Related papers: Corrections to the CRV pattern
The observed scaling relations between supermassive black hole masses and their host galaxy properties indicate that supermassive black holes influence the evolution of galaxies. However, the scaling relations may be affected by selection…
It has been argued recently by Almheiri and Polchinski that the near-horizon conformal symmetry of extremal black holes must be broken due to gravitational backreaction at an IR scale linear in $G_N$. In this paper, we show that this scale…
The string equations of motion and constraints are solved near the horizon and near the singularity of a Schwarzschild black hole. In a conformal gauge such that $\tau = 0$ ($\tau$ = worldsheet time coordinate) corresponds to the horizon…
This review talk focusses on some of the interesting developments in the area of superstring compactification that have occurred in the last couple of years. These include the discovery that ``mirror symmetric" pairs of Calabi--Yau spaces,…
We study some phenomenological implications of models where the scale of quantum gravity effects lies much below the four-dimensional Planck scale. These models arise from M-theory vacua where either the internal space volume is large or…
One of the drawbacks of conventional grand unification scenarios has been that the unification scale is too high to permit direct exploration. In this paper, we show that the unification scale can be significantly lowered (perhaps even to…
Our knowledge of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their relation to their host galaxies is still limited, and there are only around 150 SMBHs that have their masses directly measured and confirmed. Better black hole mass scaling…
In this paper, we conduct a search in the latest large-scale structure measurements for signatures of the dark matter-dark radiation interaction proposed by Buen-Abad et al. (2015). We show that prior claims of a detection of this…
Evidence is mounting that natural supersymmetry at the weak scale is not realized in nature. On the other hand, string theory suggests that supersymmetry may be present at some energy scale, and gauge coupling unification implies that that…
Adjoint supermultiplets (1,3,0) and (8,1,0) modify the evolution of gauge couplings. If the unification of gauge couplings occurs at the string scale, their masses are fixed at around $10^{13}$ GeV. This scale coincides with expected…
Deep conceptual problems associated with classical black holes can be addressed in string theory by the ``fuzzball'' paradigm, which provides a microscopic description of a black hole in terms of a thermodynamically large number of regular,…
Near-horizon conformal structure of a massive Schwarzschild black hole of mass M is analyzed using a scalar field as a simple probe of the background geometry. The near-horizon dynamics is governed by an operator which is related to the…
In string compactification on a manifold X, in addition to the string scale and the normal scales of low-energy particle physics, there is a Kaluza-Klein scale 1/R associated with the size of X. We present an argument that generic string…
The existence of a new ultraviolet scale $\Lambda=g M_P$ for effective theories with gravity and U(1) gauge fields has recently been conjectured as a possible criterion for distinguishing parts of the swampland from the string landscape.…
The occurrence of pair-instability supernovae is predicted to prevent the formation of black holes with masses $\gtrsim 50 M_\odot$. Recent gravitational-wave detections in this mass range require an explanation beyond that of standard…
We study the dynamics of Green-Schwarz superstring on the gravitational wave background corresponding to the Matrix string theory and the supersymmetry transformation rules of the superstring. The dynamics is obtained in the light-cone…
Previous results on trans-Planckian collisions in superstring theory are rewritten in terms of an explicitly unitary S-matrix whose range of validity covers a large region of the energy/impact-parameter plane. Amusingly, as part of this…
In the context of the pre-big bang scenario the large-scale CMB anisotropy can be seeded by a primordial background of very light (or massless) axion fluctuations. In that case the slope of the temperature anisotropy spectrum, allowed by…
The transition between (non supersymmetric) quantum string states and Schwarzschild black holes is discussed. This transition occurs when the string coupling $g^2$ (which determines Newton's constant) increases beyond a certain critical…
In these notes we describe recent progress in understanding finite size corrections to the black hole entropy. Much of the earlier work concerning quantum black holes has been in the limit of large charges when the area of the even horizon…