Related papers: Strings vs Spins on the Null Orbifold
String theory is a quantum theory that reproduces the results of General Relativity at long distances but is completely different at short distances. Mathematically, string theory is based on a very new -- and little understood -- framework…
Self-dual theories are powerful toy models of their completions. It was shown recently that there are infinitely many SD-theories once massless higher-spin fields are allowed. The maximal SD-theory is chiral higher-spin gravity. Following…
We study the problem of interacting theories with (partially)-massless and conformal higher spin fields without matter in three dimensions. A new class of theories that have partially-massless fields is found, which significantly extends…
We consider theories of three dimensional quantum gravity in Anti-de Sitter space which possess massless higher-spin gauge symmetry. The perturbative spectrum of the theory includes higher spin excitations which can be organized into vacuum…
We argue that the theory of a massive higher spin field coupled to electromagnetism in flat space possesses an intrinsic, model independent, finite upper bound on its UV cutoff. By employing the Stueckelberg formalism we do a systematic…
We consider type IIB string theory on a seven dimensional orbifold with holonomy in G2. The motivation is to use D1-branes as probes of the geometry. The low energy theory on the D1-brane is a sigma-model with two real supercharges (N =…
The $n+1$-dimensional Milne Universe with extra free directions is used to construct simple FRW cosmological string models in four dimensions, describing expansion in the presence of matter with $p=k \rho $, $k=(4-n)/3n$. We then consider…
In this paper three dimensional higher spin theories in the Chern-Simons formulation with gauge algebra $sl(N,R)$ are investigated which have Lifshitz symmetry with scaling exponent $z$. We show that an explicit map exists for all $z$ and…
We study the spectrum of pure massless higher spin theories in $AdS_3$. The light spectrum is given by a tower of massless particles of spin $s=2,\cdots,N$ and their multi-particles states. Their contribution to the torus partition function…
Redefining the vacuum state of a free two-fold $N=1$ covariant supersymmetric string action as the one with all the excited states of world-sheet fermions occupied, makes the theory anomaly free in (3+1)+4 dimensions. While in the $NS$…
String theory on $AdS_3$ has a solvable single-trace irrelevant deformation that is closely related to $T\bar T$. For one sign of the coupling, it leads to an asymptotically linear dilaton spacetime, and a corresponding Hagedorn spectrum.…
We study the relation between topological string theory and singularity theory using the partition function of $A_{N-1}$ topological string defined by matrix integral of Kontsevich type. Genus expansion of the free energy is considered, and…
We use freely acting asymmetric orbifolds of type IIB string theory to construct a class of theories in four dimensions with eight supercharges. Their low energy effective field theories resemble $STU$ models, but have different duality…
The theory of a spinor field interacting with a pure Chern-Simons gauge field in 2+1 dimensions is quantized. Dynamical and nondynamical variables are separated in a gauge-independent way. After the nondynamical variables are dropped, this…
We revisit the 3d ${\cal N}=5$ Chern-Simons-Matter theory with orthosymplectic gauge group and its gravity dual from the perspective of generalized symmetries. We derive the corresponding 4d symmetry topological field theory from the…
The notion of a space-time uncertainty principle in string theory is clarified and further developed. The motivation and the derivation of the principle are first reviewed in a reasonably self-contained way. It is then shown that the…
Superstring/M-theory compactified on compact Ricci flat manifolds have recently been conjectured to exhibit instabilities whenever the metrics do not have special holonomy. We use worldsheet conformal field theory to investigate…
These lectures present some topics of string phenomenology and contain two parts. In the first part, I review the possibility of lowering the string scale in the TeV region, that provides a theoretical framework for solving the mass…
We consider Type 0B D3-branes placed at conical singularities and analyze in detail the conifold singularity. We study the non supersymmetric gauge theories on their worldvolume and their conjectured dual gravity descriptions. In the…
We study the three-dimensional theory of two Chern-Simons gauge fields coupled to a scalar field in the bifundamental representation of the $SU(N)_k \times SU(M)_{-k}$ gauge group. At small but fixed $M \ll N$, this system approaches the…