Related papers: Nonlocality in string theory
String theory is at the moment the only advanced approach to a unification of all interactions, including gravity. But, in spite of the more than thirty years of its existence, it does not make any empirically testable predictions, and it…
We describe some recent progress in understanding and formulating string theory which is based on extensive studies of strings in lower (D=2) dimension. At the center is a large $W_{\infty}$ symmetry that appears most simply in the matrix…
Is string theory uniquely determined by self-consistency? Causality and unitarity seemingly permit a multitude of putative deformations, at least at the level of two-to-two scattering. Motivated by this question, we initiate a systematic…
We argue that quantum gravity is nonlocal, first by recalling well-known arguments that support this idea and then by focusing on a point not usually emphasized: that making a conventional effective field theory (EFT) for quantum gravity is…
The study of string models including both unoriented closed strings and open strings presents a number of new features when compared to the standard case of models of oriented closed strings only. We review some basic features of the…
Recent developments in string theory suggest that string theory landscape of vacua is vast. It is natural to ask if this landscape is as vast as allowed by consistent-looking effective field theories. We use universality ideas from string…
We discuss the obstacles for defining a set of observable quantities analogous to an S-matrix which are needed to formulate string theory in an accelerating universe. We show that the quintessence models with the equations of state $-1 < w…
String theory relies on spacetime supersymmetry to guarantee the existence of stable vacua. In this review, we survey two features of non-supersymmetric strings that challenge both aspects: the appearance of tachyons and worldsheet…
We report on a detailed numerical study of the evolution of semilocal string networks, based on the largest and most accurate field theory simulations of these objects to date. We focus on the large-scale network properties, confirming…
We review some recent developments in string theory, emphasizing the importance of vacuum instabilities, their relation to the density of states, and the role of space-time fermions in non-critical string theory. We also discuss the…
We discuss two issues regarding the question of degrees of freedom in two dimensional string theory. The first issue relates to the classical limit of quantum string theory. In the classical theory one requires an infinite number of fields…
When the symmetry of a physical theory describing a finite system is deformed by replacing its Lie group by the corresponding quantum group, the operators and state function will lie in a new algebra describing new degrees of freedom. If…
We describe how the presence of the antisymmetric tensor (torsion) on the world sheet action of string theory renders the size of the target space a gauge non invariant quantity. This generalizes the R <--> 1/R symmetry in which momenta and…
The concept of supersymmetry in a quantum mechanical system is extended, permitting the recognition of many more supersymmetric systems, including very familiar ones such as the free particle. Its spectrum is shown to be supersymmetric,…
We propose the use of lattice field theory for the study of string field theory at the non-perturbative quantum level. We identify many potential obstacles and examine possible resolutions thereof. We then experiment with our approach in…
In this lecture I make some educated guesses, about the landscape of string theory vacua. Based on the recent work of a number of authors, it seems plausible that the lanscape is unimaginably large and diverse. Whether we like it or not,…
Making use of the wealth of new observational data coming from the sky it is possible to constrain particle physics theories beyond the Standard Model. One way to do this is illustrated in this article: a subset of theories admits cosmic…
We present an overview of a theory of complex dimensions of self-similar fractal strings, and compare this theory to the theory of varieties over a finite field from the geometric and the dynamical point of view. Then we combine the several…
Quantum nonlocality is revisited from a novel point of view by studying the problem of an originally classical particle immersed in the stochastic zero-point radiation field (zpf). The entire system is left to evolve until it reaches a…
I study a relativistic open string coupling through its endpoints to a plane wave with arbitrary temporal profile. The string's transverse oscillations respond linearly to the external field. This makes it possible to solve the classical…