Related papers: On Type II Superstrings in Less Than Four Dimensio…
We briefly review attempts to construct string theories that yield the standard model, concentrating on models with a geometric interpretation. Calabi-Yau compactifications are discussed in the context of both the weakly coupled heterotic…
Using a $U$-duality symmetry of type II compactification on $T^4$ represented by triality action on the $T$-duality group, and applying the adiabatic argument we construct dual pairs of type II compactifications in lower dimensions. The…
We discuss the equivalence between Type I, Type II and Heterotic N=2 superstring theories in four dimensions. We study the effective field theory of Type I models obtained by orientifold reductions of Type IIB compactifications on…
We study the superstring vacua constructed from the conformal field theories of the type H_4 x M, where H_4 denotes the super Nappi-Witten model (super WZW model on the 4-dimensional Heisenberg group H_4) and M denotes an arbitrary N=2…
We find de Sitter and flat space solutions with all moduli stabilized in four dimensional supergravity theories derived from the heterotic and type II string theories, and explain how all the previously known obstacles to finding such…
The non-perturbative equivalence of four-dimensional N=2 superstrings with three vector multiplets and four hypermultiplets is analysed. These models are obtained through freely acting orbifold compactifications from the heterotic, the…
Motivated by the work of Polchinski and Strominger on type IIA theory, where the effect of non-trivial field strengths for p-form potentials on a Calabi-Yau space was discussed, we study four-dimensional heterotic string theory in the…
These are notes based on lectures given at TASI99. We review the geometry of the moduli space of N=2 theories in four dimensions from the point of view of superstring compactification. The cases of a type IIA or type IIB string compactified…
We present four-dimensional M-theory vacua with N>0 supersymmetry which, from the perspective of perturbative Type IIA string theory, have N=0. Such vacua can appear when the compactifying 7-manifold is a U(1) fibration. The missing…
We consider a conformal system of a string and a particle defined in D=10+2 space-time dimensions. The extra time-like dimension is a gauge artifact and can be eliminated by choosing a gauge in which the SO(10,1) Lorentz symmetry is…
We consider the general case of a type IIA string compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold which has a heterotic dual description. It is shown that the nonabelian gauge symmetries which can appear nonperturbatively in the type II string but…
I argue that the ten dimensional non--supersymmetric tachyonic superstrings may serve as good starting points for the construction of viable phenomenological vacua. Thus, enlarging the space of possible solutions that may address some of…
In addition to the familiar string theories with spacetime supersymmetry, there exist a number of non-supersymmetric ten-dimensional superstrings. Nearly all of these theories have closed string tachyons, indicating a misidentification of…
The subject of this thesis are various ways to construct four-dimensional quantum field theories from string theory. In a first part we study the generation of a supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, coupled to an adjoint chiral superfield,…
We analyze the general class of supersymmetry preserving orbifolds of strong/weak Type IIA/heterotic dual pairs in six dimensions and below. A unified treatment is given by considering compactification to two spacetime dimensions and…
In this paper we discuss compactifications of M-theory to four dimensions on X \times S^1/Z_2, in which nonstandard embeddings in the E_8 \times E_8 vacuum gauge bundle are considered. At the level of the effective field theory description…
We study the singularities of the Higgs branch of supersymmetric U(1)^r gauge theories with eight supercharges. We derive new solutions for the moduli space of vacua preserving manifestly the eight supercharges by using a geometric…
We study the compactification of the $(2,0)$ and type-II little-string theories on $S^1$, $T^2$ and $T^3$ with an R-symmetry twist that preserves half the supersymmetry. We argue that it produces the same moduli spaces of vacua as…
Motivated by a class of flux compactifications of type IIA strings on rigid Calabi-Yau manifolds, preserving N=2 local supersymmetry in four dimensions, we derive a non-perturbative potential of all scalar fields from the exact D-instanton…
We discuss the singularities in the moduli space of string compactifications to six dimensions with $N=1$ supersymmetry. Such singularities arise from either massless particles or non-critical tensionless strings. The points with…