Related papers: On TCS $G_2$ manifolds and 4D Emergent Strings
Motivated by the recently proposed bounds on the slow-roll parameters for scalar potentials arising from string/M-theory compactifications, a.k.a. the Refined de Sitter Swampland conjecture, we explore the sharpness of such constraints…
In the Emergence Proposal in QG it is conjectured that all light-particle kinetic terms are absent in the fundamental UV theory and are generated by quantum corrections in the IR. It has been argued that this may provide for some…
We review exact results obtained for R^4 couplings in maximally supersymmetric type II string theories. These couplings offer a privileged scene to understand the rules of semiclassical calculus in string theory. Upon expansion in weak…
We revisit the Emergence Proposal in 4d ${\cal N}=2$ vector multiplet sectors that arise from type II string Calabi--Yau compactifications, with emphasis on the role of axionic fundamental strings, or EFT strings. We focus on large-volume…
The Swampland Program aims to address the question, "when does an effective field theory model of quantum gravity have an ultraviolet complete embedding in string theory?", and can be regarded as a bottom-up approach to investigations of…
In this dissertation, we study various aspects of type IIB string theory compactified on freely acting orbifolds. We focus particularly on asymmetric orbifolds, which are examples of non-geometric string compactifications and constitute an…
The minimal Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) predicts the emergence of towers of superextremal states in both weak and strong coupling limits. In this work, we study M-theory compactified on a special class of Calabi-Yau threefolds to…
The existence of non-singular string cosmologies is established in a class of two-dimensional supersymmetric Hybrid models at finite temperature. The left-moving sector of the Hybrid models gives rise to 16 real (N_4=4) spacetime…
In this thesis the recently developed duality covariant approach to string and M-theory is investigated. In this formalism the U-duality symmetry of M-theory or T-duality symmetry of Type II string theory becomes manifest upon extending…
We study the duality between M-theory on compact holonomy G2-manifolds and the heterotic string on Calabi-Yau three-folds. The duality is studied for K3-fibered G2-manifolds, called twisted connected sums, which lend themselves to an…
We study difference equations which are obtained from the asymptotic expansion of topological string theory on the deformed and the resolved conifold geometries as well as for topological string theory on arbitrary families of Calabi-Yau…
We analyze topological string theory on a two dimensional torus, focusing on symmetries in the matter sector. Even before coupling to gravity, the topological torus has an infinite number of point-like physical observables, which give rise…
We consider twisted tachyons on C/Z_N orbifolds of bosonic closed string theory. It has been conjectured that these tachyonic instabilities correspond to decays of the orbifolds into flat space or into orbifolds with smaller deficit angles.…
The subject of this thesis are various ways to construct four-dimensional quantum field theories from string theory. In a first part we study the generation of a supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, coupled to an adjoint chiral superfield,…
The ground state of string theory may lie at a point of ``maximally enhanced symmetry", at which all of the moduli transform under continuous or discrete symmetries. This hypothesis, along with the hypotheses that the theory at high…
In any consistent effective field theory of quantum gravity limits of infinite field distance are expected to lead to the EFT breakdown due to the appearance of an infinite tower of light states, as predicted by the Distance Conjecture. We…
We demonstrate that string consistency in four spacetime dimensions leads to a spectrum of string states which satisfies the supertrace constraints Str(M^0)=0 and Str(M^2)=\Lambda at tree level, where \Lambda is the one-loop string…
I review the relations between mass scales in various string theories and in M-theory. I discuss physical motivations and possible consistent realizations of large volume compactifications and low string scale. Large longitudinal…
The heterotic string theory, compactified to four dimensions, has been conjectured to have a duality symmetry (S duality) that transforms the dilaton nonlinearly. If valid, this symmetry could provide an important means of obtaining…
Considering SO(32) heterotic string theory compactified on a torus of dimension 4 and less, stability of non-supersymmetric states is studied. A non-supersymmetric state with robust stability is constructed, and its exact stability is…