Related papers: Worldsheet instantons and coupling selection rules…

We investigate the field dependence of the gauge couplings of $N=1$ string vacua from the point of view of the low energy effective quantum field theory. We find that field-theoretical considerations severely constrain the form of the…

We study the bulk effective theory of a class of orbifolds of the type IIB string with D5-branes, compactified to four dimensions. These constructions are connected, in a region of their moduli space, to some orbifolds of the type I and…

We provide a direct world-sheet derivation of the couplings of NS-NS and R-R fluxes to various types of D-branes (including instantonic ones) by evaluating disk amplitudes among two open string vertex operators at a generic brane…

In some string theories, e.g. SO(32) heterotic string theory on Calabi-Yau manifolds, a massless field with a tree level potential can acquire a tachyonic mass at the one loop level, forcing us to quantize the theory around a new background…

We derive a perturbative expansion for space time entanglement entropy in string theory by comparing replica trick constructions on the target space and on the worldsheet. Requiring the two approaches to match implies a set of constrains on…

We use the linear supermultiplet formalism of supergravity to study axion couplings and chiral anomalies in the context of field-theoretical Lagrangians describing orbifold compactifications beyond the classical approximation. By matching…

Heterotic string theory compactified on a K3 surface times T^2 is believed to be equivalent to type II string theory on a suitable Calabi-Yau threefold. In particular, it must share the same hypermultiplet moduli space. Building on the…

String theory predicts that the couplings of Nature descend from dynamical fields. All known string-motivated particle physics models also come with a wide range of possible extra sectors. It is common to posit that such moduli are frozen…

In this paper we describe ideas about the string landscape, and how to relate it to the physics of the Standard Model of particle physics. First, we give a short status report about heterotic string compactifications. Then we focus on the…

I present arguments to the affect that the topological phase of string theory must be event-symmetric. This motivates a search for a universal string group for discrete strings in event-symmetric space-time which unifies space-time symmetry…

We construct spacetime supersymmetric, modular invariant partition functions of strings on the conifold-type singularities which include contributions from the discrete-series representations of SL(2, R). The discrete spectrum is…

We compute the imaginary parts of genus-one string scattering amplitudes. Following Witten's $i\varepsilon$ prescription for the integration contour on the moduli space of worldsheets, we give a general algorithm for computing unitarity…

A recent proposal for a background independent open string field theory is studied in detail for a class of backgrounds that correspond to general quadratic boundary interactions on the world-sheet. A short-distance cut-off is introduced to…

We investigate general observables of the complex Liouville string with worldsheet boundaries. We develop a universal formalism that reduces such observables to ordinary closed string amplitudes without boundaries, applicable to any…

We discuss the hierarchy of Yukawa couplings in a supersymmetric three family Standard-like string Model. The model is constructed by compactifying Type IIA string theory on a Z_2 x Z_2 orientifold in which the Standard Model matter fields…

Continuing earlier work, we apply the mean field method to the world sheet representation of a simple field theory. In particular, we study the higher order terms in the mean field expansion, and show that their cutoff dependence can be…

We show that all three conditions for the cosmological relevance of heterotic cosmic strings, the right tension, stability and a production mechanism at the end of inflation, can be met in the strongly coupled M-theory regime. Whereas…

The structure of stringy quantum corrections to four-dimensional effective theories is particularly interesting for string phenomenology and attempts to stabilize moduli. We consider the heterotic string compactified on a Calabi-Yau space.…

In this paper we use trivial defects to define global taffy-like operations on string worldsheets, which preserve the field theory. We fold open and closed strings on a space X into open strings on products of multiple copies of X, and…

We show how the level matching condition in six dimensional, abelian and supersymmetric orbifolds of the E_8 x E_8 heterotic string can be given equivalently in terms of fractional gauge and gravitational instanton numbers. This relation is…