Related papers: Bimetric, Conformal Supergravity and its Superstri…
We analyze in detail the relation between an exactly marginal deformation of N=4 SYM - the Leigh-Strassler or ``beta-deformation'' - and its string theory dual (recently constructed in hep-th/0502086) by comparing energies of semiclassical…
Montonen and Olive's conjecture in 1977 that some theories possess a duality symmetry that interchanges the electrically charged particle with that of negatively charged t' Hooft-Polyakov monopoles which relates strong coupling to weak…
Weyl conformal geometry is a gauge theory of scale invariance that naturally brings together the Standard Model (SM) and Einstein gravity. The SM embedding in this geometry is possible without new degrees of freedom beyond SM and Weyl…
Higher-spin symmetry is known to mix lower-spin fields with higher-spin fields, creating a complex interaction picture where no closed finite field sector is expected to exist for dimensions greater than three. By studying the self-dual…
We construct a Weyl transverse diffeomorphism invariant theory of teleparallel gravity by employing the Weyl compensator formalism. The low-energy dynamics has a single spin two gravition without a scalar degree of freedom. By construction,…
We develop a superspace formulation for ${\cal N}=3$ conformal supergravity in four spacetime dimensions as a gauge theory of the superconformal group $\mathsf{SU}(2,2|3)$. Upon imposing certain covariant constraints, the algebra of…
We review (non-supersymmetric) gauge theories of four-dimensional space-time symmetries and their quadratic action. The only true gauge theory of such a symmetry (with a physical gauge boson) that has an exact geometric interpretation,…
We show that the physical degrees of freedom of the critical open string with N=2 superconformal symmetry on the worldsheet are described by a self-dual Yang-Mills field on a hyperspace parametrised by the coordinates of the target space…
Exploiting the gauge/gravity correspondence we find the spectrum of hadronic-like bound states of adjoint particles with a large global charge in several confining theories. In particular, we consider an embedding of four-dimensional N=1…
This paper presents a projective superspace formulation for 4D N = 2 matter-coupled supergravity. We first describe a variant superspace realization for the N = 2 Weyl multiplet. It differs from that proposed by Howe in 1982 by the choice…
We conjecture that $W$ gravity can be interpreted as the gauge theory of $\phi$ diffeomorphisms in the space of dimensionally-reduced $D=2+2$ $SU^*(\infty)$ Yang-Mills instantons. These $\phi$ diffeomorphisms preserve a volume-three form…
We propose the 4D, N=1 supergravitational analogues (avatars) of the 4D, N=1 supersymmetric Born-Infeld action in four dimensions for the first time, by using superspace. In particular, a new Born-Infeld type generalization of the Weyl…
In this work we present the minimal supersymmetric extension of the five-dimensional dilaton-gravity theory that captures the main properties of the holographic dual of little string theory. It is described by a particular gauging of…
We study the particle spectrum and the unitarity of the generic n-dimensional Weyl-invariant quadratic curvature gravity theories around their (anti-)de Sitter [(A)dS] and flat vacua. Weyl symmetry is spontaneously broken in (A)dS and…
It is shown that two dimensional (2d) topological gravity in the conformal gauge has a larger symmetry than has been hitherto recognized; in the formulation of Labastida, Pernici and Witten it contains a twisted ``small'' N=4 superconformal…
In a previous paper we presented the renormalization of Einstein-Hilbert gravity under inclusion of higher derivative terms and proposed a projection down to the physical state space of Einstein-Hilbert. In the present paper we describe…
We show that, in four-dimensional spacetimes with an arbitrary Einstein metric, with and without a cosmological constant, perturbative dynamical degrees of freedom in generic quadratic-curvature gravity can be decoupled into massless and…
The unified theory of string and two-dimensional quantum gravity is considered. The action for two-dimensional gravity is choosen in a well-known induced form and thus gravity posesses it's oun nontrivial dynamics even on the classical…
We investigate the holographic correspondence between (p+1)-dimensional ($0\le p\le 4$) SYM theories with 16 supercharges and superstring theories on the near-horizon limit of Dp-brane backgrounds. Following an approach based on the…
A correspondence between type IIB string theory with N D7-branes on R^{1,3} x C^1/Z_2 x T^2/Z_2 x T^2/Z_2 and pure N=1 SU(N) gauge theory in four dimensions is proposed and argued. First the supergravity background of unwrapped and flat…