Related papers: A gauge theory analog of some "stringy" D-instanto…
We describe a class of 4d N=1 compactifications of the $SO(32)$ heterotic/type I string theory which are destabilized by nonperturbatively generated superpotentials. In the type I description, the destabilizing superpotential is generated…
According to a recent classification of 6d (1,0) theories within F-theory there are only six "pure" 6d gauge theories which have a UV superconformal fixed point. The corresponding gauge groups are $SU(3),SO(8),F_4,E_6,E_7$, and $E_8$. These…
In gauge theories with continuous groups there exist classical solutions whose energy vanishes in the thermodynamic limit (in any dimension). The existence of these super-instantons is intimately related to the fact that even at short…
By reduction along the time direction, black holes in 4 dimensions yield instantons in 3 dimensions. Each of these instantons contributes individually at order $\exp(-|Q|/g_s)$ to certain protected couplings in the three-dimensional…
We consider gauged Wess-Zumino models based on the non compact group $SU(2,1)$. It is shown that by vector gauging the maximal compact subgroup $U(2)$ the resulting backgrounds obey the gravity-dilaton one loop string vacuum equations of…
In this note, we study D-brane instantons which intersect N=1 supersymmetric configurations of space-filling D-branes in general Calabi-Yau compactifications of type IIB string theory. Our focus is on rigid ``stringy instantons'' -- those…
We give a pedagogical introduction to D-brane instanton effects in vacuum configurations with open and unoriented strings. We focus on quiver gauge theories for unoriented D-branes at orbifold singularities and describe in some detail the…
We systematically investigate instanton corrections from wrapped Euclidean D-branes to the matter field superpotential of various classes of N=1 supersymmetric D-brane models in four dimensions. Both gauge invariance and the counting of…
D-instantons are used to probe the near-horizon geometry of D3-branes systems on orbifold spaces. For fractional D3-branes, D-instanton calculus correctly reproduces the gauge beta-function and U(1)_R anomaly of the corresponding N=2…
In this thesis we discuss non-perturbative phenomena emerging in gauge and in string/supergravity theories. We compute the partition function of 5D minimal supersymmetric U(1) gauge theory with extra adjoint matter in general…
It is well known that D-brane instantons can generate contributions to the effective superpotential of gauge theories living on D-branes which are perturbatively forbidden by global U(1) symmetries. We extend this idea to theories with…
Motivated by possible implications on the problem of moduli stabilization and other phenomenological aspects, we study D-brane instanton effects in flux compactifications. We focus on a local model and compute non-perturbative interactions…
We study instanton contributions to the superpotential of local F-theory compactifications which could potentially be used to engineer models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. These instantons correspond to Euclidean 3-branes which form…
In this contribution we describe how to obtain instanton effects in four dimensional gauge theories by computing string scattering amplitudes in D3/D(-1) brane systems. In particular we study a system of fractional D3/D(-1) branes in a Z_2…
We give a detailed microscopic derivation of gauge and stringy instanton generated superpotentials for gauge theories living on D3-branes at Z_3-orientifold singularities. Gauge instantons are generated by D(-1)-branes and lead to Affleck,…
The non-perturbative dynamics of quantum field theories is studied using theoretical tools inspired by string formalism. Two main lines are developed: the analysis of stringy instantons in a class of four-dimensional N=2 gauge theories and…
D-instanton calculus has proved to be able to probe the AdS near horizon geometry for $N$ D-branes systems which, when decoupled from gravity, yield four dimensional superconformal gauge theories with various matter content. In this work we…
We discuss a string model where a conformal four-dimensional N=2 gauge theory receives corrections to its gauge kinetic functions from "stringy" instantons. These contributions are explicitly evaluated by exploiting the localization…
We consider two simple examples of multi-instanton configurations in type II 4d N=1 superstring compactifications. The first one involves O(1) and U(1) D2-instantons embedded in T^6/(Z_2 x Z_2') geometry with SU(4) gauge symmetry coming…
It has been proposed by Sen that the D-instanton effects in string theory can be systematically determined through the framework of open-closed string field theory. We apply the latter formalism to analyze the D-instanton corrections to the…