Related papers: Orientifold Precis
We compute the one-loop renormalization of the Planck mass for type II string theories compactified to four dimensions on symmetric orbifolds that preserve ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry. Depending on the orbifold, the effect can be as large as…
Negative mass brane-like objects known as orientifolds are crucial in the construction of all presently understood realistic string compactifications and I review in general the link between negative energy objects and the existence of a…
We attempt to find a rigorous formulation for the massive type IIA orientifold compactifications of string theory introduced in hep-th/0505160. An approximate double T-duality converts this background into IIA string theory on a twisted…
We investigate the perturbative and non-perturbative correspondence of a class of four dimensional dual string constructions with N=4 and N=2 supersymmetry, obtained as Z_2 or Z_2 x Z_2 orbifolds of the type II, heterotic and type I string.…
An analysis of a special class of type II string theory compactifications is presented. We focus on recent work in one particular orientifold background of intersecting brane models and the resulting four dimensional gauge group and matter…
We choose such boundary conditions for open IIB superstring theory which preserve N=1 SUSY. The explicite solution of the boundary conditions yields effective theory which is symmetric under world-sheet parity transformation…
We derive topological string amplitudes on local Calabi-Yau manifolds in terms of polynomials in finitely many generators of special functions. These objects are defined globally in the moduli space and lead to a description of mirror…
We study the vacuum structure of compactifications of type II string theories on orientifolds with SU(3)xSU(3) structure. We argue that generalised geometry enables us to treat these non-geometric compactifications using a supergravity…
We explicitly extract the structure of higher-derivative curvature-squared terms at genus 0 and 1 in the d=4 heterotic string effective action compactified on symmetric orbifolds by computing on-shell S-matrix superstring amplitudes. In…
We study T^2 orientifolds and their moduli space in detail. Geometrical insight into the involutive automorphisms of T^2 allows a straightforward derivation of the moduli space of orientifolded T^2s. Using c=3 Gepner models, we compare the…
We construct the world-sheet interface which preserves space-time supersymmetry in type II superstring theories in the Green-Schwarz formalism. This is an analog of the conformal interface in two-dimensional conformal field theory. We show…
We consider perturbative Type II superstring theory in the covariant NSR formalism in the presence of NSNS and RR backgrounds. A concrete example that we have in mind is the geometry of D3-branes which in the near-horizon region is AdS_5 x…
With model building applications in mind, we collect and develop basic techniques to analyze the landscape of D7-branes in type IIB compact Calabi-Yau orientifolds, in three different pictures: F-theory, the D7 worldvolume theory and…
This is a review of the new manifestly spacetime-supersymmetric description of the superstring. The new description contains N=2 worldsheet supersymmetry, and is related by a field redefinition to the standard RNS description. It is…
We show that Dirichlet-branes, extended objects defined by mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions in string theory, break half of the supersymmetries of the type~II superstring and carry a complete set of electric and magnetic…
We introduce a new class of non-compact backgrounds of Type IIB string theory preserving eight supercharges by combining S-folds and non-perturbative 7-branes wrapping orbifolds, and study the four-dimensional superconformal field theories…
Given a family of world-sheet superconformal field theories related by marginal deformation, we can formulate superstring field theory based on any of these world-sheet theories. Background independence is the statement that these different…
We study type IIA string theory compactified on Calabi-Yau fourfolds and heterotic string theory compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds times a two-torus. We derive the resulting effective theories which have two space-time dimensions and…
We propose a new cosmological scenario which resolves the conventional initial singularity problem. The space-time geometry has an unconventional time-like singularity on a lower dimensional hypersurface, with localized energy density. The…
An orientifold of Type-IIB theory on a $K3$ realized as a $Z_2$ orbifold is constructed which corresponds to F-theory compactification on a Calabi-Yau orbifold with Hodge numbers $(51, 3)$. The T-dual of this model is analogous to an…