Related papers: Null cosmological singularities and free strings: …
We consider string theory in a time dependent orbifold with a null singularity. The singularity separates a contracting universe from an expanding universe, thus constituting a big crunch followed by a big bang. We quantize the theory both…
In this manuscript we prove global existence and linear asymptotic behavior of small solutions to nonlinear wave equations. We assume that the quadratic part of the nonlinearity satisfies a non-resonant condition which is a generalization…
A generalization of the limiting procedure of Penrose, which allows non-zero cosmological constants and takes into account metrics that contain homogeneous functions of degree zero, is presented. It is shown that any spacetime which admits…
We consider time dependent harmonic oscillators and construct a parametrix to the corresponding Schr\"odinger equation using Gaussian wavepackets. This parametrix of Gaussian wavepackets is precise and tractable. Using this parametrix we…
We describe exact cosmological solutions with rotation and expansion in the low-energy effective string theory. These models are spatially homogeneous (closed Bianchi type IX) and they belong to the family of shear-free metrics which are…
Field theories based on non-commutative spacetimes exhibit very distinctive nonlocal effects which mix the ultraviolet with the infrared in bizarre ways. In particular if the time coordinate is involved in the non-commutativity the theory…
In perturbative string theory, one is generally interested in asymptotic observables, such as the S-matrix in flat spacetime, and boundary correlation functions in anti-de Sitter spacetime. However, there are backgrounds in which such…
It has recently been shown that the classical electric and magnetic fields which satisfy the source-free Maxwell equations can be linearly mapped into the real and imaginary parts of a transverse-vector wave function which in consequence…
If the graviton possesses an arbitrarily small (but nonvanishing) mass, perturbation theory implies that cosmic strings have a nonzero Newtonian potential. Nevertheless in Einstein gravity, where the graviton is strictly massless, the…
We prove the nonlinear stability of the asymptotic behavior of perturbations of subfamilies of Kasner solutions in the contracting time direction within the class of polarised $T^2$-symmetric solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations with…
In this article, we formulate the study of the unitary time evolution of systems consisting of an infinite number of uncoupled time-dependent harmonic oscillators in mathematically rigorous terms. We base this analysis on the theory of a…
The appearance of space/time non-commutativity in theories of open strings with a constant non-diagonal background metric is considered. We show that, even if the space-time coordinates commute, when there is a metric with a time-space…
Key issues of classical and quantum strings in gravitational plane waves, shock waves and spacetime singularities are synthetically understood. This includes the string mass and mode number excitations, energy-momentum tensor, scattering…
We study the Null Energy Condition (NEC) arising from the Virasoro constraint on the string worldsheet. We then analyze how the NEC in the external spacetime directions emerges under general time-dependent string compactifications. Finally,…
If one is willing to give up the cherished hypothesis of spatial isotropy, many interesting cosmological models can be developed beyond the simple anisotropically expanding scenarios. One interesting possibility is presented by shear-free…
The possibility to detect cosmic strings -- topological defects of early Universe, by means of wave effects in gravitational lensing is discussed. To find the optimal observation conditions, we define the hyperbolic-shaped Fresnel…
In these lectures, we review the physics of time-dependent orbifolds of string theory, with particular attention to orbifolds of three-dimensional Minkowski space. We discuss the propagation of free particles in the orbifold geometries,…
Motivated by the search for potentially exactly solvable time-dependent string backgrounds, we determine all homogeneous plane wave (HPW) metrics in any dimension and find one family of HPWs with geodesically complete metrics and another…
We investigate the relation between the one--dimensional free particle and the harmonic oscillator from a unified viewpoint based on projective geometry, Cayley transformations, and the Schwarzian derivative. Treating time as a projective…
Singularity-free cosmological solutions may be obtained from the string action at tree level if the dimension of the space-time is greater than 10 and if brane configurations are taken into account. The behaviour of the dilaton field in…