Related papers: String Models with Massive boson-fermion Degenerac…
In this work, we consider a network of cosmic strings to explain possible deviation from \Lambda CDM behaviour. We use different observational data to constrain the model and show that a small but non zero contribution from the string…
In the standard picture of cosmic strings, cusps are generic features of Nambu-Goto loops where the string momentarily reaches the speed of light. They have a characteristic sharp profile, following $y \sim x^{2/3}$ in the $(x,y)$ plane,…
We investigate mechanisms that can trigger supersymmetry breaking in open string vacua. The focus is on backgrounds with D-branes and orientifold planes that have an exact string description, and allow to study some of the quantum effects…
The emergence of free fermionic string models with solely the MSSM charged spectrum below the string scale provides further evidence to the assertion that the true string vacuum is connected to the Z_2 x Z_2 orbifold in the vicinity of the…
We show the existence of realistic vacua in string theory whose observable sector has exactly the matter content of the MSSM. This is achieved by compactifying the E_8 x E_8 heterotic superstring on a smooth Calabi-Yau threefold with an…
In this thesis we investigate the microphysics of cosmic strings in non-minimal quantum field theories. In particular we consider theories in which fermion fields couple to the strings, and those with larger symmetry groups, such as grand…
After reviewing the cosmological constant problem - why is Lambda not huge? - I outline the two basic approaches that had emerged by the late 1980s, and note that each made a clear prediction. Precision cosmological experiments now indicate…
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…
This dissertation consists of a comprehensive and pedagogical review of Maldacena's original derivation of the AdS/CFT correspondence and the main topics of string theory necessary to understand it. The large $N$ expansion of Yang-Mills…
We point out that the moduli sector of the $(2,2)$ string compactification with its nonperturbatively preserved non-compact symmetries is a framework to study global topological defects. Based on the target space modular invariance of the…
Metastable vacua in supersymmetric QCD in the presence of single and multitrace deformations of the superpotential are explored, with the aim of obtaining an acceptable phenomenology. The metastable vacua appear at one loop, have a broken…
Grand unified theories can admit cosmic strings with fermion zero modes. Such zero modes result in the string being current-carrying and the formation of stable remnants, vortons. However, the string zero modes do not automaticall survive…
We study the stability of supersymmetry breaking vacuum in the presence of cosmic strings arising in the messenger sector. For certain ranges of the couplings, the desired supersymmetry breaking vacua become unstable against decay into…
Dynamical supersymmetry breaking in a long-lived meta-stable vacuum is a phenomenologically viable possibility. This relatively unexplored avenue leads to many new models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. Here, we present a surprisingly…
We reexamine the vacuum structure of three-dimensional quantum chromodynamics (QCD$_3$) with gauge group $SU(N)$, $N_f$ fundamental quark flavors, and a level-$k$ Chern-Simons term. This analysis can be reliably carried out in the…
The $\mathbf{O}(D,D)$ covariant generalized metric, postulated as a truly fundamental variable, can describe novel geometries where the notion of Riemannian metric ceases to exist. Here we quantize a closed string upon such backgrounds and…
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that may be formed at phase transitions in the very early universe. At one time they were thought to provide a possible origin for the density inhomogeneities from which galaxies eventually…
A bosonic string in twenty six dimensions is effectively reduced to four dimensions by eleven Majorana fermions which are vectors in the bosonic represetation SO(d-1,1). By dividing the fermions in two groups, actions can be written down…
There are many conceivable possibilities of embedding the MSSM in string theory. These proceedings describe an approach which is based on grand unification in higher dimensions. This allows one to obtain global string-derived models with…
Recently, Kim, Shiu and Vafa proposed general consistency conditions for six dimensional supergravity theories with minimal supersymmetry coming from couplings to strings. We test them in explicit perturbative orientifold models in order to…