Related papers: Open Strings in PP-Wave Background from Defect Con…
The complicated non-linear sigma model that characterizes the first finite-radius curvature correction to the pp-wave limit of IIB superstring theory on AdS_5 x S^5 has been shown to generate energy spectra that perfectly match, to two…
We study little string theory on R^1 x S^5, defined by a theory which lives on type IIA N NS5 branes wrapped on S^5, using its supergravity dual. In particular we study semiclassical rotating closed strings in this background. We also…
We discuss the interpaly between IR and UV divergences in theories with open and unoriented strings in view of the AdS/CFT correspondence. We start by deriving general formulas for the computation of threshold corrections to gauge couplings…
We study systematically the open string modes of a general class of BPS intersections of branes. We work in the approximation in which one of the branes is considered as a probe embedded in the near-horizon geometry generated by the other…
We carefully analyze the supersymmetry algebra of closed strings and open strings in a type IIB plane wave background. We use eight component chiral spinors, SO(8) Majorana-Weyl spinors, in light-cone gauge to provide a useful basis of…
In this Ph.D. thesis, we study some aspects of strings and branes. We mainly focus on anomalous D-brane couplings and on non-supersymmetric branes. In Chapter 2, we illustrate three key concepts in a field theory context: duality,…
Projecting on a suitable subset of coordinates, a picture is constructed in which the conformal boundary of $AdS_5\times S^5$ and that of the plane wave resulting in the Penrose limit are located at the same line. In a second line of…
We find a Penrose limit of AdS_5 x T^{1,1} which gives the pp-wave geometry identical to the one that appears in the Penrose limit of AdS_5 x S^5. This leads us to conjecture that there is a subsector of the corresponding N=1 gauge theory…
We discuss the field theory limit of Dp-branes. In this limit, the black Dp-brane solution approaches a solution which is conformal to adS_{p+2} \times S^{8-p}. We argue that the frame in which the conformal factor is equal to one, the dual…
The bosonic actions for M2, D3 and M5 branes in their own d-dimensional near-horizon background are given in a manifestly SO(p+1,2) x SO(d-p-1) invariant form (p=2,3,5). These symmetries result from a breakdown of ISO(d,2) (with d=10 for D3…
We discuss partition functions of N=(4,4) type IIA string theory on the pp-wave background. This theory is shown to be modular invariant. The boundary states are constructed and possible D-brane instantons are classified. Then we calculate…
Fractional strings in the spectrum of states of open strings attached to a multiply wound D-brane is explained. We first describe the fractional string states in the low-energy effective theory where the topology of multiple winding is…
We consider a D2-brane in the pp-wave backgrounds obtained from AdS$_4\times$CP$^3$ when electric and magnetic fields have been turned on. Upon fixing the light-cone gauge, light-cone Hamiltonian and BPS configurations are obtained. In…
We study phase transitions induced by topological defects in Abelian gauge theories of open p-branes in (d+1) space-time dimensions. Starting from a massive antisymmetric tensor theory for open p-branes we show how the condensation of…
We consider the backgrounds obtained by Abelian and non-Abelian T-duality applied on $AdS_5\times S^5$. We study geodesics, calculate Penrose limits and find the associated plane-wave geometries. We quantise the weakly coupled type-IIA…
We derive boundary conditions for the covariant open string corresponding to D-branes in an Hpp-wave, by requiring kappa symmetry of its bulk action. Both half-supersymmetric and quarter-supersymmetric branes are seen to arise in this way,…
We study supersymmetric pp-waves in M-theory, their dimensional reduction to D0-branes or pp-waves in type IIA, and their T-dualisation to solutions in the type IIB theory. The general class of pp-waves that we consider encompass the…
This is an introduction to two-dimensional conformal field theory and its applications in string theory. Modern concepts of conformal field theory are explained, and it is outlined how they are used in recent studies of D-branes in the…
We study conformal field theory correlation functions relevant for string diagrams with open strings that stretch between several parallel branes of different dimensions. In the framework of conformal field theory, they involve boundary…
We investigate the consequences of generalizing certain well established properties of the open string metric to the conjectured open membrane and open Dp-brane metrics. By imposing deformation independence on these metrics their functional…