Related papers: String Theory and the Dark Glueball Problem
In this thesis, consisting of two main parts, we study observational signatures of cosmic (super)strings in the context of D-brane inflation and properties of scalar perturbations on generic homogeneous inflating backgrounds. In the first…
It is widely believed that string theory easily allows for a QCD axion in the cosmologically favoured mass range. The required small decay constant, $f_a\ll M_P$, can be implemented by using a large compactification volume. This points to…
We investigate the scenario that one flat direction creates baryon asymmetry of the unverse, while Q balls from another direction can be the dark matter in the gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking for high-scale inflation. Isocurvature…
Pure N=1 super Yang-Mills theory can be realised as a certain low energy limit of M theory near certain singularities in $G_2$-holonomy spaces. For SU(n) and SO(2n) gauge groups these $M$ theory backgrounds can be regarded as strong…
We present a cosmic string on a warped five dimensional space time in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory. Four-dimensional cosmic strings show some serious problems concerning the mechanism of string smoothing related to the string mass per unit…
We review some recent developments on BPS string solutions and monopole confinement in the Higgs or (color) superconducting phase of deformed N=2 and N=4 super Yang-Mills theories. In particular, the monopole magnetic fluxes are shown to be…
We scrutinize the determination of glueball masses in pure Yang-Mills theory from functional equations, i.e. Dyson-Schwinger and Bethe-Salpeter equations. We survey the state-of-the-art input (dressed propagators and vertices) with an…
String cosmology aims at providing a reliable description of the very early Universe in the regime where standard-model physics is no longer appropriate, and where we can safely apply the basic ingredients of superstring models such as…
String theory has been claimed to give rise to natural fuzzy dark matter candidates in the form of ultralight axions. In this paper we revisit this claim by a detailed study of how moduli stabilisation affects the masses and decay constants…
Dark matter may be coupled to dark radiation: light degrees of freedom that mediate forces between dark sector particles. Cosmological constraints favor dark radiation that is colder than Standard Model radiation. In models with fixed…
We consider the 1+1 dimensional supersymmetric matrix field theory obtained from a dimensional reduction of ten dimensional ${\cal N} = 1$ super Yang-Mills, which is a matrix model candidate for non-perturbative Type IIA string theory. The…
Maximally supersymmetric (p+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills theory at large N and finite temperature, with possibly compact spatial directions, has a rich phase structure. Strongly coupled phases may have holographic descriptions as black branes…
Supersymmetry provides a well-established theoretical framework for extensions of the standard model of particle physics and the general understanding of quantum field theories. We summarise here our investigations of N=1 supersymmetric…
We study the $\theta$-dependence of the string tension and of the lightest glueball mass in four-dimensional $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ Yang-Mills theories. More precisely, we focus on the coefficients parametrizing the $\mathcal{O}(\theta^2)$…
This paper is concerned with string cosmology and the dynamics of multiple scalar fields in potentials that can become negative, and their features as (Early) Dark Energy models. Our point of departure is the "String Axiverse", a scenario…
Weakly constrained double field theory, in the sense of Hull and Zwiebach, captures the subsector of string theory on toroidal backgrounds that includes gravity, $B$-field and dilaton together with all of their massive Kaluza-Klein and…
We study cosmologies based on low-energy effective string theory with higher-order string corrections to a tree-level action and with a modulus scalar field (dilaton or compactification modulus). In the presence of such corrections it is…
We investigate the string solutions and cosmological implications of the gauge ${\rm U(1)_Z}\,\times$ global ${\rm U(1)_{PQ}}$ model. With two hierarchical symmetry-breaking scales, the model exhibits three distinct string solutions: a…
By superposition of regular gauge instantons or merons, ensembles of gauge fields are constructed which describe the confining phase of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. Various properties of the Wilson loops, the gluon condensate and the…
Superstring theory, models with extra dimensions and other SUSY models generically predict that the coupling constants are in fact vacuum expectation values of fields like the dilaton, moduli etc. Assuming some of these fields are light…