Related papers: Vortex-Strings in N=2 SQCD and Bulk-String Decoupl…
It has been shown that non-Abelian vortex string supported in four dimensional (4D) ${\mathcal N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD (SQCD) with the U(2) gauge group and $N_f = 4$ quark flavors becomes a critical superstring. This string propagates in…
Generically, string models with $N=1$ supersymmetry are not expected to have moduli beyond perturbation theory; stringy non-perturbative effects as well as low energy field-theoretic phenomena such as gluino condensation will lift any flat…
If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of $M$-theory. We discuss some…
We consider the decay of cosmic strings that are trapped in the false vacuum in a theory of scalar electrodynamics in 3+1 dimensions. We restrict our analysis to the case of thin-walled cosmic strings which occur when large magnetic flux…
Non-Abelian flux tubes (strings) are well studied in N=2 supersymmetric QCD in (3+1) dimensions. In addition to translational zero modes they have also orientational moduli associated with rotations of their fluxes inside a non-Abelian…
We find de Sitter and flat space solutions with all moduli stabilized in four dimensional supergravity theories derived from the heterotic and type II string theories, and explain how all the previously known obstacles to finding such…
The spatial string tension of a SU(N) gauge theory without quarks is calculated using gauge/string duality for 1.2T_c<T<3T_c. The result is remarkably consistent with the available lattice data for N=2,3. Some evidence is found that to…
It has been demonstrated that the non-Abelian solitonic vortex string in four-dimensional (4D) $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD (SQCD) with gauge group U(2) and $N_f=4$ quark hypermultiplets behaves as a critical superstring. This string…
We consider a benchmark bulk theory in four-dimensions: N=2 supersymmetric QCD with the gauge group U(N) and N_f flavors of fundamental matter hypermultiplets (quarks). The nature of the BPS strings in this benchmark theory crucially…
A generic lesson of string theory is that the coupling constants of an effective low energy theory are determined by the vacuum values of a set of fields - the so-called moduli - some of which are stabilized at relatively low masses by…
Effective string theory has shown its universal power in the prediction of the spectrum of low-lying excited states of confining strings. Here we study confining flux tubes in $\mathbb{Z}_N$ gauge theories. For the $N=2$ theory, which…
We calculate the low-lying glueball spectrum and various string tensions in SU(N) lattice gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions, and extrapolate the results to the continuum limit. We do so for for the range N=2 to N=16 so as to control the…
We argue that vacua of string theory which asymptote at weak coupling to linear dilaton backgrounds are holographic. The full string theory in such vacua is ``dual'' to a theory without gravity in fewer dimensions. The dual theory is…
In d=3 SU(N) gauge theory, we study a scalar field theory model of center vortices that furnishes an approach to the determination of so-called k-string tensions. This model is constructed from string-like quantum solitons introduced…
We study some aspects of open string theories on D-branes with critical electric fields. We show that the massless open string modes that move in the direction of the electric field decouple. In the 1+1 dimensional case the dual theory is…
We study the phenomenological implications of effective supergravities based on string vacua with spontaneously broken N=1 supersymmetry by dilaton and moduli $F$-terms. We further require Minimal String Unification, namely that large…
We give a topological classification of stable and unconfined massive particles and strings (and some instantons) in worldvolume theories of M5-branes and their dimensional reductions, generalizing Witten's classification of strings in SYM.…
We investigate the properties of the QCD string in the Euclidean SU(N) pure gauge theory when the space-time dimensions transverse to it are periodic. From the point of view of an effective string theory, the string tension $\sigma$ and the…
False vacuum decay typically proceeds via the nucleation of spherical bubbles of true vacuum, described by $O(4)$ symmetric field configurations in Euclidean time. In this work, we investigate how the presence of cosmic strings can catalyze…
We consider, from several complementary perspectives, the physics of confinement and deconfinement in the 2+1 dimensional Georgi-Glashow model. Polyakov's monopole plasma and 't Hooft's vortex condensation are discussed first. We then…