Related papers: String islands, discrete theta angles and the 6D $…
The string landscape accommodates a broad range of possible effective field theories. This poses a challenge for extracting verifiable predictions as well as falsifiable signatures of string theory. Motivated by these considerations, in…
String theory on 2-d charged black holes corresponding to (SL(2)xU(1)_L)/U(1) exact asymmetric quotient CFTs are investigated. These backgrounds can be embedded, in particular, in a two dimensional heterotic string. In the extremal case,…
Notwithstanding the central role of D-branes in many recently proposed string dualities, several interesting type I vacua have been found without resorting directly to D-brane technology. In this talk, we analyze a three-generation…
We discuss the singularities in the moduli space of string compactifications to six dimensions with $N=1$ supersymmetry. Such singularities arise from either massless particles or non-critical tensionless strings. The points with…
We revisit the Emergence Proposal in the vector multiplet moduli space of type IIA N=2 supersymmetric string vacua in four dimensions, for which the string tree-level prepotential and the string one-loop correction are exactly known via…
The most general large N eigenvalues distribution for the one matrix model is shown to consist of tree-like structures in the complex plane. For the m=2 critical point, such a split solution describes the strong coupling phase of 2d quantum…
We consider toroidal asymmetric orbifolds of the heterotic string preserving all 16 supercharges, developing a general formalism to study components of the moduli space characterized by rank reduction of the gauge group. In particular we…
A discrete string theory --a theory of embeddings from ${\bf Z}\times {\bf Z}_C\to {\bf R}^D$, where $C$ is the number of components of the string-- is explored. The closure of the algebra of constraints (`${\bf Z}_C$-Virasoro algebra') is…
In some string theories, e.g. SO(32) heterotic string theory on Calabi-Yau manifolds, a massless field with a tree level potential can acquire a tachyonic mass at the one loop level, forcing us to quantize the theory around a new background…
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 make a number of conjectures about the geometry of continuous moduli parameterizing the string landscape. In particular we conjecture that such moduli are always given by expectation value of scalar fields and that moduli spaces with…
Recently it was proposed that ten-dimensional tachyonic string vacua may serve as starting points for the construction of viable four dimensional phenomenological string models which are tachyon free. This is achieved by projecting out the…
In this article we review four-dimensional string vacua with N=2 space-time supersymmetry. In particular, we will discuss several aspects of the string-string duality between the heterotic string, compactified on $K3\times T^2$, and the…
This review is devoted to strings and branes. Firstly, perturbative string theory is introduced. The appearance of various types of branes is discussed. These include orbifold fixed planes, D-branes and orientifold planes. The connection to…
The constraints arising from anomaly cancellation are particular strong for chiral theories in six dimensions. We make progress towards a complete classification of 6D supergravities with minimal supersymmetry and non-abelian gauge group.…
After a short introduction to Matrix theory, we explain how can one generalize matrix models to describe toroidal compactifications of M-theory and the heterotic vacua with 16 supercharges. This allows us, for the first time in history, to…
We explore BPS strings in supergravity theories in six-dimensions and related Swampland Conjectures. We first propose a general modular ansatz for bootstrapping elliptic genera of 2d worldvolume theories on strings in the 6d theories. By…
In order for string theory to be made compatible with the low-energy observations of a positive cosmological constant, there have been attempts to construct dS vacua in string theory which are particularly difficult to realize. Instead of…
We consider, in a string theory framework, physical processes of phenomenological interest in models with a low string scale. The amplitudes we study involve tree-level virtual gravitational exchange, divergent in a field-theoretical…
Using the stationary formulation of the toroidally compactified heterotic string theory in terms of a pair of matrix Ernst potentials we consider the four-dimensional truncation of this theory with no U(1) vector fields excited. Imposing…