Related papers: Summing over all Topologies in CDT String Field Th…
I present a brief review on some of the recent developments in topological quantum field theory. These include topological string theory, topological Yang-Mills theory and Chern-Simons gauge theory. It is emphasized how the application of…
We identify and examine a generalization of topological sigma models suitable for coupling to topological open strings. The targets are Kahler manifolds with a real structure, i.e. with an involution acting as a complex conjugation,…
For non-critical string theory the partition function reduces to an integral over moduli space after integrating over matter fields. The moduli integrand is known analytically for genus one surfaces. The formalism of dynamical…
We construct the string field Hamiltonian for $c=1-\frac{6}{m(m+1)}$ string theory in the temporal gauge. In order to do so, we first examine the Schwinger-Dyson equations of the matrix chain models and propose the continuum version of…
It has been conjectured recently that the field theory limit of the topological string partition functions, including all higher genus contributions, for the family of CY3-folds giving rise to N=2 4D SU(N) gauge theory via geometric…
In some string theories, e.g. SO(32) heterotic string theory on Calabi-Yau manifolds, a massless field with a tree level potential can acquire a tachyonic mass at the one loop level, forcing us to quantize the theory around a new background…
The aim of the causal dynamical triangulations approach is to define nonperturbatively a quantum theory of gravity as the continuum limit of a lattice-regularized model of dynamical geometry. My aim in this paper is to give a concise yet…
In this work, we study a class of higher derivative couplings in the string effective action arising at the junction of topological string theory and supersymmetric gauge theories in the $\Omega$-background. They generalise a series of…
We show that General Relativity can be formulated as a constrained topological theory for flat 2-connections associated to the Poincar\'e 2-group. Matter can be consistently coupled to gravity in this formulation. We also show that the edge…
In these lectures I discuss various unsolved problems of string theory and their relations to quantum gravity, 3d Ising model, large N QCD, and quantum cosmology. No solutions are presented but some new and perhaps useful approaches are…
I review some of the recent progress in two-dimensional string theory, which is formulated as a sum over surfaces embedded in one dimension.
String field theories exhibit exponential suppression of interactions among the component fields at high energies due to infinite-derivative factors such as $e^{\ell^2 \Box / 2}$ in the vertices. This nonlocality has hindered the…
The standard, gapped entanglement boundary condition in Chern Simons theory breaks the topological invariance of the theory by introducing a complex structure on the entangling surface. This produces an infinite dimensional subregion…
We consider the theory obtained by adding to the usual string frame dilaton gravity action specially constructed higher derivative terms motivated by the limited curvature construction of [MukhanovET1992a] and determine the spatially…
The actions of the ``$R=T$'' and string-inspired theories of gravity in (1+1) dimensions are generalized into one single action which is characterized by two functions. We discuss differing interpretations of the matter stress-energy…
We derive loop equations in a scalar matrix field theory. We discuss their solutions in terms of simplicial string theory -- the theory describing embeddings of two--dimensional simplicial complexes into the space--time of the matrix field…
String theory is the leading contemporary framework to explore the synthesis of quantum mechanics with gravity. String phenomenology aims to study string theory while maintaining contact with observational data. The fermionic $Z_2\times…
Universal topological data of topologically ordered phases can be captured by topological quantum field theory in continuous space time by taking the limit of low energies and long wavelengths. While previous continuum field-theoretical…
In six dimensions, cancellation of gauge, gravitational, and mixed anomalies strongly constrains the set of quantum field theories which can be coupled consistently to gravity. We show that for some classes of six-dimensional supersymmetric…
It is argued that quantum gravity has an interpretation as a topological field theory provided a certain constraint from the path intergral measure is respected. The constraint forces us to couple gauge and matter fields to gravity for…