String propagation in gravitational wave backgrounds

Abstract The Conformal Field Theory of the current algebra of the centrally extended 2-d Euclidean group is analyzed. Its representations can be written in terms of four free fields (without background charge) with signature (-+++). We construct all irreducible representations of the current algebra with unitary base out of the free fields and their orbifolds. This is used to investigate the spectrum and scattering of strings moving in the background of a gravitational wave. We find that all the dynamics happens in the transverse space or the longitudinal one but not both.