Related papers: The String Theory Photoverse
This PhD thesis explores the properties of certain solutions in stringy effective field theories (EFTs). In the context of heterotic string theory (HST), we study $\alpha'$ corrections to well-known black hole solutions. We present…
A four-dimensional universe, arising from a flux compactification of Type IIB string theory, contains scalar fields with a potential determined by topological and geometric parameters of the internal -hidden- dimensions. We show that…
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…
We point out some of the outstanding challenges for embedding inflationary cosmology within string theory studying the process of reheating for models where the inflaton is a closed string mode parameterising the size of an internal cycle…
At low energies, interactions of massless particles in type II strings compactified on a torus $T^d$ are described by an effective Wilsonian action $\mathcal{S}(\Lambda)$, consisting of the usual supergravity Lagrangian supplemented by an…
We demonstrate how recent developments in string field theory provide a framework to systematically study type II flux compactifications with non-trivial Ramond-Ramond profiles. We present an explicit example where physical observables can…
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 this thesis we investigate the microphysics of cosmic strings in non-minimal quantum field theories. In particular we consider theories in which fermion fields couple to the strings, and those with larger symmetry groups, such as grand…
A solution of the vortex type is given in a six-dimensional $SU(2)\times U(1)$ pure gauge theory coupled to Einstein gravity in a compactified background geometry. We construct the solution of an effective abelian Higgs model in terms of…
We investigate the massive states in F-theory compactification models, including BPS string junctions stretching between parallel 7-branes and KK modes. We obtain analytical results when there are two colliding bunches of 7-branes with a…
The physical motivations and the basic construction rules for Type I strings and M-theory compactifications are reviewed in light of the recent developments. The first part contains the basic theoretical ingredients needed for building…
We discuss compactifications of the heterotic string in the presence of background fluxes. Specifically we consider compactifications on T^6, T^5, K3 x T^2 and K3 x S^1 for which we derive the bosonic sector of the low energy effective…
We present a new open superstring field theory, whose string fields carry an arbitrary picture number and reside in the large Hilbert space. The redundancy related to picture number is resolved by treating picture changing as a gauge…
We construct a 6D supergravity theory which emerges as intermediate step in the compactification of the heterotic string to the supersymmetric standard model in four dimensions. The theory has N=2 supersymmetry and a gravitational sector…
An intriguing class of 6d supersymmetric theories are known as little strings theories, which exhibit a rich network of T-dualities. A robust feature of these theories are their Higgs branches. Focusing on the little string theories that…
We investigate the possibility that a (light) hidden sector extra photon receives its mass via spontaneous symmetry breaking of a hidden sector Higgs boson, the so-called hidden-Higgs. The hidden-photon can mix with the ordinary photon via…
We construct an effective field theory for complex Stueckelberg dark photon dark matter. Such an effective construction can be realized by writing down a complete set of operators up to dimension six built with the complex dark photon and…
Noncompact groups, similar to those that appeared in various supergravity theories in the 1970's, have been turning up in recent studies of string theory. First it was discovered that moduli spaces of toroidal compactification are given by…
We propose a novel string theory propagating in a non-commutative deformation of the four dimensional space T* T^2 whose scattering states correspond to superconformal theories in 5 dimensions and the scattering amplitudes compute…
In string theory, black holes are expected to transition into string stars as their Hawking temperatures approach the Hagedorn temperature. We study string stars and their phase transitions in the Euclidean spacetime…