Related papers: Higher Structures, Self-Dual Strings and 6d Superc…
String theories should reduce to ordinary four-dimensional field theories at low energies. Yet the formulation of the two are so different that such a connection, if it exists, is not immediately obvious. With the Schwinger proper-time…
In this article I first give an abbreviated history of string theory and then describe the recently-conjectured field-string duality. This suggests a class of nonsupersymmetric gauge theories which are conformal (CGT) to leading order of…
In this note we provide a new perspective on the topological parts of several action functionals in string and M-theory. We show that rationally these can be viewed as large gauge transformations corresponding to variations of higher…
While higher bundles are of clear relevance to higher gauge theory, examples other than abelian bundle gerbes are hard to come across. One would in particular like to see 2-bundles where the structure 2-group is the String 2-group…
We construct supergravity solutions dual to twisted field theories that are the worldvolume theories of D4-branes wrapped on 2, 3-cycles, and NS-fivebranes on 3-cycles. We first obtain the solutions for the Romans' six-dimensional gauged…
We review the higher gauge symmetries in double and exceptional field theory from the viewpoint of an embedding tensor construction. This is based on a (typically infinite-dimensional) Lie algebra $\frak{g}$ and a choice of representation…
Ideas about a duality between gauge fields and strings have been around for many decades. During the last ten years, these ideas have taken a much more concrete mathematical form. String descriptions of the strongly coupled dynamics of…
Despite recent evidence indicating the existence of a new kind of self-dual six-dimensional superstring, no satisfactory worldsheet formulation of such a string has been proposed. In this note we point out that a theory built from Z_4…
Recent results of A. Sen on quantum field theory models with self-dual field strengths use string field theory as a starting point. In the present work, we show that combining string field theory and supergeometry we can provide a…
We construct 7-dimensional quantum field theories encoding the anomalies of conformal field theories with (2,0) supersymmetry in six dimensions. We explain how the conformal blocks of the (2,0) theories arise in this context. A result of…
There are at present two known string theories in $(2,2)$ dimensions. One of them is the well known $N=2$ string, and the other one is a more recently constructed $N=1$ spacetime supersymmetric string. They are both based on certain…
We give simple arguments for new non-renormalization theorems on higher derivative couplings of gauge theories to supergravity, with sixteen supersymmetries, by considerations of brane-bulk superamplitudes. This leads to some exact results…
We develop semistrict higher gauge theory from first principles. In particular, we describe the differential Deligne cohomology underlying semistrict principal 2-bundles with connective structures. Principal 2-bundles are obtained in terms…
We construct manifestly superconformal field theories in six dimensions which contain a non-Abelian tensor multiplet. In particular, we show how principal 3-bundles over a suitable twistor space encode solutions to these self-dual tensor…
In this thesis, the emerging field of higher gauge theory will be discussed, particularly in relation to problems arising in M-theory, such as selfdual strings and the so-called (2,0) theory. This thesis will begin with a Nahm-like…
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 study the higher derivative corrections that occur in type II superstring theories in ten dimensions or less. Assuming invariance under a discrete duality group G(Z) we show that the generic functions of the scalar fields that occur can…
In this paper we make further refinements to the duality proposed between N=1 SQCD and certain string (supergravity plus branes) backgrounds, working in the regime of comparable large number of colors and flavors. Using the string theory…
The key open problem of string theory remains its non-perturbative completion to M-theory. A decisive hint to its inner workings comes from numerous appearances of higher structures in the limits of M-theory that are already understood,…
We construct an action for double field theory using a metric connection that is compatible with both the generalised metric and the O_{D,D} structure. The connection is simultaneously torsionful and flat. Using this connection one may…