Related papers: Localized modes at a D-brane--O-plane intersection…
We investigate the superconformal indices for the Chern-Simons-matter theories proposed for M2-branes probing the cones over N^{010}/Z_k, Q^{111}, M^{32} with N=2,3 supersymmetries and compare them with the corresponding dual gravity…
String theory on NS-NS AdS_3 x S^3 admits an exactly marginal deformation which breaks the SL(2,R)_R x SL(2,R)_L isometry of AdS_3 down to SL(2,R)_R x U(1)_L. The holographic dual is an exotic and only partially understood type of…
We study examples of chiral four-dimensional IIB orientifolds with Scherk--Schwarz supersymmetry breaking, based on freely acting orbifolds. We construct a new Z3xZ3' model, containing only D9-branes, and rederive from a more geometric…
We study supersymmetric open strings in type IIB $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times S^3 \times S^1$ with mixed R-R and NS-NS fields. We focus on strings ending along a straight line at the boundary of $AdS_3$, which can be interpreted as line…
We study the maximally supersymmetric Kondo model obtained by adding a fermionic impurity to N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. While the original Kondo problem describes a defect interacting with a free Fermi liquid of itinerant…
The superconformal index of quiver gauge theories realized on D3-branes in toric Calabi-Yau cones is investigated. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence and study D3-branes wrapped on supersymmetric cycles. We focus on brane configurations in…
We study the holographic duals of type II and heterotic matrix string theories described by warped AdS_3 supergravities. By explicitly solving the linearized equations of motion around near horizon D-string geometries, we determine the…
We construct four dimensional three generation non-supersymmetric $SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$ intersecting D6-brane models with $\nu_R$\rq{s}. At three stacks we find exactly the MSSM chiral fermion matter spectrum. At 4-,…
We study ${\cal N}=2$ compactifications of heterotic string theory on the CHL orbifold $(K3\times T^2)/\mathbb{Z}_N$ with $N= 2, 3, 5, 7$. $\mathbb{Z}_N$ acts as an involution on $K3$ together with a shift of $1/N$ along one of the circles…
We study decoupling limits and S-dualities for noncommutative open string/ Yang-Mills theory in a gravity setup by considering an $SL(2,Z)$ invariant supergravity solution of the form ((F, D1), D3) bound state of type IIB string theory.…
The relative coefficients of higher derivative interactions of the IIB effective action of the form C^4, (D F_5)^4, F_5^8, ... (where C is the Weyl tensor and F_5 is the five-form field strength) are motivated by supersymmetry arguments. It…
We consider closed string tachyons localized at the fixed points of noncompact nonsupersymmetric orbifolds. We argue that tachyon condensation drives these orbifolds to flat space or supersymmetric ALE spaces. The decay proceeds via an…
We determine all D-branes in the non-tachyonic 0'B orientifold, examine their world-volume anomalies and study orbifold compactifications. We find that the spectrum of the D-branes contains chiral fermions in the symmetric, antisymmetric…
We show that the boundary string field theory (BSFT) on unstable D0-branes in 2d string theory is equivalent to the double scaled c=1 matrix model (i.e. quadratic action), even though we naively expect many interaction terms in BSFT. It is…
We elucidate the relationship between supersymmetric D3-branes and chiral baryonic operators in the AdS/CFT correspondence. For supersymmetric backgrounds of the form AdS_5 x H, we characterize via holomorphy a large family of…
WZW models are abstract conformal field theories with an infinite dimensional symmetry which accounts for their integrability, and at the same time they have a sigma model description of closed string propagation on group manifolds which,…
We consider freely acting orbifold compactifications, which interpolate in two possible decompactification limits between the supersymmetric type II string and the non-supersymmetric type 0 string. In particular we discuss how D-branes are…
Recently a class of Type IIA orientifold models was constructed yielding just the fermions of the SM at the intersections of D6-branes wrapping a 6-torus. We generalize that construction to the case of Type IIB compactified on an…
In this thesis, consisting of two main parts, we study observational signatures of cosmic (super)strings in the context of D-brane inflation and properties of scalar perturbations on generic homogeneous inflating backgrounds. In the first…
We discuss supersymmetry breaking via 3-form fluxes in chiral supersymmetric type IIB orientifold vacua with D3- and D7-branes. After a general discussion of possible choices of fluxes allowing for stabilizing of a part of the moduli, we…