Related papers: What if string theory has no de Sitter vacua?
Kachru, Kallosh, Linde, & Trivedi recently constructed a four-dimensional de Sitter compactification of IIB string theory, which they showed to be metastable in agreement with general arguments about de Sitter spacetimes in quantum gravity.…
Observational evidence suggests that our universe is currently evolving towards an asymptotically de Sitter future. Unfortunately and in spite of much recent attention, various quantum, holographic and cosmological aspects of de Sitter…
We review the current status of the singularity problem in string theory for non-experts. After the problem is discussed from the point of view of supergravity, we discuss classic examples and recent examples of singularity resolution in…
Motivated by the early discovery of the gigantic landscape of string theory vacua, in recent years people switched direction to try to find constraints on low energy effective field theories from UV-complete descriptions for example quantum…
In this review article, we review the recent developments in constructing string field theories that have been proposed, all of which correctly reproduce the correlation functions of two-dimensional string theory. These include: (a) free…
Searching for space/time noncommutativity we reconsider open strings in a constant background electric field. The main difference between this situation and its magnetic counterpart is that here there is a critical electric field beyond…
We obtain systematic approximations for the modes of vibration of a string of variable density, which is held fixed at its ends. These approximations are obtained iteratively applying three theorems which are proved in the paper and which…
Recently proposed de Sitter Swampland conjectures imply non-trivial constraints on a scalar field potential in any effective field theory that admits a quantum gravity completion. The original conjecture apparently excludes many…
This text is a review of aspects of supergravity theories that are relevant in superstring cosmology. In particular, it considers the possibilities and restrictions for `uplifting terms', i.e. methods to produce de Sitter vacua. We…
We apply the techniques of the ``universal string theory'' to the ``manifold'' paradigm for superstring/M-theory and come up with a candidate manifold: the manifold of F-theory vacua, defined in conformal field theoretical terms. It…
String geometry theory is one of the candidates of the non-perturbative formulation of string theory. In arXiv:1709.03506, the perturbative string theory is reproduced from a string geometry model coupled with a $u(1)$ gauge field on string…
I point out that the usual Coleman-de Luccia analysis of tunnelling via instantons between perturbatively stable minima using the thin-wall approximation misses one of the effects of gravitational backreaction on the on-shell action and…
As of today there exist consistent, gauge-invariant string field theories describing all string theories: bosonic open and closed strings, open superstrings, heterotic strings and type II strings. The construction of these theories require…
A long-standing puzzle about the heterotic string has been what happens when an instanton shrinks to zero size. It is argued here that the answer at the quantum level is that an extra $SU(2)$ gauge symmetry appears that is supported in the…
In these lecture notes, I review the ``linear sigma model" approach to (0,2) string vacua. My aim is to provide the reader with a toolkit for studying a very broad class of (0,2) superconformal field theories with the requisite properties…
It is shown how metastable de Sitter vacua might arise from heterotic M-theory. The balancing of its two non-perturbative effects, open membrane instantons against gaugino condensation on the hidden boundary, which act with opposing forces…
No-scale supergravity is the appropriate general framework for low-energy effective field theories derived from string theory. The simplest no-scale K\"ahler potential with a single chiral field corresponds to a compactification to flat…
We revisit the issue of uplifting the potential to de Sitter (dS) vacua in type IIB flux compactifications of Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi (KKLT). We shed light on some tension between two constraints on dS vacua in type IIB string…
It has recently been conjectured that string theory does not admit de Sitter vacua, and that quintessence explains the current epoch of accelerated cosmic expansion. A proposed, key prediction of this scenario is time-varying couplings in…
The r\^ole of string loop corrections on the existence of de Sitter vacua and the moduli stabilization problem is examined in type IIB effective theories. The fundamental building blocks are a minimum of three intersecting D7 brane stacks,…