Real Classical Strings

A general solution is constructed for the equations of motion of the classical relativistic string. All allowable string configurations are encompassed, apart from a special set of measure zero characterized by the vanishing of a certain invariant for which the motion of the string is restricted to a time-like hyperplane. The solution is given in terms of an essentially freely specifiable curve lying in the hypersurface PN, the space of ‘null twistors’.