Plane-wave string mode Hamiltonian

ID: plane-wave-string-mode-hamiltonian

Expand every transverse closed string coordinate in a real orthonormal Fourier basis of the spatial circle. The canonical momenta are , and spatial orthogonality reduces the field Hamiltonian to the displayed independent harmonic oscillators. Canonical quantization gives for each nonzero-frequency mode; a zero-frequency mode retains the free particle term . The formal zero-point energy requires a regulator; it is not automatically the massless flat-background intercept. Opposite travelling-wave oscillator combinations diagonalize the translation generator and satisfy closed-string level matching.

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