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In this thesis we elaborate on the three subjects of the title. We first show that supertubes exist and still preserve some supersymmetry in a large variety of curved backgrounds. Within the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the supersymmetry…
Type IIA brane configurations are used to construct N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in two dimensions. Using localization of chiral multiplets in ten-dimensional spacetime, supersymmetric non-linear sigma models with target space such as…
Dimensional reduction in two dimensions of gravity in higher dimension, or more generally of d=3 gravity coupled to a sigma-model on a symmetric space, is known to possess an infinite number of symmetries. We show that such a bidimensional…
We introduce a doubled formalism for the bosonic sector of the maximal supergravities, in which a Hodge dual potential is introduced for each bosonic field (except for the metric). The equations of motion can then be formulated as a twisted…
We consider the reduction of the duality invariant approach to M-theory by a U-duality group valued Scherk-Schwarz twist. The result is to produce potentials for gauged supergravities that are normally associated with non-geometric…
Using a six-orientifold, fourbranes and four fivebranes in type IIA string theory we construct $\mathcal{N}$=1 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions with product group $SU(M)\times SO(N)$ or $SU(M)\times Sp(2N)$, a bifundamental…
In this short paper we look at the action of T-duality and string duality groups on fermions, in maximally-supersymmetric theories and related theories. Briefly, we argue that typical duality groups such as SL(2,Z) have sign ambiguities in…
We briefly review the essential points of our recent work in non-Abelian T-duality. In particular, we show how non-abelian T-duals can effectively describe infinitely high spin sectors of a parent theory and how to implement the…
In these lectures we start with a pedagogical introduction of the properties of open and closed superstrings and then, using the open/closed string duality, we construct the boundary state that provides the description of the maximally…
Following arXiv:1310.2027 and arXiv:0801.0762, we consider a non-supersymmetric Seiberg duality between electric and magnetic "orientifold field theories". These theories live on brane configurations of type 0' string theory. In the…
The 256 dimensional M2-brane multiplet contains solitons of many different intrinsic spins. Using the broken supersymmetry transformations of the M2-brane, we find supergravity solutions which explicitly display these spins. This amounts to…
A geometric formulation which describes extended supergravities in any dimension in presence of electric and magnetic sources is presented. In this framework the underlying duality symmetries of the theories are manifest. Particular…
We consider string/M-theory reductions on a compact space $X=X^\text{loc} \cup X^\circ$, where $X^\text{loc}$ contains the singular locus, and $X^\circ$ its complement. For the resulting supergravity theories, we construct a suitable…
In this lecture I review recent results on the use of Solvable Lie Algebras as an efficient description of the scalar field sector of supergravities in relation with their non perturbative structure encoded in the U-duality group. I also…
Spectrum of elementary string states in type II string theory compactified on a torus contains short multiplets which are invariant under only one quarter of the space-time supersymmetry generators. $U$-duality transformation converts these…
The search for a geometrical understanding of dualities in string theory, in particular T-duality, has led to the development of modern T-duality covariant frameworks such as Double Field Theory, whose mathematical structure can be…
We study toroidal compactifications of Type II string theory with D-branes and nontrivial antisymmetric tensor moduli and show that turning on these fields modifies the supersymmetry projections imposed by D-branes. These modifications are…
After reviewing the algebraic structures that underlie the geometries of N=2 Maxwell-Einstein supergravity theories (MESGT) in five and four dimensions with symmetric scalar manifolds, we give a unified realization of their three…
We introduce spherical T-duality, which relates pairs of the form $(P,H)$ consisting of a principal $SU(2)$-bundle $P\rightarrow M$ and a 7-cocycle $H$ on $P$. Intuitively spherical T-duality exchanges $H$ with the second Chern class…
This paper analyses type II string theories in backgrounds which admit an SU(3) x SU(3) structure. Such backgrounds are designed to linearly realize eight out of the original 32 supercharges and as a consequence the low-energy effective…