Related papers: Defects, dualities and the geometry of strings via…
This is the second in a series of papers discussing in the framework of gerbe theory canonical and geometric aspects of the 2d nonlinear sigma model in the presence of conformal defects in the worldsheet. Employing the formal tools worked…
Defects are a useful tool in the study of quantum field theories. This is illustrated in the example of two-dimensional conformal field theories. We describe how defect lines and their junction points appear in the description of symmetries…
This thesis discusses various aspects of duality in quantum field theory and string theory. In the first part we consider duality in topological quantum field theories, concentrating on the Donaldson and Seiberg-Witten theories as (dual)…
If the vacuum manifold of a field theory has the appropriate topological structure, the theory admits topological structures analogous to the D-branes of string theory, in which defects of one dimension terminate on other defects of higher…
Nonlinear sigma models appear in a wide variety of physics contexts, such as the long-range order with spontaneously broken continuous global symmetries. There are also large classes of quantum criticality admit sigma model descriptions in…
Sine-square deformation, a recently found modulation of the coupling strength in certain statistical models, is discussed in the context of two-dimensional conformal field theories, with particular attention to open/closed string duality.…
I discuss some aspects of conformal defects and conformal interfaces in two spacetime dimensions. Special emphasis is placed on their role as spectrum-generating symmetries of classical string theory.
We examine various properties of double field theory and the doubled string sigma model in the context of geometric quantisation. In particular we look at T-duality as the symplectic transformation related to an alternative choice of…
In string theory it is known that abelian isometries in the sigma model lead to target space duality. We generalize this duality to backgrounds with non--abelian isometries. The procedure we follow consists of gauging the isometries of the…
In this short note we give an overview of recent work on string propagation on stacks and applications to gauged linear sigma models. We begin by outlining noneffective orbifolds (orbifolds in which a subgroup acts trivially) and related…
We extend our analysis of the gauging of rigid symmetries in bosonic two-dimensional sigma models with Wess-Zumino terms in the action to the case of world-sheets with defects. A structure that permits a non-anomalous coupling of such sigma…
The gauged sigma-model argument that string backgrounds related by T-dual give equivalent quantum theories is revisited, taking careful account of global considerations. The topological obstructions to gauging sigma-models give rise to…
Defects are both physically rich objects and powerful tools in modern quantum field theory. They are extended operators, such as boundaries, impurities, and probe particles, embedded in many-body systems. In this dissertation, we study the…
Geometric structures and dualities arise naturally in quantum field theories and string theory. In fact, these tools become very useful when studying strong coupling effects, where standard perturbative techniques can no longer be used. In…
In this talk, based on work done in collaboration with G. Landi and R.J Szabo, I will review how string theory can be considered as a noncommutative geometry based on an algebra of vertex operators. The spectral triple of strings is…
In this thesis we elaborate on the three subjects of the title. We first show that supertubes exist and still preserve some supersymmetry in a large variety of curved backgrounds. Within the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the supersymmetry…
Gauging a symmetry can be thought of as the insertion of a spacetime-filling defect. Accordingly, we regard each gaugeable symmetry in a theory as defining a $-1$-form symmetry via condensation. The resulting operators, called gauge…
In the context of (0,2) gauged linear sigma models, we explore chains of perturbatively dual heterotic string compactifications. The notion of target space duality originates in non-geometric phases and can be used to generate distinct…
In this paper we discuss quantization of the Fayet-Iliopoulos parameter in supergravity theories with altered nonperturbative sectors, which were recently used to argue a fractional quantization condition. Nonlinear sigma models with…
A procedure is described to associate fibre bundles over the circle to two- dimensional theories with defects which have their field equations and defects described by a zero curvature condition.