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This thesis describes an attempt to write down covariant actions for coincident D-branes using so-called boundary fermions instead of matrices to describe the non-abelian fields. These fermions can be thought of as Chan-Paton degrees of…

At low energies, interactions of massless particles in type II strings compactified on a torus $T^d$ are described by an effective Wilsonian action $\mathcal{S}(\Lambda)$, consisting of the usual supergravity Lagrangian supplemented by an…

These notes are devoted to the intriguing and still largely unexplored links between String Theory and Higher Spins, the types of excitations that lie behind its most cherished properties. A closer look at higher-spin fields provides some…

This is the first installment of a series of three papers in which we describe a method to determine higher-point correlation functions in one-loop open-superstring amplitudes from first principles. In this first part, we exploit the…

This is the text of my habilitation thesis defended at the \'Ecole Normale Sup\'erieure. The topological string presents an arena in which many features of string theory proper, such as the interplay between worldsheet and target space…

We extend the results found for Matrix String Theory to Heterotic Matrix String Theory, i.e. to a 2d O(N) SYM theory with chiral (anomaly free) matter and N=(8,0) supersymmetry. We write down the instanton equations for this theory and…

We evaluate one-loop partition functions of higher-spin fields in thermal flat space with angular potentials; this computation is performed in arbitrary space-time dimension, and the result is a simple combination of Poincar\'e characters.…

In {\em Phys.\ Lett.} {\bf B 660}, 583 (2008), it was proposed that the D-brane geometry could be produced by open string quantum effects. In an effort to verify the proposal, we consider scattering amplitudes involving {\em massive} open…

The existence of non-singular string cosmologies is established in a class of two-dimensional supersymmetric Hybrid models at finite temperature. The left-moving sector of the Hybrid models gives rise to 16 real (N_4=4) spacetime…

We revisit the computation of the string partition function in AdS$_3$ focussing on the appearance of spacetime (super) symmetries. We show how the asymptotic symmetries of the AdS$_3$ spacetime, which generate the boundary (super) Virasoro…

We study Witten's open string field theory in the presence of a constant B field. We construct the string field theory in the operator formalism and find that, compared to the ordinary theory with no B field, the vertices in the resulting…

We propose using the general structure and properties of conformal field theory amplitudes, in particular those defined on surfaces with boundaries, to explore effective string theory amplitudes for some hadronic processes. Two examples are…

Scattering amplitudes computed by superstring perturbation theory are known to holomorphically split into chiral half integrands at fixed internal loop momentum. It is established by direct computation that upon reduction to the ordinary…

We study total and partial supersymmetry breaking by freely acting orbifolds, or equivalently by Scherk-Schwarz compactifications, in type I string theory. In particular, we describe a four-dimensional chiral compactification with…

String theory and supersymmetry are theoretical ideas that go beyond the standard model of particle physics and show promise for unifying all forces. After a brief introduction to supersymmetry, we discuss the prospects for its experimental…

In this paper, we consider a class of nonconvex and nonsmooth fractional programming problems, that involve the sum of a convex, possibly nonsmooth function composed with a linear operator and a differentiable, possibly nonconvex function…

Graphs on surfaces is an active topic of pure mathematics belonging to graph theory. It has also been applied to physics and relates discrete and continuous mathematics. In this paper we present a formal mathematical description of the…

In this Thesis we address the issue of consistent higher-spin interactions taking String Theory as a "theoretical laboratory". We thus arrive at a simple expression encompassing all three-point amplitudes for states belonging to the first…

We study a string theory which is exclusively based on extrinsic curvature action. It is a tensionless string theory because the action reduces to perimeter for the flat Wilson loop. We are able to solve and quantize this high-derivative…

A simple recursive expansion algorithm for the integrals of tree level superstring five point amplitudes in a flat background is given which reduces the expansion to simple symbol(ic) manipulations. This approach can be used for instance to…