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The proposed dS/CFT correspondence remains an intriguing paradigm in the context of string theory. Recently it has motivated two interesting conjectures: the entropic N-bound and the maximal mass conjecture. The former states that there is…
The late-time behavior of our universe is one of accelerated expansion, or that of a de Sitter space, and therefore motivates us to look for time-dependent backgrounds. Finding such backgrounds in string theory has always been a challenging…
This thesis consists of two parts. The first part deals with gauge/gravity duality in the context of anti de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes with de Sitter (dS) boundary, which can be used to study issues concerning strongly coupled field theory on…
Several gravitational string backgrounds can be interpreted as 2-dim soliton solutions of reduced axion-dilaton gravity. They include black-hole and worm-hole solutions as well as cosmological models with an exact conformal field theory…
It was shown by Garriga and Vilenkin that the circular shape of nucleated cosmic strings, of zero loop-energy in de Sitter space, is stable in the sense that the ratio of the mean fluctuation amplitude to the loop radius is constant. This…
We study the continuum limit of the string-like behaviour of flux tubes formed between static quarks and anti-quarks in three dimensional SU(2) lattice gauge theory. We compare our simulation data with the predictions of both effective…
The four-dimensional superstring solutions define at low energy effective supergravity theories. A class of them extends successfully the validity of the standard model up to the string scale (${\cal O}(10^{17})~TeV$). We stress the…
In hep-th/0508194 it was shown how non-perturbative corrections to gravity can resolve the big bang singularity, leading to a bouncing universe. Depending on the scale of the non-perturbative corrections, the temperature at the bounce may…
We study segmented strings in flat space and in $AdS_3$. In flat space, these well known classical motions describe strings which at any instant of time are piecewise linear. In $AdS_3$, the worldsheet is composed of faces each of which is…
We investigate the Einstein vacuum equations as well as the Einstein-null fluid equations describing neutrino radiation. We find new structures in gravitational waves and memory for asymptotically-flat spacetimes of slow decay. These…
Strings propagating in three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space with a background antisymmetric tensor field are well understood, even at the quantum level. Pure three-dimensional gravity with a negative cosmological constant is potentially…
We study the effects of the spatial curvature on the classical and quantum string dynamics. We find the general solution of the circular string motion in static Robertson-Walker spacetimes with closed or open sections. This is given closely…
It is presented an exact solution of straight spinning cosmic strings in Brans-Dicke theory of gravitation. The possibility of the existence of closed timelike curves around these cosmic strings is analyzed. Furthermore, the stability about…
This paper describes an efficient method for solving the classical string equations of motion in (2+1)-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime. Exact string solutions are identified that are the analogs of piecewise linear strings in flat…
In this lecture I summarize recent developments on strings propagating in curved spacetime. Exact conformal field theories that describe gravitational backgrounds such as black holes and more intricate gravitational singularities have been…
We investigate the nature of ordinary cosmic vortices in some scalar-tensor extensions of gravity. We find solutions for which the dilaton field condenses inside the vortex core. These solutions can be interpreted as raising the degeneracy…
We revisit the classical dynamics of fundamental strings in BTZ black holes with NSNS flux. We analyse probe strings in the black hole background and determine their classical energy using a Nambu-Goto action. Three-dimensional gravity has…
We discuss the linearized, gravitational self-interaction of a brane of arbitrary codimension in a spacetime of arbitrary dimension. We find that in the codimension two case the gravitational self-force is exactly zero for a Nambu-Goto…
In the AdS/CFT correspondence, single trace operators of large-$N$ gauge theories at large spin $J$ can be described by classical spinning strings, giving a geometric and classical description of their spectrum at strong coupling. We…
In the context of the black hole/string transition, it is useful to produce Euclidean string backgrounds representing hot and self-gravitating strings. We utilise analytical and numerical methods to find a smooth, stationary rotating…