Interacting electrons on a fluctuating string

We consider the problem of interacting electrons constrained to move on a fluctuating one-dimensional string. An effective low-energy theory for the electrons is derived by integrating out the string degrees of freedom to lowest order in the inverse of the string tension and mass density, which are assumed to be large. We obtain expressions for the tunneling density of states, the spectral function, and the optical conductivity of the system. Possible connections with the phenomenology of the cuprate high temperature superconductors are discussed.