Related papers: The Emergent M-theory Limit
The Distance Conjecture states that an infinite tower of modes becomes exponentially light when approaching an infinite distance point in field space. We argue that the inherent path-dependence of this statement can be addressed when…
We construct two dimensional gauge theories with $N= (4,4)$ supersymmetry from branes of type IIA string theory. Quantum effects in the two dimensional gauge theory are analyzed by embedding the IIA brane construction into M-theory. We find…
In a previous paper we showed that the absence of the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity as M^2 -> 0 for massive spin-2 with a Lambda term is an artifact of the tree approximation, and that the discontinuity reappears at one loop, as a…
Exploiting the gauge/gravity correspondence we find the spectrum of hadronic-like bound states of adjoint particles with a large global charge in several confining theories. In particular, we consider an embedding of four-dimensional N=1…
We calculate the potential between various configurations of membranes and gravitons in M(atrix) theory. The computed potentials agree with the short distance potentials between corresponding 2-branes and 0-brane configurations in Type IIA…
We show that all supersymmetric Type IIA D-branes can be constructed as bound states of a certain number of unstable non-supersymmetric Type IIA D9-branes. This string-theoretical construction demonstrates that D-brane charges in Type IIA…
The proposal that a strong coupling limit of the five-dimensional type II string theory (M-theory compactified on a 6-torus) in which the Planck length becomes infinite could give a six-dimensional superconformal phase of M-theory is…
Standard lore asserts that quantum effects generically forbid the occurrence of light (non-pseudo-Goldstone) scalars having masses smaller than the Kaluza Klein scale, M_KK, in extra-dimensional models, or the gravitino mass, M_3/2, in…
We review the recent developments in superstrings. We start with a brief summary of various consistent superstring theories and discuss T-duality which necessarily leads to the presence of D-branes. The properties of D-branes are summarized…
Like the M-theory itself also the worldvolume theory of the M5-brane contains brane excitations, which can be extracted from the supersymmetry algebra. Bound states (intersecting branes) of the worldvolume can be translated into bound…
We discuss string theory vacua which have the wrong number of spacetime dimensions, and give a crude argument that vacua with more than four large dimensions are improbable. We then turn to two dimensional vacua, which naively appear to…
To give more credence to the M-theoretic Emergence Proposal it is important to show that also classical kinetic terms in a low energy effective action arise as a quantum effect from integrating out light towers of states. We show that for…
We investigate the effective worldvolume theories of branes in a background given by (the bosonic sector of) 10-dimensional massive IIA supergravity (``massive branes'') and their M-theoretic origin. In the case of the solitonic 5-brane of…
We describe the type IIA physical realization of the unoriented topological string introduced by Walcher, describe its M-theory lift, and show that it allows to compute the open and unoriented topological amplitude in terms of one-loop…
We study limits of infinite distance in the moduli space of 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ string compactifications, in which instanton effects dominate. We first consider trajectories in the hypermultiplet moduli space of type IIB Calabi-Yau…
Pure N=1 super Yang-Mills theory can be realised as a certain low energy limit of M theory near certain singularities in $G_2$-holonomy spaces. For SU(n) and SO(2n) gauge groups these $M$ theory backgrounds can be regarded as strong…
By considering N=2 string amplitudes we determine the (2+2)-dimensional target space action for the physical degrees of freedom: self-dual gravity and self-dual Yang-Mills, together with their respective infinite towers of higher-spin…
M2 branes suspended between adjacent parallel M5 branes lead to light strings, the `M-strings'. In this paper we compute the elliptic genus of M-strings, twisted by maximally allowed symmetries that preserve 2d (2,0) supersymmetry. In a…
We construct two new SL(2,Z) invariant vacua of type IIB string theory which are bound states of $(p,q)$ strings with $(m,n)$ 5-branes, written as ((F, D1), (NS5, D5)) and preserve 1/4 of the full space-time supersymmetries. For the first…
We extend the idea of mirage cosmology to M-theory. Considering the motion of a probe brane in the M-theory background generated by a stack of non-threshold (M2,M5) bound states, we study the cosmological evolution of the brane universe in…