Related papers: Symmetries of tensionless strings
These are a set of lecture notes on generalized global symmetries in quantum field theory. The focus is on invertible symmetries with a few comments regarding non-invertible symmetries. The main topics covered are the basics of higher-form…
Analysis of string interactions indicates a weakening of gravity at the string length scale, thus avoiding black holes and their singularities.
We study string theory on orbifolds in the presence of an antisymmetric constant background field and discuss some of new aspects of the theory. It is shown that the term with the antisymmetric field has a topological nature like a…
The duality map between gauge theories and strings suggests that when the gauge theory is in the weak coupling regime the dual string tension effectively tends to zero, $\alpha' \to \infty$. This observation of Sundborg and Witten initiates…
String theory, as a theory containing quantum gravity, is usually thought to require more dimensions of spacetime than the usual 3+1. Here I argue on physical grounds that needing extra dimensions for strings may well be an artefact of…
We review some aspects of the implementation of spacetime symmetries in noncommutative field theories, emphasizing their origin in string theory and how they may be used to construct theories of gravitation. The geometry of canonical…
A quantum spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ chain with an axial symmetry is normally described by quasiparticles associated with the spins oriented along the axis of rotation. Kinetic constraints can enrich such a description by setting apart different…
A quantum scalar field theory with spacetime-dependent coupling is studied. Surprisingly, while translation invariance is explicitly broken in the classical theory, momentum conservation is recovered at the quantum level for some specific…
In these lectures I discuss various unsolved problems of string theory and their relations to quantum gravity, 3d Ising model, large N QCD, and quantum cosmology. No solutions are presented but some new and perhaps useful approaches are…
We initiate a search for non-perturbative consistency conditions in M theory. Some non-perturbative conditions are already known in Type I theories; we review these and search for others. We focus principally on possible anomalies in…
In this thesis we study different aspects of noncommutativity in quantum mechanics, field theory and gravity. We give particular emphasis on the underlying symmetries of these theories. Deformations of usual symmetries like the external…
The study of string models including both unoriented closed strings and open strings presents a number of new features when compared to the standard case of models of oriented closed strings only. We review some basic features of the…
The cosmological constant problem is turned around to argue for a new foundational physics postulate underlying a consistent quantum theory of gravity and matter, such as string theory. This postulate is a quantum equivalence principle…
We study circle compactifications of tensionless bosonic string theory, both at the classical and the quantum level. The physical state condition for different representations of BMS$_3$, the worldsheet residual gauge symmetry for…
We discuss aspects of global and gauged symmetries in quantum field theory and quantum gravity, focusing on discrete gauge symmetries. An effective Lagrangian description of $\Z_p$ gauge theories shows that they are associated with an…
In some string theories, e.g. SO(32) heterotic string theory on Calabi-Yau manifolds, a massless field with a tree level potential can acquire a tachyonic mass at the one loop level, forcing us to quantize the theory around a new background…
A phenomenon of classical quantization is discussed. This is revealed in the class of pseudoclassical gauge systems with nonlinear nilpotent constraints containing some free parameters. Variation of parameters does not change local (gauge)…
We observed that the null strings, tensionless strings with Carrollian worldsheets, exhibit an extra gauge symmetry, \textit{Carroll-Weyl} gauge symmetry, which cannot be obtained from ultra-relativistic Carrollian limit of tensile strings.…
String theory is a quantum theory that reproduces the results of General Relativity at long distances but is completely different at short distances. Mathematically, string theory is based on a very new -- and little understood -- framework…
In this paper we review the system made up by two blocks connected by a string over a smooth pulley with variable tension. One block lies on an horizontal surface and the another block is hanging vertically. We carry out a complete and…