Related papers: Phase transition at high supersymmetry breaking sc…

We describe physical phenomena associated with a class of transitions that occur in the study of supersymmetric three-cycles in Calabi-Yau threefolds. The transitions in question occur at real codimension one in the complex structure moduli…

We conjecture that the end point of bulk closed string tachyon decay at any non-zero coupling, is the annihilation of space time by Witten's bubble of nothing, resulting in a topological phase of the theory. In support of this we present a…

We revisit the stability of the complex structure moduli in the large volume regime of type-IIB flux compactifications. We argue that when the volume is not exponentially large, such as in K\"ahler uplifted dS vacua, the quantum corrections…

The region of moduli space of string theories which is most likely to describe the "real world" is where the string coupling is about unity and the volume of extra compact dimensions is about the same size as the string volume. Here we map…

We study the constraints of spacetime supersymmetry for perturbative three- and two-dimensional Minkowski vacua of the critical heterotic string. Assuming a standard RNS construction of the spacetime supersymmetry generators and a compact…

Using the embedding tensor formalism we give the general conditions for the existence of N=1 vacua in spontaneously broken N=2 supergravities. Our results confirm the necessity of having both electrically and magnetically charged multiplets…

Superstring/M-theory compactified on compact Ricci flat manifolds have recently been conjectured to exhibit instabilities whenever the metrics do not have special holonomy. We use worldsheet conformal field theory to investigate…

We discuss the question of what type and scale of supersymmetry breaking might be statistically favored among vacua of string/M theory, building on comments in Denef and Douglas, hep-th/0404116.

We suggest that the electroweak Higgs particles can be identified with extra-dimensional components of the gauge fields, which after compactification on a certain topologically non-trivial background become tachyonic and condense. If the…

A way to break supersymmetry in perturbative superstring theory is the string version of the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. There, the fermions and bosons have mass splitting due to different compactification boundary conditions. We consider the…

We examine the noncommutative cylinder solution to a matrix model with a Minkowski background metric. It can be regarded as the noncommutative analogue of a static circular string. Perturbations about the solution yield a tachyonic scalar…

I present arguments to the affect that the topological phase of string theory must be event-symmetric. This motivates a search for a universal string group for discrete strings in event-symmetric space-time which unifies space-time symmetry…

We construct a general class of chiral four-dimensional string models with Scherk--Schwarz supersymmetry breaking, involving freely acting orbifolds. The basic ingredient is to combine an ordinary supersymmetry-preserving Z_N projection…

The tachyonic instability of the open bosonic string is analyzed using the level truncation approach to string field theory. We have calculated all terms in the cubic action of the string field theory describing zero-momentum interactions…

The broken and unbroken phases of PT and supersymmetry in optical systems are explored for a complex refractive index profile in the form of a Scarf potential, under the framework of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. The transition from…

Field theories compactified on non-simply connected spaces, which in general allow to impose twisted boundary conditions, are found to unexpectedly have a rich phase structure. One of characteristic features of such theories is the…

A longstanding question in superstring/$M$ theory is does it predict supersymmetry below the string scale? We formulate and discuss a necessary condition for this to be true; this is the mathematical conjecture that all stable, compact…

We investigate mechanisms that can trigger supersymmetry breaking in open string vacua. The focus is on backgrounds with D-branes and orientifold planes that have an exact string description, and allow to study some of the quantum effects…

We study total and partial supersymmetry breaking by freely acting orbifolds, or equivalently by Scherk-Schwarz compactifications, in type I string theory. In particular, we describe a four-dimensional chiral compactification with…

We explore the phase structure induced by closed string tachyon condensation of toric nonsupersymmetric conifold-like singularities described by an integral charge matrix $Q=(n_1 n_2 -n_3 -n_4), n_i>0, \sum_i Q_i\neq 0$, initiated in…