Related papers: Strings in Irrelevant Deformations of $AdS_3/CFT_2…
We consider 4d N=1 theories arising from F-theory compactifications on elliptically-fibered Calabi-Yau four-folds and investigate the non-perturbative structure of their scalar field space beyond the large volume/large complex structure…
String theory is the most promising candidate for the theory unifying all interactions including gravity. It has an extremely difficult dynamics. Therefore, it is useful to study some its simplifications. One of them is non-critical string…
Much has been learned about string theory over the last few years by studying properties of cycles and branes in a given background geometry. Here we discuss three situations (quantum volume, attractor flows/D-brane stability, and dynamical…
In this lecture I summarize recent developments on strings propagating in curved spacetime. Exact conformal field theories that describe gravitational backgrounds such as black holes and more intricate gravitational singularities have been…
We study a few assorted questions about the behavior of strings on anti-de Sitter spacetime (AdS), or equivalently, `flux tubes' in strongly-coupled conformal field theories (CFTs). For the case where the `flux tube' is sourced by a…
Progress on the physics of strings in curved spacetime are comprehensively reviewed.We start by showing through renormalization group arguments that a meaningful quantum theory of gravity must be finite and must include all particle…
Motivated by the problem of background independence of closed string field theory we study geometry on the infinite vector bundle of local fields over the space of conformal field theories (CFT's). With any connection we can associate an…
We analyze tree-level string amplitudes in a linear dilaton background, motivated by its use as a gauge-invariant tracer of string interactions in scattering experiments and its genericity among simple perturbative string theory limits. A…
Some quantum critical states cannot be smoothly deformed into each other without either crossing some multicritical points or explicitly breaking certain symmetries even if they belong to the same universality class. This brings up the…
We consider the CFT that arises from the D1-D5 system in the presence of a constant background gauge potential which couples to the R-charge of the theory: this potential effectively changes the periodicities of the fermions. By the AdS/CFT…
This work deals with the analysis of cylindrically symmetric and stationary space-times $\mathcal{C}_{t}$ with closed timelike curves. The equation of motion describing the evolution of a massive scalar field in a $\mathcal{C}_{t}$…
The formulation of two-dimensional quantum gravity at finite cutoff remains an open problem. We revisit this question in JT gravity from two perspectives: the closed-channel bulk path integral and the path integral over boundary curves.…
Is string theory uniquely determined by self-consistency? Causality and unitarity seemingly permit a multitude of putative deformations, at least at the level of two-to-two scattering. Motivated by this question, we initiate a systematic…
We continue our study of string theory in a background that interpolates between $AdS_3$ in the infrared and a linear dilaton spacetime $R^{1,1}\times R_\phi$ in the UV. This background corresponds via holography to a $CFT_2$ deformed by a…
We study, using a gravity dual, the finite temperature dynamics of $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory for large $N_c$, with fundamental quark flavours in a quenched approximation, in the presence of a fixed R--charge under a global R--current. We…
At first glance, it seems possible to construct in general relativity theory causality violating solutions. The most striking one is the Gott spacetime. Two cosmic strings, approaching each other with high velocity, could produce closed…
In this introductory review we discuss dynamical tests of the AdS_5 x S^5 string/N=4 super Yang-Mills duality. After a brief introduction to AdS/CFT we argue that semiclassical string energies yield information on the quantum spectrum of…
Motivated by the recent work on $T\bar{T}$-type deformations of 2D CFTs, a especial class of single-trace deformations of AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ correspondence has been investigated. From the worldsheet perspective, this corresponds to a marginal…
Supercritical string theories in D>10 dimensions with no moduli are described, generalizing the asymmetric orientifold construction of one of the authors. By taking the number of dimensions to be large and turning on fluxes, dilaton…
We consider Neveu-Schwarz pp-waves with spacetime supersymmetry. Upon compactification of a spacelike direction, these backgrounds develop Closed Null Curves (CNCs) and Closed Timelike Curves (CTCs), and are U-dual to supersymmetric Godel…