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The maximal gauged supergravities in five spacetime dimensions with gauge groups contained in $\mathbb{R}^+ \times \textrm{E}_{6(6)}$ are described. The $\textrm{E}_{6(6)}$ factor is the duality group of ungauged maximal supergravity and…
The space-time dimensions transverse to a static straight cosmic string with a sufficiently large tension (supermassive cosmic strings) are compact and typically have a singularity at a finite distance form the core. In this paper, we…
We interpret D-strings at the bottom of the warped deformed conifold as axionic strings in the dual cascading SU(N+M) x SU(N) gauge theory. The axion is a massless pseudo-scalar glueball which we find in the supergravity fluctuation…
The low-momentum expansion of the two-loop four-graviton scattering amplitude in eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on a circle and a two-torus is considered up to terms of order S^6R^4 (where S is a Mandelstam invariant and R is…
In the mapping from four-dimensional gauge theories to string theory in $AdS$ space, many features of gauge theory can be described by branes wrapped in different ways on $\S^5$, $\RP^5$, or subspaces thereof. These include a baryon vertex…
We analyze the propagation of a scalar field in multidimensional theories which include kinetic corrections in the brane, as a prototype for gravitational interactions in a four dimensional brane located in a (nearly) flat extra dimensional…
The possibility of neutral, brane-like solutions in a higher dimensional setting is discussed. In particular, we describe a supersymmetric solution in six dimensions which can be interpreted as a "three-brane" with a non-compact transverse…
In this review articel we study the gaugings of extended supergravity theories in various space-time dimensions. These theories describe the low-energy limit of non-trivial string compactifications. For each theory under consideration we…
All N=4 conformal supergravities in four space-time dimensions are constructed. These are the only N=4 supergravity theories whose actions are invariant under off-shell supersymmetry. They are encoded in terms of a holomorphic function that…
We consider compactifications of type IIA superstring theory on mirror-folds obtained as K3 fibrations over two-tori with non-geometric monodromies involving mirror symmetries. At special points in the moduli space these are asymmetric…
We review the prospect of obtaining tree-level de Sitter (dS) vacua and slow-roll inflation models in string compactifications. Restricting ourselves to the closed string sector and assuming the absence of NSNS-sources, we classify the…
An M/string-theory origin for the six-dimensional Salam-Sezgin chiral gauged supergravity is obtained, by embedding it as a consistent Pauli-type reduction of type I or heterotic supergravity on the non-compact hyperboloid ${\cal H}^{2,2}$…
Heterotic $M$-theory consists of a five-dimensional manifold of the form $S^1/\mathbf{Z}_2 \times M_{4}$. It has been shown that one of the two orbifold planes, the "observable" sector, can have a low energy particle spectrum which is…
We show how massive/gauged maximal supergravities in 11-n dimensions with SO(n-l,l) gauge groups (and other non-semisimple subgroups of Sl(n,R)) can be systematically obtained by dimensional reduction of ``massive 11-dimensional…
We perform a group manifold reduction of the dual version of N=1 d=10 supergravity to four dimensions. The effects of the 3- and 4-form gauge fields in the resulting gauged N=4 d=4 supergravity are studied in particular. The example of the…
A naive dimensional reduction of the $N=1, D=10$ supergravity theory that naturally arises in five-brane models is used to determine the r\^ole of two fields which are basic ingredients of string models: the dilaton and, among the moduli,…
This review is devoted to strings and branes. Firstly, perturbative string theory is introduced. The appearance of various types of branes is discussed. These include orbifold fixed planes, D-branes and orientifold planes. The connection to…
We present f(R) theories of ten-dimensional supergravities, including the fermionic sector up to the quadratic order in fermion fields. They are obtained by performing the conformal scaling on the usual supergravities to the f(R) frame in…
In this thesis we discuss non-perturbative phenomena emerging in gauge and in string/supergravity theories. We compute the partition function of 5D minimal supersymmetric U(1) gauge theory with extra adjoint matter in general…
Type I string theory provides eight classes of unstable D-brane systems. We determine the gauge group and tachyon spectrum for each one, and thereby describe the gauge symmetry breaking pattern in the low-energy world-volume field theory.…