Related papers: Geography of Fields in Extra Dimensions: String Th…
The possibility that spacetime is extended beyond the familiar 3+1-dimensions has intrigued physicists for a century. Indeed, the consequences of a dimensionally richer spacetime would be profound. Recently, new theories with higher…
Particle physics has evolved in the past decade through evaluating the consequences of experimental measurements as well as exploiting theoretical tools that permit exploration of new model building and cosmological possibilities.…
This review aims to provide a very short and pedestrian introduction to some of the basics of extra-dimensional physics. The hope is to facilitate access and to be, in some respects, complementary to the many already existing reviews on…
1. Preliminaries. 2. Heterotic string and motivations for large volume compactifications; 2.1 Gauge coupling unification; 2.2 Supersymmetry breaking by compactification. 3. M-theory on S^1/Z_2 \times Calabi-Yau. 4. Type I/I' string theory…
In the first part of the talk, I explain what empirical evidence points to the need for having an effective grand unification-like symmetry possessing the symmetry SU(4)-color in 4D. If one assumes the premises of a future predictive theory…
Planck scale physics represents a future challenge, located between particle physics and general relativity. The Planck scale marks a threshold beyond which the old description of spacetime breaks down and conceptually new phenomena must…
In this thesis we investigate the microphysics of cosmic strings in non-minimal quantum field theories. In particular we consider theories in which fermion fields couple to the strings, and those with larger symmetry groups, such as grand…
String theory in d dimensions has n+1=11-d parameters that may be thought of as being inherited from the geometry of an n+1 torus which may be used to construct the theory using dimensional reduction from eleven dimensions. We give the…
In a given 4d spacetime bakcground, one can often construct not one but a family of distinct N=2 string theories. This is due to the multiple ways N=2 superconformal algebra can be embedded in a given worldsheet theory. We formulate the…
This review is devoted to strings and branes. Firstly, perturbative string theory is introduced. The appearance of various types of branes is discussed. These include orbifold fixed planes, D-branes and orientifold planes. The connection to…
String theory contains sources like orientifold planes that support higher derivative interactions. These interactions make possible static flux compactifications which are forbidden in supergravity. They can also lead to violations of the…
The reader surely knows what particles physics is about: finding building blocks of nature that appear elementary at a given time and study their interactions - so why in the world this essay? The problem is how to arrive at a fundamental…
Recent measurements of the values of gauge coupling constants as well as neutrino properties support the idea of a grand unified (GUT) description of particle physics at a large scale of $M_{GUT}\sim 10^{16}$ GeV. We discuss a strategy to…
Spacetime singularities are studied in both the $D+d$-dimensional string theory and its $D$-dimensional effective theory, obtained by the Kaluza-Klein compactification. It is found that spacetime singularities in the low dimensional…
It is shown by very simple arguments that the observed 3+1 dimensionality of spacetime may be understood on the basis of four fundamental principles of physics namely, Causality, General Covariance, Gauge Invariance and Renormalizability.…
Superstring theories are very promising theoretically, but the enormous landscape of string vacua and the (likely) very large underlying string scale imply that they may never be tested directly. Nevertheless, concrete constructions…
String theory avoids the ultraviolet infinities that arise in trying to quantize gravity. It is also more predictive than conventional quantum field theory, one aspect of this being the way that it contributed to the emergence of the…
The dynamics of superstring, supergravity and M theories and their compactifications are probed by studying the various perturbation theories that emerge in the strong and weak coupling limits for various directions in coupling constant…
In this thesis, two aspects of string theory are discussed, tensionless strings and supersymmetric sigma models. The equivalent to a massless particle in string theory is a tensionless string. Even almost 30 years after it was first…
Changing the dimensionality of the space-time at the smallest and largest distances has manifold theoretical advantages. If the space is lower dimensional in the high energy regime, then there are no ultraviolet divergencies in field…