Related papers: Cobordism Conjecture, Anomalies, and the String La…
The three tachyon-free non-supersymmetric string theories in ten dimensions provide a handle on quantum gravity away from the supersymmetric lamppost. However, they have not been shown to be fully consistent; although local anomalies cancel…
We consider string theory vacua with tadpoles for dynamical fields and uncover universal features of the resulting spacetime-dependent solutions. We argue that the solutions can extend only a finite distance $\Delta$ away in the spacetime…
We examine SL(2, Z) anomalies in ten and eight-dimensional supergravities, the induced local counterterms and their realization in string theory. Composite connections play an important role in the cancellation mechanism. At the same time…
Compactified string theories give rise to discrete symmetries which are essential if they are to provide a realistic low energy theory. We find that in a class of four dimensional string theories these symmetries are constrained by similar…
We consider supergravity theories with 8 supercharges in $d=6$. We show that all the proposed anomaly free theories with unbounded number of massless modes are restricted to a finite subset and thus argue that there is an upper bound on the…
This thesis analyses gauged supergravities in various dimensions and their possible origin from compactifications of string theory. In the effective description the fluxes appear in the theory as deformation parameters generating a…
The constraints arising from anomaly cancellation are particular strong for chiral theories in six dimensions. We make progress towards a complete classification of 6D supergravities with minimal supersymmetry and non-abelian gauge group.…
The effective action for type II string theory compactified on a six torus is $N=8$ supergravity, which is known to have an $E_{7}$ duality symmetry. We show that this is broken by quantum effects to a discrete subgroup, $E_7(\Z)$, which…
We provide the dictionary between four-dimensional gauged supergravity and type II compactifications on $\mathbb{T}^6$ with metric and gauge fluxes in the absence of supersymmetry breaking sources, such as branes and orientifold planes.…
We derive the moduli dependent threshold corrections to gauge couplings in toroidal orbifold compactifications. The underlying six dimensional torus lattice of the heterotic string theory is not assumed ---as in previous calculations--- to…
We study supersymmetric compactifications of type II strings on eightfolds to two dimensions. It is demonstrated that the type IIB string on an eightfold is free of gravitational anomalies. T-duality requires that this theory when further…
We revisit the relation between the anomalies in four and six dimensions and the Chern-Simons couplings one dimension below. While the dimensional reduction of chiral theories is well-understood, the question which three and…
This diploma thesis has three major objectives. Firstly, we give an elementary introduction to M-theory compactifications, which are obtained from an analysis of its low-energy effective theory, eleven-dimensional supergravity. In…
We determine the spectrum of D-string bound states in various classes of generalized type I vacuum configurations with sixteen and eight supercharges. The precise matching of the BPS spectra confirms the duality between unconventional type…
We demonstrate the validity of the String Lamppost Principle-that all consistent theories of quantum gravity are in the String Landscape-for supersymmetric theories in $d>6$ using compactness and connectedness of the moduli space of small…
In this paper we discuss compactifications of M-theory to four dimensions on X \times S^1/Z_2, in which nonstandard embeddings in the E_8 \times E_8 vacuum gauge bundle are considered. At the level of the effective field theory description…
We introduce a new class of non-compact backgrounds of Type IIB string theory preserving eight supercharges by combining S-folds and non-perturbative 7-branes wrapping orbifolds, and study the four-dimensional superconformal field theories…
We reexamine the question of quantum consistency of supergravities in eight dimensions. Theories with 16 supercharges suffer from the anomalies under the action of its discrete modular groups. In minimally supersymmetric theory coupled to…
We study different phenomenological aspects of compact, D=4, N=1 Type IIB orientifolds considered as models for unification of the standard model and gravity. We discuss the structure of the compactification, string and unification scales…
The construction of effective field theories describing M-theory compactified on $S^1/{\bf Z}_2$ is revisited, and new insights into the parameters of the theory are explained. Particularly, the web of constraints which follow from…