Related papers: Open String Axiverse
In string theory, there are various physical situations where the world-sheet fields have a shifted moding. For instance, this is the case for the twisted closed string in Z_N orbifold or for the charged open string in a constant…
I review the arguments in favor of/against the traditional hypothesis that the Planck, string and compactification scales are all within a couple of orders of magnitude from each other. I explain how the extreme brane-world scenario, with…
String theory, if it describes nature, is probably strongly coupled. In light of recent developments in string duality, this means that the ``real world'' should correspond to a region of the classical moduli space which admits no weak…
We demonstrate that asymmetric reheating arises in a large ensemble of string compactifications with many axions and gauged dark sectors. This phenomenon may help avoid numerous cosmological problems that may arise if the sectors were…
We study the structure of cosmic strings produced at the breaking of an anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry present in many superstring compactification models. We show that their coupling with the axion necessary in order to cancel the anomalies…
Open and Closed super-string field theories are constructed in an event-symmetric target space. The partition functions of Statistical and Quantum models are constructed in terms of invariants defined on Lie-algebra representations. An…
The simplest toroidally compactified string theories exhibit a duality between large and small radii: compactification on a circle, for example, is invariant under R goes to 1/R. Compactification on more general Lorentzian lattices (i.e.…
String theory axions are interesting candidates for fields whose potential might be controllable over super-Planckian field ranges and therefore as possible candidates for inflatons in large field inflation. Axion monodromy scenarios are…
Four-dimensional compactifications of string theory provide a controlled set of possible gauge representations accounting for BSM particles and dark sector components. In this review, constraints from perturbative Type II string…
In this letter a new class of twisted strings is presented, with an asymmetry between the holomorphic and antiholomorphic sectors parametrized by an integer $N$. Their physical content is given by the massless resonances of the closed…
At the tree level, the scattering processes involving open and closed strings are described by a disk world-sheet with vertex operator insertions at the boundary and in the bulk. Such amplitudes can be decomposed as certain linear…
We review the main results of our investigations motivated by the tadpole potentials of ten-dimensional strings with broken supersymmetry. While these are at best partial indications, it is hard to resist the feeling that they do capture…
Compactified string theories give rise to discrete symmetries which are essential if they are to provide a realistic low energy theory. We find that in a class of four dimensional string theories these symmetries are constrained by similar…
String theory posesses numerous axion candidates. The recent realization that the compactification radius in string theory might be large means that these states can solve the strong CP problem. This still leaves the question of the…
A family of exact conformal field theories is constructed which describe charged black strings in three dimensions. Unlike previous charged black hole or extended black hole solutions in string theory, the low energy spacetime metric has a…
It is known that string theory compactifications leading to low energy effective theories with different chiral matter content ({\it e.g.} different numbers of standard model generations) are connected through phase transitions, described…
String theory suggests the simultaneous presence of many ultralight axions possibly populating each decade of mass down to the Hubble scale 10^-33eV. Conversely the presence of such a plenitude of axions (an "axiverse") would be evidence…
The spectrum of stable electrically and magnetically charged supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously as one changes the vacuum on the Coulomb branch of gauge theories with extended supersymmetry in four dimensions. We show that…
Within two specific string cosmology scenarios --differing in the way the pre- and post-big bang phases are joined-- we compute the size and spectral slope of various types of cosmologically amplified quantum fluctuations that arise in…
The region of moduli space of string theories which is most likely to describe the "real world" is where the string coupling is about unity and the volume of extra compact dimensions is about the same size as the string volume. Here we map…