such projected Dirac matrices is equal to the Pauli–Lubanski vector composed with the usual, non projected, Dirac matrices, and its eigenvalues thus correspond to spin one half states.