Related papers: On Time-Dependent Backgrounds In 1+1 Dimensional S…
We consider a $R^{1,d}/Z_2$ orbifold, where $Z_2$ acts by time and space reversal, also known as the embedding space of the elliptic de Sitter space. The background has two potentially dangerous problems: time-nonorientability and the…
Fluxbrane-like backgrounds obtained from flat space by a sequence of T-dualities and shifts of polar coordinates (beta deformations) provide an interesting class of exactly solvable string theories. We compute the one-loop partition…
We construct four-dimensional de Sitter space as an excited state, rather than as a vacuum configuration, in type IIB, heterotic SO(32), and heterotic E_8 \times E_8 string theories. This framework provides a mechanism to evade vacuum-based…
We formulate simple graphical rules which allow explicit calculation of nonperturbative $c=1$ $S$-matrices. This allows us to investigate the constraint of nonperturbative unitarity, which indeed rules out some theories. Nevertheless, we…
We derive a perturbative expansion for space time entanglement entropy in string theory by comparing replica trick constructions on the target space and on the worldsheet. Requiring the two approaches to match implies a set of constrains on…
Searching for space/time noncommutativity we reconsider open strings in a constant background electric field. The main difference between this situation and its magnetic counterpart is that here there is a critical electric field beyond…
Type II string theory and M-theory admit flux configurations that break supersymmetry below the Kaluza-Klein scale. These backgrounds play a central role in most models of the string landscape. I argue that the behavior of such backgrounds…
The aim of superstring phenomenology is to develop the tools and methodology needed to confront string theory with experimental data. The first mandatory task is to find string solutions which reproduce the observable data. The subsequent…
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 investigate the possibility that stringy nonperturbative effects appear as holes in the world-sheet. We focus on the case of Dirichlet string theory, which we argue should be formulated differently than in previous work, and we find that…
We construct a string theory realization of the 4+1d quantum Hall effect recently discovered by Zhang and Hu. The string theory picture contains coincident D4-branes forming an S^4 and having D0-branes (i.e. instantons) in their…
The higher-derivative $\alpha'$ corrections consistent with $O(d,d)$ duality invariance can be completely classified for cosmological, purely time-dependent backgrounds. This result is used to show that there are duality invariant theories…
We construct cosmological spacetimes with null Kasner-like singularities as purely gravitational solutions with no other background fields turned on. These can be recast as anisotropic plane-wave spacetimes by coordinate transformations. We…
We revisit the perturbative S-matrix of c=1 string theory from the worldsheet perspective. We clarify the origin of the leg pole factors, the non-analyticity of the string amplitudes, and the validity as well as limitations of earlier…
We study matrix string scattering amplitudes and matrix string instantons on a marked Riemann surface in the limit of a vanishing string coupling constant. We give an explicit parameterization of the moduli space of such instantons. We also…
Field theories based on non-commutative spacetimes exhibit very distinctive nonlocal effects which mix the ultraviolet with the infrared in bizarre ways. In particular if the time coordinate is involved in the non-commutativity the theory…
Generically, string models with $N=1$ supersymmetry are not expected to have moduli beyond perturbation theory; stringy non-perturbative effects as well as low energy field-theoretic phenomena such as gluino condensation will lift any flat…
Closed string theory exhibits an O(D,D) duality symmetry on tori, which in double field theory is manifest before compactification. I prove that to first order in $\alpha'$ there is no manifestly background independent and duality invariant…
We introduce a new class of Sturm-Liouville operators with periodically modulated parameters. Their spectral properties depend on the monodromy matrix of the underlying periodic problem computed for the spectral parameter equal to $0$.…
We obtain a Liouville property for stationary diffusions in random environment which are small, isotropic perturbations of Brownian motion in spacial dimension greater than two. Precisely, we prove that, on a subset of full probability, the…