Related papers: Orientifolds and duality cascades: confinement bef…
We explore the dynamics of magnetized nonsupersymmetric D5-brane configurations on Calabi-Yau orientifolds with fluxes. We show that supergravity D-terms capture supersymmetry breaking effects predicted by more abstract Pi-stability…
We study the presence of discrete flavor symmetries in D-brane models of particle physics. By analyzing the compact extra dimensions of these models one can determine when such symmetries exist both in the context of intersecting and…
We discuss D-brane dynamics in orbifold compactifications of type II superstring theory. We compute the interaction potential between two D-branes moving with constant velocities and give a field theory interpretation of it in the large…
We use freely acting asymmetric orbifolds of type IIB string theory to construct a class of theories in four dimensions with eight supercharges. Their low energy effective field theories resemble $STU$ models, but have different duality…
Starting from a peculiar orientifold projection proposed long ago by Angelantonj and Cardella, we elaborate on a novel perturbative scenario that involves only D-branes, together with the two types of orientifold planes ${\rm O}_{\pm}$ and…
We describe how the D-brane spectra of the various ten-dimensional string theories can be related to general properties of the open-closed duality, encoded in the $S$ and $P$ matrices of the conformal field theory. We also complete the…
We discuss how N=1 dualities in four dimensions are geometrically realized by wrapping D-branes about 3-cycles of Calabi-Yau threefolds. In this setup the N=1 dualities for SU, SO and USp gauge groups with fundamental fields get mapped to…
Recent scenarios of phenomenologically realistic string compactifications involve the existence of gauge sectors localized on D-branes at singular points of Calabi-Yau threefolds. The spectrum and interactions in these gauge sectors are…
We study N=1 dualities in four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories by D 6-branes wrapping around 3-cycles of Calabi-Yau threefolds in the type IIA string theory. We consider the models involving $SU(N_{c1})\times SU(N_{c2})$ product…
We describe duality cascades and their infrared behavior for systems of D3-branes at singularities given by complex cones over del Pezzo surfaces (and related examples), in the presence of fractional branes. From the gauge field theory…
We study geometric aspects of extensions of the supersymmetric standard model that exhibit a periodic duality cascade. Via the holographic correspondence, the growth of the gauge group rank towards the UV is interpreted as a gradual…
We study D-branes on Calabi-Yau manifolds, carrying charges which are torsion elements of the K-theory. Interesting physics ensues when we follow these branes into nongeometrical phases of the compactification. On the level of K-theory, we…
We finalize the study of collapsing D-branes in one-parameter models by completing the analysis of the associated hypergeometric hierarchy. This brings further evidence that the phenomenon of collapsing 6-branes at the mirror of the…
We present novel continuous supersymmetric transitions which take place among different chiral configurations of D3/D7 branes at singularities in the context of type IIB Calabi-Yau compactifications. We find that distinct local models which…
In previous work, it was argued that the type IIB T^6/Z_2 orientifold with a choice of flux preserving N=2 supersymmetry is dual to a class of purely geometric type IIA compactifications on abelian surface (T^4) fibered Calabi-Yau…
We present a new, geometric perspective on the recently proposed triality of 2d $\mathcal{N}=(0,1)$ gauge theories, based on its engineering in terms of D1-branes probing Spin(7) orientifolds. In this context, triality translates into the…
This thesis is devoted to derivative corrections to the effective action of D-branes, and to mirror symmetry with D-branes. Series of derivative corrections first predicted by non-commutative gauge theory are completed by couplings between…
We propose a new cosmological scenario which resolves the conventional initial singularity problem. The space-time geometry has an unconventional time-like singularity on a lower dimensional hypersurface, with localized energy density. The…
In this thesis we elaborate on the three subjects of the title. We first show that supertubes exist and still preserve some supersymmetry in a large variety of curved backgrounds. Within the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the supersymmetry…
We further investigate the dimensional duality (D-duality) proposed in arXiv:0705.0550 by mainly focusing on the properties of D-branes in this background. We derive the world-sheet correspondence of static D-branes, and discuss the fate of…