Related papers: New Evidence for (0,2) Target Space Duality
String-string duality dictates that type IIA strings compactified on a K3 surface acquire non-abelian gauge groups for certain values of the K3 moduli. We argue that, contrary to expectation, the theories for which such enhanced gauge…
The four-dimensional bosonic effective action of the toroidally compactified heterotic string incorporating a dilaton, an axion and one $U(1)$ vector field is studied on curved space-time manifolds with one and two commuting Killing…
In arXiv:0902.4032 [hep-th] an O(D,D)-covariant sigma model describing the embedding of a closed world-sheet into the 2D-dimensional twisted torus was proposed. Such sigma models provide a universal description of string theory with target…
A geometric string solution has background fields in overlapping coordinate patches related by diffeomorphisms and gauge transformations, while for a non-geometric background this is generalised to allow transition functions involving…
We estimate the significance of the prediction for the gauge couplings in the MSSM with an underlying unification. The correlation between the couplings covers only (0.2-2)% of the a priori reasonable region of the parameter space, while…
We point out that the moduli sector of the $(2,2)$ string compactification with its nonperturbatively preserved non-compact symmetries is a framework to study global topological defects. Based on the target space modular invariance of the…
We review recent progress in string cosmology, where string dualities are applied so as to obtain complete cosmological evolutions, free of any essential singularities. Two classes of models are analyzed. The first class consists of string…
The Hilbert spaces of supersymmetric systems admit symmetries which are often related to the topology and geometry of the (target) field-space. Here, we study certain (2,2)-supersymmetric systems in 2-dimensional spacetime which are closely…
These are notes based on lectures given at TASI99. We review the geometry of the moduli space of N=2 theories in four dimensions from the point of view of superstring compactification. The cases of a type IIA or type IIB string compactified…
We study the noncritical two-dimensional heterotic string. Long fundamental strings play a crucial role in the dynamics. They cancel anomalies and lead to phase transitions when the system is compactified on a Euclidean circle. A careful…
The duality map between gauge theories and strings suggests that when the gauge theory is in the weak coupling regime the dual string tension effectively tends to zero, $\alpha' \to \infty$. This observation of Sundborg and Witten initiates…
The Swampland Program aims to address the question, "when does an effective field theory model of quantum gravity have an ultraviolet complete embedding in string theory?", and can be regarded as a bottom-up approach to investigations of…
The $\mathbb{Z}_2\times \mathbb{Z}_2$ heterotic string orbifold yielded a large space of phenomenological three generation models and serves as a testing ground to explore how the Standard Model of particle physics may be incorporated in a…
We develop a systematic framework for studying target space duality at the classical level. We show that target space duality between manifolds M and Mtilde arises because of the existence of a very special symplectic manifold. This…
We present a global analysis of the geometries that arise in non-compact current algebra (or gauged WZW) coset models of strings and particles propagating in curved space-time. The simplest case is the 2d black hole. In higher dimensions…
Using F-theory/heterotic duality, we describe a framework for analyzing non-geometric T2-fibered heterotic compactifications to six- and four-dimensions. Our results suggest that among T2-fibered heterotic string vacua, the non-geometric…
The well known N=2 string theory describes self-dual gravity, as was shown by Ooguri and Vafa sometime ago. In search of a variant of this theory which would describe self-dual supergravity in 2+2 dimensions, we have constructed two new N=2…
We construct non-geometric string compactifications by using the F-theory dual of the heterotic string compactified on a two-torus with two Wilson line parameters, together with a close connection between modular forms and the equations for…
Two-dimensional sigma models are defined for the new manifestly spacetime supersymmetric description of four-dimensional compactified superstrings. The resulting target-superspace effective action is constrained by the way the spacetime…
We prove a duality, recently conjectured in arXiv:1103.5726, which relates the F-terms of supersymmetric gauge theories defined in two and four dimensions respectively. The proof proceeds by a saddle point analysis of the four-dimensional…