Related papers: Strings from Logic
A polemical article evaluating string theory from the point of view of a quantum field theorist working in a mathematics department. Comments to the author are encouraged.
Point particles fall freely along geodesics; strings do not. In string theory all probes of spacetime structure, including photons, are extended objects and therefore always subject to tidal forces. We illustrate how string theory modifies…
We derive a minimal set of Feynman rules for the loop amplitudes in unitary models of closed strings, whose target space is a simply laced (extended) Dynkin diagram. The string field Feynman graphs are composed of propagators, vertices…
An approach to systematically implement open-closed string duality for free large $N$ gauge theories is summarised. We show how the relevant closed string moduli space emerges from a reorganisation of the Feynman diagrams contributing to…
A theory of gravitation in 4D is presented with strings used in the material action in $U_4$ spacetime. It is shown that the string naturally gives rise to torsion. It is also shown that the equation of motion a string follows from the…
The topic of cosmic strings provides a bridge between the physics of the very small and the very large. They are predicted by some unified theories of particle interactions. If they exist, they may help to explain some of the largest-scale…
We present a class of solvable models that resemble string theories in many respects but have a strikingly different non-perturbative sector. In particular, there are no exponentially small contributions to perturbation theory in the string…
Time-like linear dilaton triggers, at the classical level, the creation of closed folded strings at an instant. We show that in cosmology these instant folded strings induce negative pressure at no energy cost. Hence they seem to allow an…
Making use of the wealth of new observational data coming from the sky it is possible to constrain particle physics theories beyond the Standard Model. One way to do this is illustrated in this article: a subset of theories admits cosmic…
After briefly reviewing basic concepts of perturbative string theory, we explain in simple terms some of the new findings that created excitement among the string physicists. These developments include non-perturbative dualities and a…
We investigate string graphs through the lens of graph product structure theory, which describes complicated graphs as subgraphs of strong products of simpler building blocks. A graph $G$ is called a string graph if its vertices can be…
Perturbative string amplitudes are correctly derived from the string geometry theory, which is one of the candidates of a non-perturbative formulation of string theory. In order to derive non-perturbative effects rather easily, we formulate…
We discuss different formulations and approaches to string theory and $ 2d$ quantum gravity. The generic idea to get a unique description of {\it many} different string vacua altogether is demonstrated on the examples in $ 2d$ conformal,…
Semantic theories of natural language associate meanings with utterances by providing meanings for lexical items and rules for determining the meaning of larger units given the meanings of their parts. Meanings are often assumed to combine…
String theories should reduce to ordinary four-dimensional field theories at low energies. Yet the formulation of the two are so different that such a connection, if it exists, is not immediately obvious. With the Schwinger proper-time…
String theory has not even come close to a complete formulation after half a century of intense research. On the other hand, a number of features of the theory suggest that the theory, once completed, may be a final theory. It is argued in…
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…
Long strings emerge in many Quantum Field Theories, for example as vortices in Abelian Higgs theories, or flux tubes in Yang-Mills theories. The actions of such objects can be expanded in the number of derivatives, around a long straight…
Dynamics of a free point particle on a multi world-line is presented and shown to reduce to that of a bosonic string theory at the appropriate limit. Other higher dimensional extended objects are argued to appear at other regions of the…
We consider two dimensional string backgrounds. We discuss the physics of long strings that come from infinity. These are related to non-singlets in the dual matrix model description.