Related papers: Spacetime supersymmetry in low-dimensional perturb…
In this paper, we construct a class of collapsing spacetimes in vacuum without any symmetries. The spacetime contains a black hole region which is bounded from the past by the future event horizon. It possesses a Cauchy hypersurface with…
By conformally coupling vector and hyper multiplets in Minkowski space, we obtain a class of field theories with extended rigid conformal supersymmetry on any Lorentzian four-manifold admitting twistor spinors. We construct the conformal…
We consider string/M-theory reductions on a compact space $X=X^\text{loc} \cup X^\circ$, where $X^\text{loc}$ contains the singular locus, and $X^\circ$ its complement. For the resulting supergravity theories, we construct a suitable…
Orientifolds with three-form flux provide some of the simplest string examples of warped compactification. In this paper we show that some models of this type have the unusual feature of D=4, N=3 spacetime supersymmetry. We discuss their…
We present a new solution in the heterotic M-theory in which the metric depends on (cosmic) time. The solution preserves N=1 supersymmetry in 4 dimensions in the leading order of the $\kappa^{2/3}$ expansion. It is the first example of the…
We study quantum effects in five dimensions in heterotic superstring theory compactified on K_3 x S_1 and analyze the conjecture that its dual effective theory is eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold. This…
We investigate orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string, addressing in detail their construction, classification and phenomenological potential. We present a strategy to search for models resembling the minimal supersymmetric…
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…
We classify and construct supersymmetric solutions of D=3, N=2 gauged supergravity extended with a Fayet-Iliopoulos term, and null and timelike warped AdS spacetimes are among them. From the first one, it is possible to obtain a…
The group of conformal diffeomorphisms and the group of causal automorphisms on two-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetimes are clarified. It is shown that if spacetimes have non-compact Cauchy surfaces, then the groups are subgroups of…
Supersymmetric solutions of supergravity theories, and consequently metrics with special holonomy, have played an important role in the development of string theory. We describe how a Lorentzian manifold is either completely reducible, and…
We analyze solutions of string theory and supergravity which involve real hyperbolic spaces. Examples of string compactifications are given in terms of hyperbolic coset spaces of finite volume $\Gamma\backslash {\mathbb H}^N$, where…
Recent progress on the relation between asymmetric conformal field theories and vacua of gauged supergravities is reviewed. This includes an attempt to classify asymmetric Gepner models in 8D, 6D and 4D with at least eight supercharges, and…
We generalise the notions of supersymmetry and superspace by allowing generators and coordinates transforming according to more general Lorentz representations than the spinorial and vectorial ones of standard lore. This yields novel…
General considerations on the unification of A-type and B-type supersymmetries in the context of interacting p-branes strongly suggest that the signature of spacetime includes two timelike dimensions. This leads to the puzzle of how…
We show that it is possible to embed the 1+1 dimensional reduction of certain spherically symmetric black hole spacetimes into 2+1 Minkowski space. The spacetimes of interest (Schwarzschild de-Sitter, Schwarzschild anti de-Sitter, and…
Minkowski space is a physically important space-time for which the finding an adequate holographic description is an urgent problem. In this paper we develop further the proposal made in hep-th/0303006 for the description as a duality…
We construct two-dimensional supergravity theories endowed with a positive cosmological constant, that admit de Sitter vacua. We consider the cases of $\mathcal{N}=1$ as well as $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry, and couple the supergravity to…
In this lecture I summarize recent developments on strings propagating in curved spacetime. Exact conformal field theories that describe gravitational backgrounds such as black holes and more intricate gravitational singularities have been…
These lectures aim to provide a global picture of the spaces of consistent quantum supergravity theories and string vacua in higher dimensions. The lectures focus on theories in the even dimensions 10, 8, and 6. Supersymmetry, along with…