Related papers: A note on the Near Flat Limit for strings in the M…

The recent developments towards the possible non-perturbative formulation of string/M theory using supersymmetric Yang-Mills matrix models (SYMs) are discussed. In the first part, we give a critical review on the status of our present…

Massive type IIA supergravity admits a warped AdS_6 x S^4 vacuum solution, which is expected to be dual to an N=2, D=5 super-conformal Yang-Mills theory. We study solutions for strings rotating or spinning in this background. The warp…

Target space modular symmetries relevant to string loop threshold corrections are studied for $Z_N$ orbifold compactified string theories containing Wilson line background fields.

We present a string theory that reproduces the large-$N$ expansion of two dimensional Yang-Mills gauge theory on arbitrary surfaces. First, a new class of topological sigma models is introduced, with path integrals localized to the moduli…

A class of non-supersymmetric string backgrounds can be constructed using twists that involve space-time fermion parity. We propose a non-perturbative definition of string theory in these backgrounds via gauge theories with supersymmetry…

It appears that string-M-theory is the only viable candidate for a complete theory of matter. It must therefore contain both gravity and QCD. What is particularly surprising is the recent conjecture that strongly coupled QCD matrix elements…

We formulate matrix string models on a class of exact string backgrounds with non constant RR-flux parameterized by a holomorphic prepotential function and with manifest (2,2) supersymmetry. This lifts these string theories to M-theory…

String theory dynamics on certain fivebrane supertube backgrounds is described by an exactly solvable null-gauged WZW model. We use this description to compute the spectrum of closed string excitations on the three-charge non-supersymmetric…

Berenstein, Maldacena, and Nastase have proposed, as a limit of the strong form of the AdS/CFT correspondence, that string theory in a particular plane wave background is dual to a certain subset of operators in the N=4 super-Yang-Mills…

We compute the spectra associated with various semiclassical string states that propagate over $\mathcal{N}=2$ Gaiotto-Maldacena backgrounds. As an interesting special case, for the Abelian T- dual solution, we discover giant magnon and…

We consider a D-brane probe in unstable string background associated with flux branes. The twist in spacetime metric reponsible for the supersymmetry breaking is shown to manifest itself in mixing of open Wilson lines with the phases of…

We construct a locally supersymmetric worldsheet formulation of a non-Abelian Ramond-Neveu-Schwarz (NARNS) string theory where the string coordinates are noncommuting matrices in a group U(N). This is described by the two dimensional…

We use the flat space limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence to derive a simple relation between the 2 to 2 scattering amplitude of massless string states in type IIB superstring theory on ten-dimensional Minkowski space and a scaling limit of…

We describe the magnetic phase of SU(N) $\mathcal{N}=2$ Super Yang-Mills theories in the self-dual Omega background in terms of a new class of multi-cut matrix models. These arise from a non-perturbative completion of topological strings in…

We discuss the equivalence between a string theory and the two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory with SU(N) gauge group for finite N. We find a sector which can be interpreted as a sum of covering maps from closed string world-sheets to the…

We propose and study a holographic dual of the type IIB superstring theory of AdS_5 x S^5 in terms of the N=4 superconformal Yang-Mills theory on dS_4. We use the bulk to boundary formalism to evaluate the boundary correlation functions and…

We revisit semiclassical strings, in particular we focus on rigidly rotating strings, in the near horizon geometry of two orthogonal stacks of NS5-branes (I-branes) using the string sigma model. We determine the conserved charges for the…

We review some recent results on the calculation of renormalization constants in Yang-Mills theory using open bosonic strings. The technology of string amplitudes, supplemented with an appropriate continuation off the mass shell, can be…

We formulate a set of consistency conditions appropriate to worldsheet form factors in the massive, integrable but non-relativistic, light-cone gauge fixed AdS(5) x S**5 string theory. We then perturbatively verify that these conditions…

Effective string theory describes the physics of long confining strings in theories, like Yang-Mills theory, where the mass gap $M_{gap}^2$ is of the same order as the string tension $T$. In $2+1$ dimensions, there is a class of confining…