Related papers: Geometric Transitions and Open String Instantons
We compute the two-point open string and closed string amplitudes at tree level and show that, in a 't Hooft-like limit, they take a form structurally analogous to boundary-to-boundary transition amplitudes of a scalar field in Euclidean…
Paradigme shift in gauge topology, from instantons to their constituents -- instanton-dyons -- has recently lead to very significant advances. Like instantons, they have fermionic zero modes, and their collectivization at sufficiently high…
Non-invertible one-form symmetries are naturally realized in (2+1)d topological quantum field theories. In this work, we consider the potential realization of such symmetries in (2+1)d conformal field theories, investigating whether gapless…
Understanding structural glasses using the Random First Order Transition theory requires a description in both real space and in time, taking into account sample history. A variety of nonlinear objects enter this description, in field…
We study junctions between confining strings. We show that the effective theory of such junctions is very predictive with only one new parameter, the junction's mass, controlling the first couple of terms in the expansion in the system…
We study the relations between two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on the torus, topological string theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold whose local geometry is the sum of two line bundles over the torus, and Chern-Simons theory on torus bundles.…
We propose a new, generic mechanism of inflation mediated by a balance between potential forces and a Chern-Simons interaction. Such quasi-topological interactions are ubiquitous in string theory. In the minisuperspace approximation, their…
Recently, Witten proposed a topological string theory in twistor space that is dual to a weakly coupled gauge theory. In this lectures we will discuss aspects of the twistor string theory. Along the way we will learn new things about…
We consider Witten's open string field theory in the presence of a non-trivial boundary of spacetime. For the kinetic term, we derive a Gibbons-Hawking-type contribution that has to be added to the action to guarantee a well-defined…
This is a mini-review about generalized instantons of noncommutative gauge theories in dimensions 4, 6 and 8, with emphasis on their realizations in type II string theory, their geometric interpretations, and their applications to the…
We give a worldsheet proof of the equivalence between the U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory on S^3 and the topological closed string theory on the resolved conifold geometry. When the `t Hooft coupling of the gauge theory is small, the dual…
Conifold geometries have recieved a lot of attention in string theory and string-inspired cosmology recently, in particular the Klebanov-Strassler background that is known as the "warped throat". It is our intention in this article to give…
We study string theory on orbifolds in the presence of an antisymmetric constant background field and discuss some of new aspects of the theory. It is shown that the term with the antisymmetric field has a topological nature like a…
We study systems of multiple localized closed string tachyons and the phenomena associated with their condensation, in C3/ZN nonsupersymmetric noncompact orbifold singularities using gauged linear sigma model constructions, following…
We consider the dynamics of confined strings embedded in a gapless four-dimensional theory. To this end, we examine finite-tension string-like solutions to the equations of motion of the $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1$ non-linear sigma model. We…
In recent years, significant progress has been made in the study of integrable systems from a gauge theoretic perspective. This development originated with the introduction of $4$d Chern-Simons theory with defects, which provided a…
The three dimensional Chern-Simons theory on $\rr^2_{\theta}\times \rr$ is studied. Considering the gauge transformations under the group elements which are going to one at infinity, we show that under arbitrary (finite) gauge…
A few years ago, some of us devised a method to obtain integrable systems in (2+1)-dimensions from the classical non-Abelian pure Chern-Simons action via reduction of the gauge connection in Hermitian symmetric spaces. In this paper we show…
We consider the Gopakumar-Ooguri-Vafa correspondence, relating ${\rm U}(N)$ Chern-Simons theory at large $N$ to topological strings, in the context of spherical Seifert 3-manifolds. These are quotients $\mathbb{S}^{\Gamma} =…
String Theory includes a plethora of higher-spin excitations, which clearly lie behind its most spectacular properties, but whose detailed behavior is largely unknown. Conversely, string interactions contain much useful information on…