Adiabatic string shape for non-uniform rotation

It is well known that a straight Nambu-Goto string is an exact solution of the equations of motion when its end moves in a circular orbit. In this paper we investigate the shape of a confining relativistic string for a general motion of its end. We determine analytically the shape of the curved string to leading order in deviation from straightness, and show that it reduces to an expected non-relativistic result. We also demonstrate numerically that in realistic meson models this deviation is always small. We further find that the angular momentum and energy are the same as for the straight string, but that the curved string has a small radial momentum not present in a straight string. Our results justify the common assumption of straight strings usually made in hadron models.