Related papers: A superspace approach to branes and supergravity
A large class of supersymmetric extended objects is considered from the viewpoint of embeddings of super worldsurfaces into target superspaces. It is shown that a simple geometrical condition leads to the equations of motion for the brane…
Recent insights from string theory and supergravity on the macroscopic and the microscopic description of black hole entropy are discussed.
In this informal review for non-specalists we discuss the construction of maximally supersymmetric gauge theories that arise on the worldvolumes branes in String Theory and M-Theory. Particular focus is made on the relatively recent…
On the way towards quantum gravity and the unification of interaction, several ideas have been rejected and avenues avoided because they were perceived as physically unviable. But in the literature there are works in which it was found the…
The past year has seen enormous progress in string theory. It has become clear that all of the different string theories are different limits of a single theory. Moreover, in certain limits, one obtains a new, eleven-dimensional structure…
An overview of supersymmetry and its different applications is presented. We motivate supersymmetry in particle physics. We then explain how supersymmetry helps us analyze field theories exactly, and what dynamical lessons these solutions…
BPS saturated p-branes play an important role in recent progress in understanding superstring theory and M theory. One approach to understanding the dynamics of p-branes is to formulate an effective (p+1)-dimensional world-volume theory.…
We consider a series of duality transformations that leads to a constant shift in the harmonic functions appearing in the description of a configuration of branes. This way, for several intersections of branes, we can relate the original…
Superstring theory, and a recent extension called M theory, are leading candidates for a quantum theory that unifies gravity with the other forces. As such, they are certainly not ordinary quantum field theories. However, recent duality…
We review the remarkable interplay between modular symmetries and supergravity, which has led to major advances in both physics and mathematics in recent decades. Our focus will be on four-dimensional models with $\mathcal{N}=1$ and…
This text is a review of aspects of supergravity theories that are relevant in superstring cosmology. In particular, it considers the possibilities and restrictions for `uplifting terms', i.e. methods to produce de Sitter vacua. We…
We modify and extend an earlier proposal by Brown and Teitelboim to relax the effective cosmological term by nucleation of branes coupled to a three-index gauge potential. Microscopic considerations from string/M theory suggest two major…
I will briefly review the formation and evolution of cosmic superstrings, in the context of brane-world cosmological models within M-theory. These objects can play the role of cosmic strings, offering a variety of astrophysical…
It is possible that superstrings, as well as other one-dimensional branes, could have been produced in the early universe and then expanded to cosmic size today. I discuss the conditions under which this will occur, and the signatures of…
We present a superspace formulation for super eightbrane theory based on massive type IIA supergravity in ten-dimensions. Remarkably, in addition to the 10-form superfield strength originally needed for super eightbrane, we also need an…
Superstring theory has continued to develop at a rapid clip in the past few years. Following a quick review of some of the major discoveries prior to 1998, this talk focuses on a few of the more recent developments. The topics I have chosen…
A global superalgebra with 32 supercharges and all possible central extensions is studied in order to extract some general properties of duality and hidden dimensions in a theory that treats $p$-branes democratically. The maximal number of…
A very large extra dimension may contain many localized branes. We discuss the possibility to formulate such models as a spin system where each spin indicates the supersymmetry direction preserved by the corresponding brane. In the…
We consider the possible consistent truncation of N-extended supergravities to lower N' theories. The truncation, unlike the case of N-extended rigid theories, is non trivial and only in some cases it is sufficient just to delete the extra…
We discuss superstring theory based on the reader's intuition and her college knowledge of general physics and calculus. Nowadays, superstring theory is considered the best candidate to explain physical phenomena that involve all of the…