Related papers: Is string field theory background independent?

String theory is changing the relationship between mathematics and physics. The central role is played by the phenomenon of duality, which is intrinsic to quantum physics and abundant in string theory.

String theory on curved backgrounds has received much attention on account of both its own interest, and of its relation with gauge theories. Despite the progress made in various directions, several quite elementary questions remain…

We comment on the present status, the concepts and their limitations, and the successes and open problems of the various approaches to a relativistic quantum theory of elementary particles, with a hindsight to questions concerning quantum…

This talk surveys a broad range of applications of quantum field theory, as well as some recent developments. The stress is on the notion of effective field theories. Topics include implications of neutrino mass and a possible small value…

Quantum field theory has formed the conceptual framework of most of physics for more than sixty years. It incorporates a complete revision of our conception of the nature of matter and existence itself. Yet it is rarely taught, or even…

One cannot yet point to any firm string prediction. While many approximate string ground states are known with interesting properties, we do not have any argument that one or another describes what we observe around us, and for reasons…

String theory implies a relatively modest growth in computational complexity for perturbative gravity calculations as compared to gauge theory calculations, contrary to field theory expectations. An explicit string-based calculation, which…

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…

We show, using purely classical considerations and logical extrapolation of results belonging to point particle theories, that the metric background field in which a string propagates must satisfy an Einstein or an Einstein-like equation.…

We give a brief overview of the nature of spacetime emerging from string theory. This is radically different from the familiar spacetime of Einstein's relativity. At a perturbative level, the spacetime metric appears as ``coupling…

String theory appears to admit a group of discrete field transformations -- called $S$ dualities -- as exact non-perturbative quantum symmetries. Mathematically, they are rather analogous to the better-known $T$ duality symmetries, which…

We develop the perturbation theory of double field theory around arbitrary solutions of its field equations. The exact gauge transformations are written in a manifestly background covariant way and contain at most quadratic terms in the…

String geometry theory is a candidate of the non-perturbative formulation of string theory. In order to determine the string vacuum, we need to clarify how superstring backgrounds are described in string geometry theory. In this paper, we…

Loop quantum gravity, a non-perturbative and manifestly background free, quantum theory of gravity implies that at the kinematical level the spatial geometry is discrete in a specific sense. The spirit of background independence also…

Using light cone string field theory we derive recursion relations for closed string correlation functions and scattering amplitudes which hold to all orders in perturbation theory. These results extend to strings in a plane wave…

Duality, the equivalence between seemingly distinct quantum systems, is a curious property that has been known for at least three quarters of a century. In the past two decades it has played a central role in mapping out the structure of…

This talk introduces perturbative quantum field on a heuristic level. It is directed at an audience familiar with elements of quantum mechanics, but not necessarily with high energy physics. It includes a discussion of the strategies behind…

We review our work on the minimal length uncertainty relation as suggested by perturbative string theory. We discuss simple phenomenological implications of the minimal length uncertainty relation and then argue that the combination of the…

In perturbative string theory, one is generally interested in asymptotic observables, such as the S-matrix in flat spacetime, and boundary correlation functions in anti-de Sitter spacetime. However, there are backgrounds in which such…

We calculate the background independent action for bosonic and supersymmetric open string field theory in a constant B-field. We also determine the tachyon effective action in the presence of constant B-field.