Related papers: What IIB looks IIA string: String Cobordisms via N…
We discuss infinite families of non-supersymmetric AdS$_6$ solutions in Type IIB string theory. They are siblings of supersymmetric solutions which are associated with $(p,q)$ 5-brane webs and holographically dual to 5d SCFTs engineered by…
We define string geometry: spaces of superstrings including the interactions, their topologies, charts, and metrics. Trajectories in asymptotic processes on a space of strings reproduce the right moduli space of the super Riemann surfaces…
We investigate the effective worldvolume theories of branes in a background given by (the bosonic sector of) 10-dimensional massive IIA supergravity (``massive branes'') and their M-theoretic origin. In the case of the solitonic 5-brane of…
In computing potentials for moduli in for instance type IIB string theory in the presence of fluxes and branes a factorisable ansatz for the ten dimensional metric is usually made. We investigate the validity of this ansatz by examining the…
We introduce a new class of non-compact backgrounds of Type IIB string theory preserving eight supercharges by combining S-folds and non-perturbative 7-branes wrapping orbifolds, and study the four-dimensional superconformal field theories…
The cobordism conjecture of the swampland program states that the bordism group of quantum gravity must be trivial. We investigate this statement in several directions, on both the mathematical and physical side. We consider the Whitehead…
The recent developments in string theory suggest that the space-time coordinates should be generalized to non-commuting matrices. Postulating this suggestion as the fundamental geometrical principle, we formulate a candidate for covariant…
While the study of bordered (pseudo-)holomorphic curves with boundary on Lagrangian submanifolds has a long history, a similar problem that involves (special) Lagrangian submanifolds with boundary on complex surfaces appears to be largely…
The quantization of a free boson whose momentum satisfies a cubic constraint leads to a $c=\ha$ conformal field theory with a BRST symmetry. The theory also has a $W_\infty $ symmetry in which all the generators except the stress-tensor are…
We consider new cosmological solutions with a collapsing, an intermediate and an expanding phase. The boundary between the expanding (collapsing) phase and the intermediate phase is seen by comoving observers as a cosmological past (future)…
We investigate general observables of the complex Liouville string with worldsheet boundaries. We develop a universal formalism that reduces such observables to ordinary closed string amplitudes without boundaries, applicable to any…
We study perturbative compactifications of Type II string theory that rely on a fibration structure of the extra dimensions a la SYZ. Non-geometric spaces are obtained by using T-dualities as monodromies. These vacua generically preserve…
D-brane backgrounds are specified in closed string theories by holes with appropriate mixed Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on the string worldsheet. As presently stated, the prescription defining D-brane backgrounds is such that…
We construct, following \cite{mpgm14,mpgm17}, a massive M2-brane (supermembrane) as the limit of a genus two M2-brane that becomes a twice punctured Riemann surface with particular boundary conditions on the fields defined on the punctures.…
We study the 2d N = 4 gauge theory descriptions of little strings on type II NS5- branes. The IIB strings on N NS5-branes are described by the N = (4,4) gauge theories, whose Higgs branch CFTs on U(N) instanton moduli spaces are relevant.…
We write the IIB Green-Schwarz action in certain general classes of curved backgrounds threaded with Ramond-Ramond fluxes. The fixing of the kappa symmetry in the light-cone gauge and the use of supergravity Bianchi identities simplify the…
We study the non-linearly realized spontaneously broken supersymmetry of the (anti-)D3-brane action in type IIB string theory. The worldvolume fields are one vector $A_\mu$, three complex scalars $\phi^i$ and four 4d fermions $\lambda^0$,…
We review recent developments on nonrelativistic string theory. In flat spacetime, the theory is defined by a two-dimensional relativistic quantum field theory with nonrelativistic global symmetries acting on the worldsheet fields. This…
Infinite distance limits in the moduli space of a quantum gravity theory are characterized by having infinite towers of states becoming light, as dictated by the Distance Conjecture in the Swampland program. These towers imply a drastic…
We construct dual supergravity descriptions of field theories and little string theories with light-like non-commutativity. The field theories are realized on the world-volume of Dp branes with light-like NS $B$ field and M5 branes with…