Related papers: Misaligned Supersymmetry and Open Strings
We provide a non-technical introduction to "misaligned supersymmetry", a generic phenomenon in string theory which describes how the arrangement of bosonic and fermionic states at all string energy levels conspires to preserve finite string…
We investigate the generic distribution of bosonic and fermionic states at all mass levels in non-supersymmetric string theories, and find that a hidden ``misaligned supersymmetry'' must always appear in the string spectrum. We show that…
In this note we reexamine the possibility of constructing stable non-supersymmetric theories that exhibit an exponential density of states. For weakly coupled closed strings there is a general theorem, according to which stable theories…
In a remarkable paper, Dienes discovered that the absence of physical tachyons in closed string theory is intimately related to oscillations in the net number of bosonic minus fermionic degrees of freedom, a pattern predicted by an…
In this article we show that finite perturbative corrections in non-supersymmetric strings can be understood via an interplay between modular invariance and misaligned supersymmetry. While modular invariance is known to be crucial in…
"Brane Supersymmetry Breaking" is a peculiar string-scale mechanism that can unpair Bose and Fermi excitations in orientifold models. It results from the simultaneous presence, in the vacuum, of collections of D-branes and orientifolds that…
Orientable open string theories containing both bosons and fermions without the GSO projection are expected to have the 10 dimensional N=2(A) space-time supersymmetry in a spontaneously broken phase. We study the low-energy theorem for the…
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…
In recent work Kachru, Kumar and Silverstein introduced a special class of non-supersymmetric type II string theories in which the cosmological constant vanishes at the first two orders of perturbation theory. Heuristic arguments suggest…
A non-supersymmetric ten-dimensional open string theory is constructed as an orbifold of type I string theory, and as an orientifold of the bosonic type B theory. It is purely bosonic, and cancellation of massless tadpoles requires the…
A class of non-supersymmetric string backgrounds can be constructed using twists that involve space-time fermion parity. We propose a non-perturbative definition of string theory in these backgrounds via gauge theories with supersymmetry…
We study pairs of planar D-branes intersecting on null hypersurfaces, and other related configurations. These are supersymmetric and have finite energy density. They provide open-string analogues of the parabolic orbifold and null-fluxbrane…
The first part of this thesis is a general introduction to the bosonic and fermionic string theory, to the concept of D brane and to string dualities. A discussion of anomalies cancellation closes the chapter. The second part of the thesis…
Reminiscences on the String origins of Supersymmetry are followed by a discussion of the importance of confusing bosons with fermions in building superstring theories in 9+1 dimensions. In eleven dimensions, the kinship between bosons and…
We discuss one of the generic spacetime consequences of having (1,0) worldsheet supersymmetry in tachyon-free string theory, namely the appearance of a ``misaligned supersymmetry'' in the corresponding spacetime spectrum. Misaligned…
Following Kachru, Kumar and Silverstein, we construct a set of non-supersymmetric Type II string models which have equal numbers of bosons and fermions at each mass level. The models are asymmetric {\bf Z}_2 \otimes {\bf Z}_2^{\prime}…
We study a class of type I string models with supersymmetry broken on the world-volume of some D-branes and vanishing tree-level potential. Despite the non-supersymmetric spectrum, supersymmetry is non-linearly realized on these D-branes,…
Is perturbative stability intimately tied with the existence of spacetime fermions in string theory in more than two dimensions? Type 0'B string theory in ten-dimensional flat space is a rare example of a non-tachyonic, non-supersymmetric…
We construct bosonic string theories, RNS string theories and heterotic string theories on flat supermanifolds. For these string theories, we show cancellations of the central charges and modular invariance. Bosonic string theories on…
While R-R tadpoles should be canceled for consistency, string models with broken supersymmetry generally have uncanceled NS-NS tadpoles. Their presence signals that the background does not solve the field equations, so that these models are…