Related papers: How to Falsify String Theory at a Collider
String theory is the most promising candidate for the theory unifying all interactions including gravity. It has an extremely difficult dynamics. Therefore, it is useful to study some its simplifications. One of them is non-critical string…
An important unsolved problem that affects practically all attempts to connect string theory to cosmology and phenomenology is how to distinguish effective field theories belonging to the string landscape from those that are not consistent…
Cosmic strings are predicted in many models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In models which admit strings, a network of strings will inevitably be formed in a phase transition in the early universe and will persist to the…
We consider N=1 supersymmetric U(N), SO(N), and Sp(N) gauge theories, with two-index tensor matter and added tree-level superpotential, for general breaking patterns of the gauge group. By considering the string theory realization and…
These lectures present some topics of string phenomenology and contain two parts. In the first part, I review the possibility of lowering the string scale in the TeV region, that provides a theoretical framework for solving the mass…
At present, the Standard Model (SM) agrees with almost all collider data. Yet, three finetuning issues -- the Higgs mass problem, the strong CP problem and the cosmological constant problem -- all call for new physics. The most plausible…
Arguably the simplest model of a cosmological singularity in string theory, the Lorentzian orbifold $\Real^{1,1}/boost$ is known to lead to severe divergences in scattering amplitudes of untwisted states, indicating a large backreaction…
We describe heterotic string and M-theory realizations of the Randall-Sundrum (RS) scenario with $\cx N=2$ and $\cx N=1$ supersymmetry in the bulk. Supersymmetry can be broken only on the world brane, a scenario that has been proposed to…
We derive the five-dimensional effective action of strongly coupled heterotic string theory for the complete (1,1) sector of the theory by performing a reduction, on a Calabi-Yau three-fold, of M-theory on S^1/Z_2. A crucial ingredient for…
Starting from a sigma-model for a doubled target-space geometry, we show that the number of target-space dimensions can be reduced by half through a gauging procedure. We apply this formalism to a class of backgrounds relevant for double…
We demonstrate that the spectrum of any consistent string theory in $D$ dimensions must satisfy a number of supertrace constraints: $ Str~M^{2n}=0 $ for $0 \leq n < D/2-1$, integer $n$. These results hold for a large class of string…
Preliminary investigations of the topological phase of string theory along the lines of a (restricted) $\dot{w}_{\infty}$ non-linear sigma model are provided. Gauge fixing the w gravity gauge fields by preserving a geometric identity Lorenz…
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…
The cosmological constant and electroweak hierarchy problem have been a great inspiration for research. Nevertheless, the resolution of these two naturalness problems remains mysterious from the perspective of a low-energy effective field…
Various nonsupersymmetric theories at large but finite $N$ are argued to permit light scalars and large hierarchies without fine-tuning. In a dual string description, the hierarchy results from competition between classical and quantum…
We present evidence for a new deconstruction of Little String Theory (LST). The starting point is a four-dimensional conformal field theory on its Higgs branch which provides a lattice regularization of six-dimensional gauge theory. We…
Different compactifications of six-dimensional string theory on $M_4 \times T^2$ are considered. Particular attention is given to the roles of the reduced modes as the $S$ and $T$ fields. It is shown that there is a discrete group of…
Light moduli fields in string compactifications can have interesting implications for particle physics and cosmology. Fifth force bounds impose stringent constraints on the interactions of such moduli with the visible sector. To be…
This talk considers possible lessons of string theory for low energy physics. These are of two types. First, assuming that string theory is the correct underlying theory of all interactions, we ask whether there are any generic predictions…
String field theory is a candidate for a full non-perturbative definition of string theory. We aim to define string field theory on a space-time lattice to investigate its behaviour at the quantum level. Specifically, we look at string…