Related papers: Tameness, Strings, and the Distance Conjecture
The word moonshine refers to unexpected relations between the two distinct mathematical structures: finite group representations and modular objects. It is believed that the key to understanding moonshine is through physical theories with…
Motivated by the work of Polchinski and Strominger on type IIA theory, where the effect of non-trivial field strengths for p-form potentials on a Calabi-Yau space was discussed, we study four-dimensional heterotic string theory in the…
The low energy effective action of string theory depends strongly on the process of compactification and the localization of fields in extra dimensions. Explicit string constructions towards the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM)…
We give an introductory review of topological strings and their application to various aspects of superstrings and supersymmetric gauge theories. This review includes developing the necessary mathematical background for topological strings,…
This review summarizes the recent developments in topological string theory from the author's perspective, mostly focused on aspects of research in which the author is involved. After a brief overview of the theory, we discuss two aspects…
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…
We report results obtained for SU(2) Yang-Mills theory on a four dimensional torus with two directions much smaller than the other two. The small 2-torus is equipped with twisted boundary conditions. This construction provides a way to…
We analyze infrared consistency conditions of 3D and 4D effective field theories with massive scalars or fermions charged under multiple $U(1)$ gauge fields. At low energies, one can integrate out the massive particles and thus obtain a…
We confront the problem of giving a fundamental definition to perturbative string theory in spacetimes with totally compact space (taken to be a torus for simplicity, though the nature of the problem is very general) and non-compact time.…
We observe a direct relation between the existence of fundamental axionic strings, dubbed EFT strings, and infinite distance limits in 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ EFTs coupled to gravity. The backreaction of EFT strings can be interpreted as RG flow…
In this paper we examine the evolution of the effective field theory describing a conifold transition in type IIB string theory. Previous studies have considered such dynamics starting from the cosmological approximation of homogeneous…
The theta dependent of pure gauge theories in four dimensions can be studied using a duality of large N gauge theories with string theory on a certain spacetime. Via this duality, one can argue that for every theta, there are infinitely…
This is a very brief survey of some results in the geometry of string duality delivered at a lecture given at ICM 1998, Berlin. String Duality is the statement that one kind of string theory compactified on one space is equivalent in some…
We present a string theory that reproduces the large-$N$ expansion of two dimensional Yang-Mills gauge theory on arbitrary surfaces. First, a new class of topological sigma models is introduced, with path integrals localized to the moduli…
We analyze the boundaries of the moduli spaces of compactifications of the heterotic string on $T^d$, making particular emphasis on $d=2$ and its F-theory dual. We compute the OPE algebras as we approach all the infinite distance limits…
We show that integrating out M2 branes ending on M5 branes inside Calabi-Yau manifolds captures non-perturbative open topological string physics. The integrating out is performed using a contour integral in complexified Schwinger proper…
We study a topological field theory describing confining phases of gauge theories in four dimensions. It can be formulated on a lattice using a discrete 2-form field talking values in a finite abelian group (the magnetic gauge group). We…
We investigated domain wall networks as a possible candidate to explain the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We discuss various requirements that any stable lattice of frustrated walls must obey and propose a class of `ideal'…
We use numerical methods to obtain moduli-dependent Calabi-Yau metrics and from them the moduli-dependent massive tower of Kaluza-Klein states for the one-parameter family of quintic Calabi-Yau manifolds. We then compute geodesic distances…
Motivated by quantum gravity and the CFT Distance Conjecture, we study infinite-distance limits in four-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ superconformal field theories with higher-dimensional conformal manifolds and their AdS duals. We focus on…