Related papers: Bubble needs strings
Recent results on the annulus partition function in Liouville field theory are applied to non-critical string theory, both below and above the critical dimension. Liouville gravity coupled to $c\le 1$ matter has a dual formulation as a…
It is challenging to construct explicit and controllable models that realize de Sitter solutions in string compactifications. This difficulty is the main motivation for the Refined de Sitter Conjecture and the Trans-Planckian Censorship…
S(pacelike)D-branes are objects arising naturally in string theory when Dirichlet boundary conditions are imposed on the time direction. SD-brane physics is inherently time-dependent. Previous investigations of gravity fields of SD-branes…
Using the renormalization-group formalism, a sigma model of a special type- in which the metric and the dilaton depend explicitly on one of the string coordinates only-is investigated near two dimensions. It is seen that dilatonic gravity…
Inspired by the studies of gravitational waves in anti-de Sitter universe, in general relativity, in this paper we investigate the possibility of similar solutions in IIB string theory on $AdS_3 x S^3 x R^4$. We give a general form for such…
The main problem of inflation in string theory is finding the models with a flat potential, consistent with stabilization of the volume of the compactified space. This can be achieved in the theories where the potential has (an approximate)…
Preliminary investigations of the topological phase of string theory along the lines of a (restricted) $\dot{w}_{\infty}$ non-linear sigma model are provided. Gauge fixing the w gravity gauge fields by preserving a geometric identity Lorenz…
Aspects of string cosmology for critical and non-critical strings are discussed emphasizing the necessity to account for the dilaton dynamics for a proper incorporation of ``large - small" duality. This drastically modifies the intuition…
This is a broad-brush review of how string theory addresses several important questions of gravitational physics. The problem of non-renormalizability is first reviewed, followed by introduction of string theory as an ultraviolet-finite…
This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…
I argue that string creation may have played a role in reheating the universe after inflation. For strings in four dimensions that arise from branes wrapping cycles in the extra dimensions, estimates from effective field theory show that…
We study dynamics of a cosmic string in a metastable brane configuration in Type IIA string theory. We first discuss a decay process of the cosmic string via a fuzzy brane (equivalently bubble/string bound state) by neglecting gravitational…
This thesis consists of two parts. The first part deals with gauge/gravity duality in the context of anti de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes with de Sitter (dS) boundary, which can be used to study issues concerning strongly coupled field theory on…
We study the decay of the unstable D-particle in three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time using worldsheet boundary conformal field theory methods. We test the open string completeness conjecture in a background for which the phase space…
Beginning with a review of the arguments leading to the so-called c=1 barrier in the continuum formulation of noncritical string theory, the pathology is then exhibited in a discretized version of the theory, formulated through dynamical…
Brane-world models where observers are trapped within the thickness of a 3-brane offer novel perspectives on gravitation and cosmology. In this essay, I would argue that the problem of a late epoch acceleration of the universe is well…
Negative mass makes perfect physical sense as long as the dominant energy condition is satisfied by the corresponding energy-momentum tensor. Heretofore, only {\it configurations} of negative mass had been found…
Dimensional reduction has proven to be a surprisingly powerful tool for delineating the boundary between the string landscape and the swampland. Bounds from the Weak Gravity Conjecture and the Repulsive Force Conjecture, for instance, are…
String tension fundamentally determines the properties of strings; yet its value is often assigned arbitrarily, creating a fine-tuning problem. We describe a mechanism for dynamically generating string tension in a flat or almost flat…
We examine the possibility that time dependence might remove the singular nature of global string spacetimes. We first show that this time dependence takes a specific form -- a de-Sitter like expansion along the length of the string and…