AN EXACT COSMOLOGICAL SOLUTION TO STRING THEORY

A homogeneous anisotropic four dimensional spacetime with Lorentzian signature is constructed from an ungauged WZW model based on a non-semisimple Lie group. The associated non-linear $\sigma $-model describes string propagation in an expanding-contracting universe with antisymmetric tensor and dilaton backgrounds. The current algebra of SL(2,R)$\times $R is constructed in terms of two free boson fields and two generalized parafermions, or four free bosons with background charge. This representation is used to study the string spectrum in the cosmological background.