Related papers: Discussing string extensions of the Standard Model…

After reviewing the general structure of supersymmetric intersecting brane world models, we discuss the issue of stringy gauge coupling unification for a natural class of MSSM-like models.

BF theory is a topological theory that can be seen as a natural generalization of 3-dimensional gravity to arbitrary dimensions. Here we show that the coupling to point particles that is natural in three dimensions generalizes in a direct…

I discuss tree-level amplitudes in cubic topological string field theory, showing that a certain family of gauge conditions leads to an A-infty algebra of tree-level string products which define a potential describing the dynamics of…

We study the objects (called spectral branes or S-branes) which are obtained by imposing non-local spectral boundary conditions at the boundary of the world sheet of the bosonic string. They possess many nice properties which make them an…

We study conformal field theory correlation functions relevant for string diagrams with open strings that stretch between several parallel branes of different dimensions. In the framework of conformal field theory, they involve boundary…

In a tachyon model proposed by Minahan and Zwiebach and derived in the boundary string field theory, we construct various new solutions which correspond to nontrivial brane configurations in string theory. Our solutions include Dp-D(p-2)…

We propose a minimal embedding of the Standard Model spectrum in a D-brane configuration of type I string theory. The SU(3) color and SU(2) weak interactions arise from two different collections of branes. The model is neither grand unified…

We give a basic account of supersymmetric open strings and D-branes using the Green-Schwarz formalism, obtaining a manifestly spacetime supersymmetric description of their spectrum. In addition we discuss a mechanism whereby some of the…

We review two types of D-branes processes where open strings are created. In the first type, a closed string incident on a collection of D-branes is converted into a number of open strings running along them. For the case of threebranes we…

As was shown by Aharony, Hanany and Kol and independently by Sen, type IIB string theory admits configurations where strings of different charges (p_i, q_i) form so-called string networks. We argue that these networks blow up into…

A generalization of the Maldacena conjecture asserts that Type IIB string theory on $\S^5/\Z_3$ is equivalent to a certain supersymmetric $SU(N)^3$ gauge theory with bifundamental matter. To test this assertion, we analyze the wrapped…

We describe the construction of string theory models with semirealistic spectrum in a sector of (anti) D3-branes located at an orbifold singularity at the bottom of a highly warped throat geometry, which is a generalisation of the…

The minimal embedding of the Standard Model in type I string theory is described. The SU(3) color and SU(2) weak interactions arise from two different collections of branes. The correct prediction of the weak angle is obtained for a string…

These lectures present some topics of string phenomenology and contain two parts. In the first part, I review the possibility of lowering the string scale in the TeV region, that provides a theoretical framework for solving the mass…

The past year has seen enormous progress in string theory. It has become clear that all of the different string theories are different limits of a single theory. Moreover, in certain limits, one obtains a new, eleven-dimensional structure…

We consider two Dirichlet p-branes with lower dimensional brane charges and their scattering. We first calculate the cylinder amplitude of open string with suitable boundary conditions. We compare this result with that in the IIB matrix…

We explicitly derive a complementary pair of four-dimensional M-theory brane-world models, linked by a five-dimensional bulk, each of which has a unique anomaly-free chiral spectrum. This is done via resolution of local consistency…

I describe the string solutions in the standard electroweak model and argue that they may be stabilized by quark, lepton or other bound states. I then reinterpret the sphaleron in terms of electroweak strings and show that it can be viewed…

We study in some detail the properties of a previously proposed new class of string and brane models whose world-sheet (world-volume) actions are built with a modified reparametrization-invariant measure of integration and which do not…

We review recent attempts to try to combine global issues of string compactifications, like moduli stabilisation, with local issues, like semi-realistic D-brane constructions. We list the main problems encountered, and outline a possible…