Related papers: String Webs from Field Theory
We study the behaviour of cosmic string networks in contracting universes, and discuss some of their possible consequences. We note that there is a fundamental time asymmetry between defect network evolution for an expanding universe and a…
We find a one-parameter family of long-lived physical string states in type II superstring theory. We compute the decay rate by an exact numerical evaluation of the imaginary part of the one-loop propagator. Remarkably, the lifetime rapidly…
We consider a class of conformal models describing closed strings in axially symmetric stationary magnetic flux tube backgrounds. These models are closed string analogs of the Landau model of a particle in a magnetic field or the model of…
If the vacuum manifold of a field theory has the appropriate topological structure, the theory admits topological structures analogous to the D-branes of string theory, in which defects of one dimension terminate on other defects of higher…
We analyze the Coulomb branch of Matrix string theory in the presence of NS5-branes. If we regard the components of U(1) gauge fields as the dualized longitudinal coordinates, we obtain the symmetric product of AdS_3 x S^3 x R^4 as the…
Cosmic strings are predicted in many models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In models which admit strings, a network of strings will inevitably be formed in a phase transition in the early universe and will persist to the…
We use string duality to describe instanton induced spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications with additional background fields. Dynamical supersymmetry breaking by space-time instantons in the heterotic string theory…
Infinite distance limits in the moduli space of a quantum gravity theory are characterized by having infinite towers of states becoming light, as dictated by the Distance Conjecture in the Swampland program. These towers imply a drastic…
In string theory the coupling parameters are functions of moduli fields. The actual values of the coupling constants are then dynamically determined through the vacuum expextation values of these fields. We review the attempts to connect…
Vacuum structure and global cosmic strings are analyzed in the effective theory of self-interacting O(2) scalar fields on (3+1)-manifolds with conical singularities. In the context of one-loop effective action computed by heat-kernel…
We complete the proof of unitarity of (compactified) heterotic and type II string field theories by showing that in the cut diagrams only physical states appear in the sum over intermediate states. This analysis takes into account the…
We study curves of marginal stability (CMS) in five-dimensional N=1 E_N theories compactified on a circle using the D3-brane probe realization. In this realization, BPS states correspond to string webs in the affine E_N 7-brane background…
Some of the four-dimensional Superstring solutions provide a consistent framework for a Supersymmetric Unification of all interactions including gravity. A class of them extends successfully the validity of the standard model up to the…
We study the semiclassical dynamics of interacting electrons in a biased crystal lattice. A complex dynamical scenario emerges from the interplay between the Coulomb and the external electric fields. When the electrons are far apart, the…
The Higgs quartic coupling has now been indirectly measured at the electroweak scale. Assuming no new low-scale physics, its running is known and, together with gauge and Yukawa couplings, it is a crucial new piece of information…
The cosmology of the string effective action, including one loop string threshold corrections, is analyzed for static compactifications. The stability of the minima of a general supersymmetry breaking potential is studied in the presence of…
String theory is the leading contemporary framework to explore the synthesis of quantum mechanics with gravity. String phenomenology aims to study string theory while maintaining contact with observational data. The fermionic $Z_2\times…
Cosmic strings provide a radically different paradigm for the formation of structure to the prevailing inflationary one. They afford some extra technical complications: for example, the calculation of the power spectrum of matter and…
The weakly coupled vacuum of $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory remains an attractive scenario for phenomenolgy and cosmology. The particle spectrum is reviewed and the issues of gauge coupling unification, dilaton stabilization and…
Superstring field theory expresses the perturbative S-matrix of superstring theory as a sum of Feynman diagrams each of which is manifestly free from ultraviolet divergences. The interaction vertices fall off exponentially for large…