Related papers: ADE Double Scaled Little String Theories, Mock Mod…
String theory compactifications come with numerous $U(1)$ factors, implying the presence of many hidden photons in the low-energy EFT. One may call this the ``string photoverse''. We argue that, generically, these hidden photons are…
We analyze the boundaries of the moduli spaces of compactifications of the heterotic string on $T^d$, making particular emphasis on $d=2$ and its F-theory dual. We compute the OPE algebras as we approach all the infinite distance limits…
A map between string junctions in the affine 7-brane backgrounds and vector bundles on del Pezzo surfaces is constructed using mirror symmetry. It is shown that the lattice of string junctions with support on an affine 7-brane configuration…
In this thesis, we explore two approaches to string phenomenology. In the first half of the work, we investigate M-theory compactifications on spaces with co-dimension four, orbifold singularities. We construct M-theory on C^2/Z_N by…
The BPS sector in AdS_3/CFT_2 duality has been fertile ground for the exploration of gauge/gravity duality, from the match between black hole entropy and the CFT elliptic genus to the construction of large families of geometrical…
We study thermodynamic aspects of a tractable toy model of holography for extremal Kerr black holes proposed in [arXiv:1806.10127]. On the gravity side, the theory can be described by the worldsheet action of string theory on a warped…
We extend the recently constructed double field theory formulation of the low-energy theory of the closed bosonic string to the heterotic string. The action can be written in terms of a generalized metric that is a covariant tensor under…
We consider some unitary representations of infinite dimensional Lie algebras motivated by string theory on AdS_3. These include examples of two kinds: the A,D,E type affine Lie algebras and the N=4 superconformal algebra. The first…
We use canonically-twisted modules for a certain super vertex operator algebra to construct the umbral moonshine module for the unique Niemeier lattice that coincides with its root sublattice. In particular, we give explicit expressions for…
We study the embedding of Kac-Moody algebras into Borcherds (or generalized Kac-Moody) algebras which can be explicitly realized as Lie algebras of physical states of some completely compactified bosonic string. The extra ``missing states''…
Generating functions of BPS indices, counting states of D4-D2-D0 black holes in Calabi-Yau compactifications of type IIA string theory and identified with rank 0 Donaldson- Thomas invariants, are examples of mock modular forms. They have a…
We study superstring theory in three dimensional Anti-de Sitter spacetime with NS-NS flux, focusing on the case where the radius of curvature is equal to the string length. This corresponds to the critical level k=1 in the…
In a previous paper we had proposed a specific route to relating the entropy of two charge black holes to the degeneracy of elementary string states in N=4 supersymmetric heterotic string theory in four dimensions. For toroidal…
We investigate special compactifications of the heterotic string for which the space of half-BPS states is, in a natural way, a representation of various subgroups of the Conway group. These compactifications provide a useful framework for…
The moduli space of N=(4,4) string theories with a K3 target space is determined, establishing in particular that the discrete symmetry group is the full integral orthogonal group of an even unimodular lattice of signature (4,20). The…
We study ${\cal N}=2$ compactifications of heterotic string theory on the CHL orbifold $(K3\times T^2)/\mathbb{Z}_N$ with $N= 2, 3, 5, 7$. $\mathbb{Z}_N$ acts as an involution on $K3$ together with a shift of $1/N$ along one of the circles…
Tests of duality between heterotic strings on $K3\times T^2$ (restricted on certain Narain moduli subspaces) and type IIA strings on K3-fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds are attempted in the weak coupling regime on the heterotic side by…
We consider the dimensional reductions of N=4 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on R x S^3 to the three-dimensional theory on R x S^2, the orbifolded theory on R x S^3/Z_k, and the plane-wave matrix model. With explicit emphasis on the…
We conjecture that M-theory compactified on an ALE space (or K3) is described by 0-branes moving on the ALE space. We give evidence for this by showing that if we compactify another circle, we recover string theory on the ALE space. This…
Using E-strings, we can analyze not only six-dimensional superconformal field theories but also probe vacua of non-perturabative heterotic string. We study strings made of D3-branes wrapped on various two-cycles in the global F-theory…