Related papers: Small Kinetic Mixing in String Theory
The dynamics of superstring, supergravity and M theories and their compactifications are probed by studying the various perturbation theories that emerge in the strong and weak coupling limits for various directions in coupling constant…
In these lectures, two different aspects of brane world scenarios in 5d gravity or string theory are discussed. In the first two lectures, work on how warped compactifications of 5d gravity theories can change the guise of the hierarchy…
We investigate the lifting of half-maximal four-dimensional gauged supergravities to compactifications of string theory. It is shown that a class of such supergravities can arise from compactifications of IIA string theory on manifolds of…
Matrix string theory is equivalent to type IIA superstring theory in the light-cone gauge, together with extra degrees of freedom representing D-brane states. It is therefore the appropriate framework in which to study systems of multiple…
We investigate orientifolds of type II string theory on K3 and Calabi-Yau 3-folds with intersecting D-branes wrapping special Lagrangian cycles. We determine quite generically the chiral massless spectrum in terms of topological invariants…
Weakly coupled regions of 4d EFTs coupled to gravity are particularly suitable to describe the backreaction of BPS fundamental axionic strings, dubbed EFT strings, in a local patch of spacetime around their core. We study the extension of…
Fractional D6-branes on toroidal orbifold backgrounds are known to be able to accommodate the particle spectrum and gauge group of the Standard Model, but up to now exact results for their low-energy effective action are missing. Here we…
The motivation for Calabi-Yau-like compactifications of the weakly coupled $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory, its particle spectrum and the issue of dilaton stabilization are briefly reviewed. Modular invariant models for hidden…
Certain four-dimensional $N=4$ supersymmetric theories have special vacua in which massive charged vector supermultiplets become massless, resulting in an enhanced non-abelian gauge symmetry. We show here that any two $N=4$ theories having…
We propose, based on the viewpoint that our three-dimensional space is a stack of BPS D3-branes located at the conifold singularity of the Calabi-Yau three-fold, a new mechanism to address the cosmological constant problem in the framework…
String breaking is a fundamental concept in gauge theories, describing the decay of a flux string connecting two charges through the production of particle-antiparticle pairs. This phenomenon is particularly important in particle physics,…
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…
We review recent progress in determining the effects of D-brane instantons in N=1 supersymmetric compactifications of Type II string theory to four dimensions. We describe the abstract D-brane instanton calculus for holomorphic couplings…
We use the method of evaluating the decay rate in terms of the imaginary part of a probe brane action to study the holographic Schwinger effect. In the confining D3-branes case, we find that the Schwinger effect occurs at energy scales…
We elaborate on the idea that five-dimensional models where sequestering is spoiled due to contact interactions induced by vector multiplets may still be mildly sequestered if a global version of the gauge symmetry associated to the latter…
We study the existence of long-lived meta-stable supersymmetry breaking vacua in gauge theories with massless quarks, upon the addition of extra massive flavors. A simple realization is provided by a modified version of SQCD with N_{f,0} <…
We review for non-experts possible phenomenological scenari in String Theory. In particular we focus on vacuum configurations with intersecting and/or magnetized unoriented D-branes. We will show how a TeV scale tension may be compatible…
A while ago, examples of N=1 vacua in D=6 were constructed as orientifolds of Type IIB string theory compactified on the K3 surface. Among the interesting features of those models was the presence of D5-branes behaving like small…
We study examples of chiral four-dimensional IIB orientifolds with Scherk--Schwarz supersymmetry breaking, based on freely acting orbifolds. We construct a new Z3xZ3' model, containing only D9-branes, and rederive from a more geometric…
We review recent work identifying soft SUSY-breaking terms in local type II string models with branes and magnetic fluxes. We then make a new observation about the configuration space of D-branes in Calabi-Yau backgrounds, and identify vevs…