Related papers: Exact Thresholds and Instanton Effects in String T…
A type IIA string (or F-theory) compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold is believed to be dual to a heterotic string on a K3 surface times a 2-torus (or on a K3 surface). We consider how the resulting moduli space of hypermultiplets is…
We review exact results obtained for R^4 couplings in maximally supersymmetric type II string theories. These couplings offer a privileged scene to understand the rules of semiclassical calculus in string theory. Upon expansion in weak…
We discuss non-perturbative corrections to the gauge kinetic functions in a four-dimensional N=2 gauge theory realized with a system of D7/D3-branes in a compactification of type I' theory on T_4/Z_2 x Z_2. The non-perturbative…
In the reduction of 4d dualities to 3d there are non-perturbative effects arising from monopoles acting as instantons. This mechanism has been reproduced in string theory by engineering the theories in a IIA brane setup. Nevertheless there…
We derive the non-perturbative corrections to the free energy of the two-matrix model in terms of its algebraic curve. The eigenvalue instantons are associated with the vanishing cycles of the curve. For the (p,q) critical points our…
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…
We describe a class of 4d N=1 compactifications of the $SO(32)$ heterotic/type I string theory which are destabilized by nonperturbatively generated superpotentials. In the type I description, the destabilizing superpotential is generated…
We study ${\cal F}^4$-threshold corrections in an eight dimensional S-dual pair of string theories, as a prototype of dual string vacua with sixteen supercharges. We show that the orbifold CFT description of D-string instantons gives rise…
T-duality is used to extract information on an instanton of zero size in the $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string. We discuss the possibility of the appearance of a tensionless anti-self-dual non-critical string through an implementation of the…
We discuss two-dimensional sigma models on moduli spaces of instantons on K3 surfaces. These N=(4,4) superconformal field theories describe the near-horizon dynamics of the D1-D5-brane system and are dual to string theory on AdS_3. We…
Using heterotic/type II string duality, we obtain exact nonperturbative results for the point particle limit (alpha' -> 0) of some particular four dimensional, N=2 supersymmetric compactifications of heterotic strings. This allows us to…
The R^4 terms in the effective action for M-theory compactified on a two-torus are motivated by combining one-loop results in type II superstring theories with the Sl(2,Z) duality symmetry. The conjectured expression reproduces precisely…
Target space duality (T duality), which interchanges Kaluza--Klein and winding-mode excitations of the compactified heterotic string, is realized as a symmetry of a world-sheet action. Axion-dilaton duality (S duality), a conjectured…
We use open-closed string duality between F-theory on K3xK3 and type II strings on CY manifolds without branes to study non-perturbative superpotentials in generalized flux compactifications. On the F-theory side we obtain the full flux…
The non-perturbative dynamics of quantum field theories is studied using theoretical tools inspired by string formalism. Two main lines are developed: the analysis of stringy instantons in a class of four-dimensional N=2 gauge theories and…
By reduction along the time direction, black holes in 4 dimensions yield instantons in 3 dimensions. Each of these instantons contributes individually at order $\exp(-|Q|/g_s)$ to certain protected couplings in the three-dimensional…
We compute certain 2K+4-point, one-loop couplings in the type IIA string compactified on K3 x T^2, which are related to a topological index on this manifold. Their special feature is that they are sensitive to only short and intermediate…
In a toroidal orbifold of type IIB string theory we study instanton effects in N=2 super Yang-Mills theories engineered with systems of wrapped magnetized D9 branes and Euclidean D5 branes. We analyze the various open string sectors in this…
We explore two different problems in string theory in which duality relates an ordinary p-form in one theory to a self-dual (p+1)-form in another theory. One problem involves comparing D4-branes to M5-branes, and the other involves…
We express the infinite sum of D-fivebrane instanton corrections to ${\cal R}^2$ couplings in ${\cal N}=4$ type I string vacua, in terms of an elliptic index counting 1/2-BPS excitations in the effective $Sp(N)$ brane theory. We compute the…