String tension and the generation of the conformal anomaly

Abstract

The origin of the string conformal anomaly is studied in detail. We use a reformulated string Lagrangian which allows to consider the string tension $T_{0}$ as a small perturbation. The expansion parameter is the worldsheet speed of light c, which is proportional to $T_{0}$ . We examine carefully the interplay between a null (tensionless) string and a tensionful string which includes orders $ c^{2} $ and higher. The conformal algebra generated by the constraints is considered. At the quantum level the normal ordering provides a central charge proportional to $ c^{2} $. Thus it is clear that quantum null strings respect conformal invariance and it is the string tension which generates the conformal anomaly.