A microscopic description of absorption in high-energy string-brane collisions

G.D. thanks the Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics for hospitality and the INFN for partial support while this research was being carried out. G.D. also gratefully acknowledges the hospitality of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (Cambridge) at various times during the completion of this work. P. D. thanks C. Maccaferri for discussions on the open-closed string vertex. The research of R. R. is partially supported by STFC (Grant ST/L000415/1, String theory, gauge theory & duality). G.V. would like to acknowledge the hospitality of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara (research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF PHY11-25915) where part of this research has been carried out