Minimal Strings for Baryons

A simple model is discussed in which baryons are represented as pieces of open string connected at one common point. There are two surprises: one is that, in the conformal gauge, the relative lengths of the three arms cannot be kept constant, but are dynamical variables of the theory. The second surprise (as reported earlier by Sharov) is that, in the classical limit, the state with the three arms of length not equal to zero is unstable against collapse of one of the arms. After collapse, an arm cannot bounce back into existence. The implications of this finding are briefly discussed.