Related papers: Brane Worlds, the Cosmological Constant and String…
We present a simple brane-world model in five dimensions. In this model we do not need any fine-tuning between the five dimensional cosmological constant and the brane tension to obtain four dimensional flat Minkowski space. The space-time…
We discuss the obstacles for defining a set of observable quantities analogous to an S-matrix which are needed to formulate string theory in an accelerating universe. We show that the quintessence models with the equations of state $-1 < w…
Cosmic (super)strings offer promising ways to test ideas about the early universe and physics at high energies. While in field theory constructions their tension is usually assumed to be constant (or at most slowly-varying), this is often…
Cosmology motivated by string theory has been studied extensively in the recent literature. String theory is promising because it has interesting features such as unifying gravity, electromagnetic, weak and strong nuclear forces. However,…
We propose an approach to explaining why naive large quantum fluctuations are not the right estimate for the cosmological constant. We argue that the universe is in a superposition of many vacua, in such a way that the resulting…
The idea of the quantum state of the Universe described by some density matrix, i.e mixture of at least two vacua, the trivial symmetric and the nontrivial one with spontaneously broken symmetry is discussed. Nonzero cosmological constant…
This article reviews recent developments in the study of universes with a positive cosmological constant in string theory.
Recent astrophysical observations seem to indicate that the cosmological constant is small but nonzero and positive. The old cosmological constant problem asks why it is so small; we must now ask, in addition, why it is nonzero (and is in…
We study de Sitter configurations in ten-dimensional string models where supersymmetry is either absent or broken at the string scale. To this end, we derive expressions for the cosmological constant in general warped flux compactifications…
Four-dimensional compactifications of string theory provide a controlled set of possible gauge representations accounting for BSM particles and dark sector components. In this review, constraints from perturbative Type II string…
We investigate the dynamical stability of warped, axially symmetric compactifications in anomaly free 6D gauged supergravity. The solutions have conical defects, which we source by 3-branes placed on orbifold fixed points, and a smooth…
Most current cosmological models of the very early universe are based on local point particle effective field theories coupled to gravity. I will discuss some conceptual limitations of this approach and argue that an improved description of…
We consider the low energy phenomenology of superstrings. In particular we analyse supersymmetry breaking via gaugino condensate and we compare the phenomenology of the two different approaches to stabilize the dilaton field. We study the…
We discuss a Randall-Sundrum-type two D-braneworld model in which D-branes possess different values of the tensions from those of the charges, and derive an effective gravitational equation on the branes. As a consequence, the…
In this Letter we show that the vacuum polarization of quantum fields in an anti-de Sitter space naturally gives rise to a small but nonzero cosmological constant in a brane world living in it. To explain the extremely small ratio of mass…
Quantum theory of 2d gravity for $c>1$ is examined as a non-critical string theory by taking account of the loop-correction of open strings whose end points are on the 2d world surface of the closed string. This loop-correction leads to a…
In a brane (domain wall) scenario with an infinite extra dimension and localized gravity, bulk fermions and scalars often have bound states with zero 4-dimensional mass. In this way massless matter residing on the brane may be obtained. We…
This essay elucidates recent achievements of the "nongravitating vacuum energy" (NGVE) theory" which has the feature that a shift of the Lagrangian density by a constant does not affect dynamics. In the first order formalism, a constraint…
In six dimensions, cancellation of gauge, gravitational, and mixed anomalies strongly constrains the set of quantum field theories which can be coupled consistently to gravity. We show that for some classes of six-dimensional supersymmetric…
Well-defined non-perturbative formulations of the physics of string theories, sometimes with D-branes present, were identified over a decade ago, from a careful study of double scaled matrix models. Following recent work which recasts some…