Related papers: A note on background independence in $\text{AdS}_3…
We comment on certain analogies that have recently emerged between path integral localisation phenomena in minimal tension string theory on $\mathrm{AdS}_3\times S^3\times T^4$ and associated varieties of boundary vertex algebras of 3d…
Tensionless string theory on $\text{AdS}_3\times\text{S}^3\times\mathcal{M}$ is explored in the limit that the strings wind the asymptotic boundary a large number of times. Although the worldsheet is usually thought to be localised to the…
We review different exact approaches to string theory. In the context of the Green-Schwarz superstring, we discuss the action in curved backgrounds and its supercoset formulation, with particular attention to superstring backgrounds of the…
This paper considers a recently-proposed string theory on $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ with one unit of NS-NS flux ($k=1$). We discuss interpretations of the target space, including connections to twistor geometry and a more conventional…
We propose a worldsheet description for the ${\rm AdS}_5\times {\rm S}^5$ string theory dual to large $N$, free ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills in four dimensions. The worldsheet theory is a natural generalisation of the recently investigated…
String theory on $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ has 20 moduli. We investigate how the perturbative closed string spectrum changes as we move around this moduli space in both the RR and NSNS flux backgrounds. We find that, at weak string…
We formulate a worldsheet description of string theory in the background of a single decoupled NS5-brane, which is a particularly simple example of ``little string'' holography. The worldsheet theory involves a gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten…
The spectrum of superstrings on ${\rm AdS}_3 \times {\rm S}^3 \times \mathbb{M}_4$ with pure NS-NS flux is analysed for the background where the radius of the AdS space takes the minimal value $(k=1)$. Both for $\mathbb{M}_4={\rm S}^3…
String theory on $\text{AdS}_3\times \text{S}^3\times \mathbb{T}^4$ with minimal $k=1$ NS-NS flux can be described in terms of a free field worldsheet theory in the hybrid formalism. We construct various D-branes of this string theory and…
It was recently argued that string theory on ${\rm AdS}_3\times {\rm S}^3\times \mathbb{T}^4$ with one unit ($k=1$) of NS-NS flux is exactly dual to the symmetric orbifold CFT ${\rm Sym}^N(\mathbb{T}^4)$. In this paper we show how to…
We examine the question how string theory achieves a sum over bulk geometries with fixed asymptotic boundary conditions. We discuss this problem with the help of the tensionless string on $\mathcal{M}_3 \times \mathrm{S}^3 \times…
String theory on NS-NS AdS_3 x S^3 admits an exactly marginal deformation which breaks the SL(2,R)_R x SL(2,R)_L isometry of AdS_3 down to SL(2,R)_R x U(1)_L. The holographic dual is an exotic and only partially understood type of…
We continue our study of the worldsheet theory of superstrings on $\mathrm{AdS}_3 \times \mathrm{S}^3 \times \mathbb{T}^4$ in the tensionless limit arXiv:1911.00378. We consider the theory on higher genus surfaces. We give evidence that the…
Given a family of world-sheet superconformal field theories related by marginal deformation, we can formulate superstring field theory based on any of these world-sheet theories. Background independence is the statement that these different…
We study string theory on $\mathrm{AdS}_3$ backgrounds with mixed flux using the hybrid formalism of Berkovits, Vafa and Witten. We solve the worldsheet description of the theory completely in the plane-wave limit. This constitutes a direct…
We study the topologically twisted string theory on the general back-ground $AdS_3\times {\cal N}$ which is compatible with the world-sheet N=2 superconformal symmetry and is extensively discussed in the recent works (hep-th/9904024,…
We study string theory in three-dimensional Anti-de Sitter spacetime in the path integral formalism. We derive expressions for generic spectrally-flowed near-boundary vertex operators in the Wakimoto representation, and relate their…
We consider the worldsheet S matrix of superstrings on an AdS3xS3xT4 NS-NS background in uniform light-cone gauge. We argue that scattering is given by a CDD factor that is non-trivial only between opposite-chirality particles, yielding a…
Superstring theory on ${\rm AdS}_3\times {\rm S}^3\times \mathbb{T}^4$ with the smallest amount of NS-NS flux (`$k=1$') is shown to be dual to the spacetime CFT given by the large $N$ limit of the free symmetric product orbifold…
We analyze exact conformal invariance of string worldsheet theory in non-trivial backgrounds using hamiltonian framework. In the first part of this talk we consider the example of type IIB superstrings in Ramond-Ramond pp-wave background.…