Related papers: Type-I strings on magnetised orbifolds and brane t…
We discuss consistency conditions for branes at orbifold singularities. The conditions have a world-sheet interpretation in terms of tadpole cancellation and a space-time interpretation in terms of anomalies. As examples, we consider type…
We consider massive type IIA orientifold compactifications of the form AdS$_4 \times X_6$, where $X_6$ admits a Calabi-Yau metric and is threaded by background fluxes. From a 4d viewpoint, fluxes generate a potential whose vacua have been…
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.…
We perform a systematic string computation of the masses of anomalous U(1) gauge bosons in four-dimensional orientifold vacua, and we study their localization properties in the internal (compactified) space. We find that N=1 supersymmetric…
With model building applications in mind, we collect and develop basic techniques to analyze the landscape of D7-branes in type IIB compact Calabi-Yau orientifolds, in three different pictures: F-theory, the D7 worldvolume theory and…
We provide a general overview of the current state of the art in four dimensional three generation model building proposals - using intersecting D-brane toroidal compactifications [without fluxes] of IIA, IIB string theories - which have…
The Romans type IIA supergravity allows fundamental strings to have explicit mass term at the tree level. We show that there exists a (F1,D2,D8) brane configuration which gives rise to $Lif_4^{(2)}\times {R}^1\times S^5$ vacua supported by…
We study certain compactifications of the type I string on K3. The three topologically distinct choices of gauge bundle for the type I theory are shown to be equivalent to type IIB orientifolds with different choices of background…
We study various aspects of orientifold projections of Type IIB closed string theory on Gepner points in different dimensions. The open string sector is introduced, in the usual constructive way, in order to cancel RR charges carried by…
Horava--Witten M theory -- heterotic string duality poses special problems for the twisted sectors of heterotic orbifolds. In [1] we explained how in M theory the twisted states couple to gauge fields apparently living on M9 branes at both…
We discuss carefully the vertices which describe the dipole open strings and closed strings on a D-brane with magnetic flux on a torus. Translation invariance along closed cycles forces surprisingly closed string vertices written in open…
Combining the benefits of D-branes and background fluxes in string compactifications opens up the possibility to explore phenomenologically interesting brane world models with stabilized moduli. However, it is difficult to determine…
We consider massive type IIA compactifications down to 4 dimensions in presence of O6 planes and D6 branes parallel to them, in order to preserve half-maximal supersymmetry in 4D. The dynamics of open strings living on the spacetime filling…
We derive D-brane gauge theories for C^3/Z_n x Z_n orbifolds with discrete torsion and study the moduli space of a D-brane at a point. We show that, as suggested in previous work, closed string moduli do not fully resolve the singularity,…
We discuss supersymmetry breaking via 3-form fluxes in chiral supersymmetric type IIB orientifold vacua with D3- and D7-branes. After a general discussion of possible choices of fluxes allowing for stabilizing of a part of the moduli, we…
We discuss some collider signatures of the brane world. In addition to the usual bulk (closed string) fields and brane (open string) fields in the Type I string picture, there are closed string fields, namely, twisted modes, which are not…
We determine all D-branes in the non-tachyonic 0'B orientifold, examine their world-volume anomalies and study orbifold compactifications. We find that the spectrum of the D-branes contains chiral fermions in the symmetric, antisymmetric…
We use the M theory approach in the presence of an orientifold O6 plane to understand some aspects of the moduli space of vacua for N=1 supersymmetric $SO(N_c)/Sp(N_c)$ gauge theories in four dimensions. By exploiting some general…
We discuss tachyon-free examples of (Type IIB on) non-compact non-supersymmetric orbifolds. Tachyons are projected out by discrete torsion between orbifold twists, while supersymmetry is broken by a Scherk-Schwarz phase (+1/-1 when acting…
There is a longstanding puzzle concerned with the existence of Op~-planes with p>=6, which are orientifold p-planes of negative charge with stuck Dp-branes. We study the consistency of configurations with various orientifold planes and…