Related papers: Time-dependent Backgrounds in String Theory and Du…
We argue that the heterotic string does not have classical vacua corresponding to de Sitter space-times of dimension four or higher. The same conclusion applies to type II vacua in the absence of RR fluxes. Our argument extends prior…
We review the status of electric/magnetic duality for free gauge field theories in four space-time dimensions with emphasis on Maxwell theory and linearized Einstein gravity. Using the theory of vector and tensor spherical harmonics, we…
In recent years two intriguing observations have been made for N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and for superstrings on AdS5xS5: In the planar limit the computation of the spectrum is vastly simplified by the apparent integrability of the…
This thesis consists of two parts. In the first part we study some topics in $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmeric gauge theory and the relation to matrix models. We review the relevant non-perturbative techniques for computing effective…
We consider theories of three dimensional quantum gravity in Anti-de Sitter space which possess massless higher-spin gauge symmetry. The perturbative spectrum of the theory includes higher spin excitations which can be organized into vacuum…
Scale factor duality, a truncated form of time dependent T-duality, is a symmetry of string effective action in cosmological backgrounds interchanging small and large scale factors. The symmetry suggests a cosmological scenario…
String theory implies that field theories containing gravity are in a certain sense `products' of gauge theories. We make this product structure explicit up to two loops for the relatively simple case of N=8 supergravity four-point…
We study the low energy behaviour of N=(2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories in 1+1 dimensions, with orthogonal and symplectic gauge groups and matters in the fundamental representation. We observe supersymmetry breaking in super-Yang-Mills…
A new framework that fulfills the dual superconductor picture is proposed for the strongly-coupled Yang-Mills theory. This framework is based on the idea that at the classic level the strong-coupling limit of the theory vacuum behaves as a…
We continue the studies of our earlier proposal for an AdS/CFT correspondence for time-dependent supergravity backgrounds. We note that by performing a suitable change of variables, the dual super Yang-Mills theory lives on a flat base…
We study the conjectured connection between AdS bubbles (AdS solitons) and closed string tachyon condensations. We confirm that the entanglement entropy, which measures the degree of freedom, decreases under the tachyon condensation. The…
Using the dS/QFT correspondence in the context of inflation allows for the study of interesting, otherwise inaccessible physics. In particular, by studying inflation via its dual field theory at the boundary of the de Sitter space, it may…
We study string theory duals of the expanding boost invariant conformal gauge theory plasmas at strong coupling. The dual supergravity background is constructed as an asymptotic late-time expansion, corresponding to equilibration of the…
Due to the AdS/CFT correspondence the question of instability of Anti-de-Sitter spacetimes sits in the intersection of mathematical and numerical relativity, string theory, field theory and condensed matter physics. In this essay we revisit…
We investigate aspects of holographic duals to time-like warped AdS_3 space-times--which include G\"odel's universe--in string theory. Using worldsheet techniques similar to those that have been applied to AdS_3 backgrounds, we are able to…
We consider the critical behavior for a string theory near the Hagedorn temperature. We use the factorization of the worldsheet to isolate the Hagedorn divergences at all genera. We show that the Hagedorn divergences can be resummed by…
Duality symmetries for strings moving in non-trivial spacetime backgrounds are analysed. It is shown that, for backgrounds generated from compact WZW and coset models, such duality symmetries are exact to all orders in string perturbation…
The cosmological observations provide a strong evidence that there is a positive cosmological constant in our universe and thus the spacetime is asymptotical de Sitter space. The conjecture of gravity as the weakest force in the…
An introductory survey of some of the developments that have taken place in superstring theory in the past few years is presented. The main focus is on three particular dualities. The first one is the appearance of an 11th dimension in the…
The evolution of a closed NSR string is considered in the background of constant graviton and antisymmetric fields. The $\sigma$-model action is written in a manifestly supersymmetric form in terms of superfields. The first order formalism…