Related papers: Non-perturbative F-terms across lines of BPS stabi…
We consider Euclidean D4 and D6-branes filling the whole ${\bf R}^4$ and ${\bf R}^6$ space, respectively. In both cases, with a constant background B-field turned on for D4-branes, we propose actions which are the same as the DBI actions up…
We revisit the issue of M5-brane instanton corrections to the superpotential in F-theory compactifications on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds. Elaborating on concrete geometries, we compare the instanton zero modes for…
We study heterotic/type I duality in d=8,9 uncompactified dimensions. We consider the special (``BPS saturated'') F^4 and R^4 terms in the effective one-loop heterotic action, which are expected to be non-perturbatively exact. Under the…
We investigate, at the microscopic level, the compatibility between D-term potentials from world-volume fluxes on D7-branes and non-perturbative superpotentials arising from gaugino condensation on a different stack of D7-branes. This is…
In these lecture notes duality tests and instanton effects in supersymmetric vacua of string theory are discussed. A broad overview of BPS-saturated terms in the effective actions is first given. Their role in testing the consistency of…
We use string field theory to fix the normalization of the D-instanton corrections to the superpotential involving the moduli fields of type II string theory compactified on an orientifold of a Calabi-Yau threefold in the absence of fluxes.…
We study a class of type I string models with supersymmetry broken on the world-volume of some D-branes and vanishing tree-level potential. Despite the non-supersymmetric spectrum, supersymmetry is non-linearly realized on these D-branes,…
F-theory on K3 admits non-BPS states that are represented as string junctions extending between 7-branes. We classify the non-BPS states which are guaranteed to be stable on account of charge conservation and the existence of a region of…
We derive the explicit formula for fractional BPS lumps (or fractional instantons) in the $\mathbb{C}P^{N-1}$ nonlinear sigma model on a two-dimensional torus under various shift-clock twisted boundary conditions. After regularizing the…
We study instanton-corrected renormalization group flow in the two dimensional sigma models and four dimensional gauge theory. In two dimensions we do that by replacing the non-linear supersymmetric ${\IC\IP}^{N-1}$ model by the gauged…
We obtain new intersecting 5-brane, string and pp-wave solutions in the heterotic string on a torus and on a K3 manifold. In the former case the 5-brane is supported by Yang-Mills instantons, and in the latter case both the 5-brane and the…
Instantons play a crucial role in understanding non-perturbative dynamics in quantum field theories, including those with spontaneously broken gauge symmetries. In the broken phase, finite-size instanton-like configurations are no longer…
We review how to describe the stable non-BPS D-branes of type II string theory from a classical perspective, and discuss the properties of the space-time geometry associated to these configurations. This is relevant in order to see whether…
We study non-perturbative effects due to a heterotic M-theory five-brane wrapped on Calabi-Yau threefold. We show that such instantons contribute to derivative F-terms described recently by Beasley and Witten rather than to the…
In this Ph.D. thesis, we study some aspects of strings and branes. We mainly focus on anomalous D-brane couplings and on non-supersymmetric branes. In Chapter 2, we illustrate three key concepts in a field theory context: duality,…
A connection between weak and strong tension limits and their perturbative corrections is discussed. New twistor-like models based on D=4, N=1 tensionless superstring and superbrane with tensor central charges are studied. The presence of…
We construct new supersymmetric NS(-1)-branes supported by the $SU(2)\times SU(2)$ 't Hooft instantons in ${\cal N}=1$, $D=4$ supergravity. We show that although the magnetic 3-form string flux is invariant under the variation of instanton…
The effective four-dimensional supergravity of M-theory compactified on the orbifold S^1/Z_2 and a Calabi-Yau threefold includes in general moduli supermultiplets describing massless modes of five-branes. For each brane, one of these fields…
The supersymmetric Born-Infeld actions describing gauge-fixed D-5- and D-3-branes in ambient six-dimensional (6d) spacetime are constructed in superspace. A new 6d action is the (1,0) supersymmetric extension of the 6d Born-Infeld action.…
We propose a novel first-order formalism for a type of $K$-brane systems. An example solution is presented and studied. We illustrate how the noncanonical kinetic term can affect the properties of the model, such as the stability of the…