Related papers: A Connection between Twistors and Superstring Sigm…
In this thesis, two aspects of string theory are discussed, tensionless strings and supersymmetric sigma models. The equivalent to a massless particle in string theory is a tensionless string. Even almost 30 years after it was first…
We review aspects of twistor theory, its aims and achievements spanning thelast five decades. In the twistor approach, space--time is secondary with events being derived objects that correspond to compact holomorphic curves in a complex…
The subject of this thesis are various ways to construct four-dimensional quantum field theories from string theory. In a first part we study the generation of a supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, coupled to an adjoint chiral superfield,…
It was recently shown by Witten that B-type open topological string theory with the supertwistor space CP^{3|4} as a target space is equivalent to holomorphic Chern-Simons (hCS) theory on the same space. This hCS theory in turn is…
This paper presents a worldsheet theory describing holomorphic maps to twistor space with N fermionic directions. The theory is anomaly free when N=8. Via the Penrose transform, the vertex operators correspond to an N=8 Einstein…
We construct spectra of supersymmetric higher spin theories in D=4, 5 and 7 from twistors describing massless (super-)particles on AdS spaces. A massless twistor transform is derived in a geometric way from classical kinematics. Relaxing…
Previous attempts to determine the worldsheet origin of the pure spinor formalism were not completely successful, but introduced important concepts that seem to be connected to its fundamental structure, e.g., emergent supersymmetry and the…
Non-supersymmetric Yang-Mill gauge theory in 4-dimension is shown to be dual to 4-dimensional non-supersymmetric string theory in a twisted AdS2(n)xT2 spacetime background. The partition function of a generic hadron is calculated to…
We studied the quantum dynamics of six dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(2, 0)$ superconformal field theory (the QNG theory). We developed the spinor technique for six-dimensional quantum field theories. By combining this technique with the…
We study a supersymmetric theory twisted on a K\"ahler four manifold $M=\Sigma_1 \times \Sigma_2 ,$ where $\Sigma_{1,2}$ are 2D Riemann surfaces. We demonstrate that it possesses a "left-moving" conformal stress tensor on $\Sigma_1$…
Ambitwistor strings are chiral (holomorphic) strings whose target is the space of complex null geodesics, ambitwistor space. We introduce twistor representations of ambitwistor space in 6 and 5 dimensions. In 6d the twistor representation…
We show that the equations of motion for (free) integer higher spin gauge fields can be formulated as twisted self-duality conditions on the higher spin curvatures of the spin-$s$ field and its dual. We focus on the case of four spacetime…
This thesis considers two different aspects of string theory, the tensionless limit of the string and supersymmetric sigma models. The tensionless limit is used to find a IIB supergravity background generated by a tensionless string.…
Supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models are obtained from linear sigma models by imposing supersymmetric constraints. If we introduce auxiliary chiral and vector superfields, these constraints can be expressed by D-terms and F-terms depending…
We study three-dimensional ${\mathcal N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories on ${\Sigma_g \times S^1}$ with a topological twist along $\Sigma_g$, a genus-$g$ Riemann surface. The twisted supersymmetric index at genus $g$ and the correlation…
We consider M-theory in the presence of M parallel M5-branes probing a transverse A_{N-1} singularity. This leads to a superconformal theory with (1,0) supersymmetry in six dimensions. We compute the supersymmetric partition function of…
In this lecture I summarize recent developments on strings propagating in curved spacetime. Exact conformal field theories that describe gravitational backgrounds such as black holes and more intricate gravitational singularities have been…
We study the higher derivative corrections that occur in type II superstring theories in ten dimensions or less. Assuming invariance under a discrete duality group G(Z) we show that the generic functions of the scalar fields that occur can…
We provide a systematic way of dimensional reduction for $(4+2n)$-dimensional $U(N)$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theories ($n=0,1,2,3$) and their mixtures compactified on two-dimensional tori with background magnetic fluxes, which…
We establish direct connections at several levels between quantum groups and supergroups associated to bar-consistent super Cartan datum by constructing an automorphism (called twistor) in the setting of covering quantum groups. The…