Related papers: Applied String Theory
Superstring theories are very promising theoretically, but the enormous landscape of string vacua and the (likely) very large underlying string scale imply that they may never be tested directly. Nevertheless, concrete constructions…
We review recent progress in embedding the supersymmetric standard model into string theory. We discuss how, with the incorporation of certain aspects of grand unification, a search strategy can be developed that allows to efficiently find…
We present an explicit calculation of the spectrum of a general class of string models, corresponding to Calabi-Yau flux compactifications with h_{1,2}>h_{1,1}>1 with leading perturbative and non-perturbative corrections, in which all…
The large number of moduli fields arising in a generic string theory compactification makes a complete computation of the low energy effective theory infeasible. A common strategy to solve this problem is to consider Calabi-Yau manifolds…
Attempts to connect string theory with astrophysical observation are hampered by a jargon barrier, where an intimidating profusion of orientifolds, Kahler potentials, etc. dissuades cosmologists from attempting to work out the astrophysical…
We consider superstring compactifications where both the classical description, in terms of a Calabi-Yau manifold, and also the quantum theory is known in terms of a Landau-Ginzburg orbifold model. In particular, we study (smooth)…
We show that the full non-perturbative topological string free energy, in the holomorphic limit, follows simply from a target space integrating out calculation of M2 states. Qualitatively, this is the same as the calculation performed by…
This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concepts of string theory and its impact on particle physics. The point of departure is a historical review of four decades of ST within the broader context of six decades of failed attempts…
We consider a class of conformal models describing closed strings in axially symmetric stationary magnetic flux tube backgrounds. These models are closed string analogs of the Landau model of a particle in a magnetic field or the model of…
We provide the first explicit example of Type IIB string theory compactification on a globally defined Calabi-Yau threefold with torsion which results in a four-dimensional effective theory with a non-Abelian discrete gauge symmetry. Our…
This article is devoted to an overview of superstring perturbation theory from the point of view of super Riemann surfaces. We aim to elucidate some of the subtleties of superstring perturbation that caused difficulty in the early…
This review talk focusses on some of the interesting developments in the area of superstring compactification that have occurred in the last couple of years. These include the discovery that ``mirror symmetric" pairs of Calabi--Yau spaces,…
We investigate the field dependence of the gauge couplings of $N=1$ string vacua from the point of view of the low energy effective quantum field theory. We find that field-theoretical considerations severely constrain the form of the…
The structure of stringy quantum corrections to four-dimensional effective theories is particularly interesting for string phenomenology and attempts to stabilize moduli. We consider the heterotic string compactified on a Calabi-Yau space.…
Calabi-Yau manifolds have played a key role in both mathematics and physics, and are particularly important for deriving realistic models of particle physics from string theory. Unfortunately, very little is known about the explicit metrics…
Identifying string theory vacua with desired physical properties at low energies requires searching through high-dimensional solution spaces - collectively referred to as the string landscape. We highlight that this search problem is…
The construction of mirror symmetry in the heterotic string is reviewed in the context of Calabi-Yau and Landau-Ginzburg compactifications. This framework has the virtue of providing a large subspace of the configuration space of the…
We propose a refinement of the physical picture describing different vacua in bosonic string theory. The vacua with closed strings and open strings are connected by the string field theory version of the Higgs mechanism, generalizing the…
We investigate the following three consistency conditions for constructing string theories on orbifolds: i) the invariance of the energy-momentum tensors under twist operators, ii) the duality of amplitudes and iii) modular invariance of…
In these lectures, two different aspects of brane world scenarios in 5d gravity or string theory are discussed. In the first two lectures, work on how warped compactifications of 5d gravity theories can change the guise of the hierarchy…