Related papers: Lifetime of Stringy de Sitter Vacua
We show how to extend the usual black string instability of vacuum or charged black p-branes to the anti-de Sitter background. The string fragments in an analogous fashion to the $\Lambda=0$ case, the main difference being that instead of a…
We study string theory in supersymmetric time-dependent backgrounds. In the framework of general relativity, supersymmetry for spacetimes without flux implies the existence of a covariantly constant null vector, and a relatively simple form…
De Sitter solutions have been recently conjectured to be incompatible with quantum gravity. In this paper we critically assess the progress and challenges of different mechanisms to obtain de Sitter vacua in string compactifications and…
In arXiv:1407.7580 a mechanism to fix the closed string moduli in a de Sitter minimum was proposed: a D-term potential generates a linear relation between the volumes of two rigid divisors which in turn produces at lower energies a…
In the string landscape picture, the effective potential is characterized by an enormous number of local minima of which only a minuscule fraction are suitable for the evolution of life. In this "multiverse", random transitions are…
We consider the decay of cosmic strings that are trapped in the false vacuum in a theory of scalar electrodynamics in 3+1 dimensions. We restrict our analysis to the case of thin-walled cosmic strings which occur when large magnetic flux…
We consider how the time-dependent decay process of an unstable D-brane should be described in the full (quantum) open-closed string theory. It is argued that the system, starting from the unstable D-brane configuration, will evolve in time…
In recent times, a considerable effort has been dedicated to identify certain conditions -- the so-called swampland conjectures -- with an eye on identifying effective theories which have no consistent UV-completions in string theory. In…
We find de Sitter and flat space solutions with all moduli stabilized in four dimensional supergravity theories derived from the heterotic and type II string theories, and explain how all the previously known obstacles to finding such…
It was shown by Garriga and Vilenkin that the circular shape of nucleated cosmic strings, of zero loop-energy in de Sitter space, is stable in the sense that the ratio of the mean fluctuation amplitude to the loop radius is constant. This…
We study the instantons describing the production of particles at the ends of codimension-one objects (strings and struts) in $(2+1)$-dimensional Minkowski and de Sitter spaces. A Minkowskian background allows only for systems with…
We derive conditions for the existence of four-dimensional \N=1 supersymmetric flux vacua of massive type IIA string theory with general supergravity fluxes turned on. For an SU(3) singlet Killing spinor, we show that such flux vacua exist…
A striking feature of our universe is its near criticality. The cosmological constant and weak hierarchy problems, as well as the metastability of the electroweak vacuum, can all be understood as problems of criticality. This suggests a…
We construct a positive constant curvature space by identifying some points along a Killing vector in a de Sitter Space. This space is the counterpart of the three-dimensional Schwarzschild-de Sitter solution in higher dimensions. This…
We construct a four-dimensional consistent truncation to the bosonic part of the universal sector of Calabi-Yau IIA compactification (i.e. the gravity multiplet, one vectormultiplet, and one hypermultiplet) in the presence of background…
We present a concrete string-theoretic mechanism that generates four-dimensional de Sitter vacua from non-geometric R-flux compactifications of heterotic string theory. The construction rests on three pillars: the Malcev algebra generated…
We suggest that compactifications on Anti-de-Sitter (AdS) spaces of type IIA, IIB, heterotic strings and eleven dimensional vacuua of M-theory are related by a combination of $T$ and strong/weak dualities. Maldacena conjecture relates then…
In this thesis we investigate some aspects of the dramatic consequences of supersymmetry breaking on string vacua. In particular, we focus on the issue of vacuum stability in ten-dimensional string models with broken, or without,…
In this review we argue that four-dimensional effective field theory descriptions with de Sitter isometries are allowed in the presence of time-dependent internal degrees of freedom in type IIB string landscape. Both moduli stabilizations…
The higher-derivative $\alpha'$ corrections consistent with $O(d,d)$ duality invariance can be completely classified for cosmological, purely time-dependent backgrounds. This result is used to show that there are duality invariant theories…