Related papers: Chameleonic dilaton, nonequivalent frames, and the…
The standard formulation of the cosmological constant problem is based on one critical assumption---the spacetime is homogeneous and isotropic, which is true only on cosmological scales. However, this problem is caused by extremely small…
While the fundamental object in Riemannian geometry is a metric, closed string theories call for us to put a two-form gauge field and a scalar dilaton on an equal footing with the metric. Here we propose a novel differential geometry which…
We consider quantum \cal{N} = 4 super Yang-Mills theory interacting in a covariant way with \cal{N} = 4 conformal supergravity. The induced large N effective action for such a theory is calculated on a dilaton-gravitational background using…
In these lectures we review the constraints on particle physics models arising from cosmic defects. This includes constraints on theories where stable cosmic string loops, or vortons result. These can arise in supersymmetric theories. We…
A wide class of dilatation symmetric effective actions in higher dimensions leads to a vanishing four-dimensional cosmological constant. This requires no tuning of parameters and results from the absence of an allowed potential for the…
The zero-momentum ghost-dilaton is a non-primary BRST physical state present in every bosonic closed string background. It is given by the action of the BRST operator on another state $\x$, but remains nontrivial in the semirelative BRST…
We consider deformations of D-brane systems induced by a change in the closed string background in the framework of bosonic open-closed string field theory, where it is possible to unambiguously tame infrared divergences originating from…
We investigate the cosmological consequences of particle physics theories that admit stable loops of superconducting cosmic string - {\it vortons}. General symmetry breaking schemes are considered, in which strings are formed at one energy…
We derive and study a class of cosmological and wormhole solutions of low-energy effective string field theory. We consider a general four-dimensional string effective action where moduli of the compactified manifold and the electromagnetic…
Finding a consistent way to stabilize the various moduli fields which generically appear in string theory compactifications, is essential if string theory is to make contact with the physics we see around us. We present, in this paper, a…
We consider the implications of the swampland conjectures on scalar-tensor theories defined in the Einstein frame in which the scalar interaction is screened. We show that chameleon models are not in the swampland provided the coupling to…
A chameleonic solution to the cosmological constant problem and the non-equivalence of different conformal frames at the quantum level have been recently suggested [Phys. Rev. D82 (2010) 044006]. In this article we further discuss the…
The dilaton theorem implies that the contribution to the dilaton potential from cubic interactions of all levels must be cancelled by the elementary quartic self-coupling of dilatons. We use this expectation to test the quartic structure of…
We show that in generic no-scale models in string theory, the flat, expanding cosmological evolutions found at the quantum level can be attracted to a "quantum no-scale regime", where the no-scale structure is restored asymptotically. In…
Exact solutions of the Einstein field equations with cosmic string and space varying cosmological constant, viz., $\Lambda= \Lambda(r)$, in the energy-momentum tensors are presented. Three cases have been studied: where variable…
Classical solutions for a four-dimensional Minkowskian string effective action and an Euclidean one with cosmological constant term are derived. The former corresponds to electrovac solutions whereas the later solutions are identified as…
A brief discussion is presented assessing the achievements and challenges of string phenomenology: the subfield dedicated to study the potential for string theory to make contact with particle physics and cosmology. Building from the well…
Four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton theory admits asymptotically flat extremal dyonic solutions for an infinite discrete sequence of the coupling constant values. The quantization condition arises as consequence of regularity of the…
This article critically reviews the proposal for addressing the cosmological constant problem within the framework of supersymmetric large extra dimensions (SLED), as recently proposed in hep-th/0304256. After a brief restatement of the…
The trace anomaly and the cosmological constant problem are two typical breakdowns when applying the quantum principle to a general covariant or gravitational system. A quantum theory of spacetime reference frame is proposed and reviewed.…