Related papers: Light Strings and Strong Coupling in F-theory

If there is a single underlying "theory of everything" which in some limits of its "moduli space" reduces to the five weakly coupled string theories in 10D, and 11D SUGRA, then it is possible that all six of them have some common domain of…

A method to solve various aspects of the strong coupling expansion of the superconformal field theory duals of AdS_5 x X geometries from first principles is proposed. The main idea is that at strong coupling the configurations that dominate…

Scattering of fundamental states of type IIB supergravity and superstring theory is discussed at low orders in perturbation theory in the background of a D-instanton. The integration over fermionic zero modes in both the low energy…

We construct new F-theory vacua in 8-dimensions. They are coming by projective realizations of F-theory on $K_3$ surfaces admitting double covers onto $\P^2$, branched along a plane sextic curve, the so called double sextics. The new vacua…

We analyse divergences of the scalar curvature $R$ of the vector multiplet moduli space of type IIA string theory compactified on a Calabi--Yau $X$, along infinite-distance large volume limits. Extending previous results, we classify the…

Many N=1 heterotic string compactifications exhibit physically mysterious singularities at codimension one in the moduli space of vacua. At these singularities, Yukawa couplings of charged fields develop poles as a function of the moduli.…

We revisit the 4D generalized black hole geometries, obtained by us [1], with a renewed interest, to unfold some aspects of effective gravity in a noncommutative D3-brane formalism. In particular, we argue for the existence of extra…

We consider the compactification of the E8xE8 heterotic string on a K3 surface with "the spin connection embedded in the gauge group" and the dual picture in the type IIA string (or F-theory) on a Calabi-Yau threefold X. It turns out that…

In this note we compare the moduli spaces of the heterotic string compactified on a two-torus and F-Theory compactified on an elliptic K3 surface for the case of an unbroken E8 x E8 gauge group. The explicit map relating the deformation…

In this review article we study type IIB superstring compactifications in the presence of space-time filling D-branes while preserving N=1 supersymmetry in the effective four-dimensional theory. This amount of unbroken supersymmetry and the…

Over the past three decades, considerable effort has been devoted to studying the rich and diverse phenomenologies of heterotic strings exhibiting spacetime supersymmetry. Unfortunately, during this same period, there has been relatively…

We study the bulk effective theory of a class of orbifolds of the type IIB string with D5-branes, compactified to four dimensions. These constructions are connected, in a region of their moduli space, to some orbifolds of the type I and…

We study the embedding of cosmic strings, related to the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortex solution, into d=4, N=1 supergravity. We find that the local cosmic string solution which saturates the BPS bound of supergravity with $D$-term…

The recently found non-critical open string theories is reviewed. These open strings, noncommutative open string theories (NCOS), arise as consistent quantum theories describing the low energy theory of D-branes in a background electric…

String theory compactifications come with numerous $U(1)$ factors, implying the presence of many hidden photons in the low-energy EFT. One may call this the ``string photoverse''. We argue that, generically, these hidden photons are…

The geometrical description of BPS 3-string junction in the F-theory background is given by lifting a string junction in IIB into F-theory and constructing a holomorphic curve in K3 with respect to a special complex structure of K3. The…

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…

String theory, if it describes nature, is probably strongly coupled. As a result, one might despair of making any statements about the theory. In the framework of a set of clearly spelled out assumptions, we show that this is not…

We examine how to construct explicit heterotic string models dual to F-theory in eight dimensions. In doing so we learn about where the moduli spaces of the two theories overlap, and how non-perturbative features leave traces on a purely…

We review recent progress in the construction of four-dimensional vacua of Type II string theory and F-theory which yield the Standard Model of particle physics (SM) or extensions thereof. In Type II orientifold compactifications the SM…