Related papers: Strings in Noncompact Spacetimes: Boundary Terms a…
We supplement the string field theory action with boundary terms to make its variational principle well-posed. Central to our considerations is the violation of the stress-energy tensor conservation in non-compact CFTs due to the boundary…
We analyze the beta-function equations for string theory in the case when the target space has one spacelike (or timelike) direction and rest is some conformal field theory (CFT) with appropriate central charge and has one nearly marginal…
This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…
We review the recent work on the mechanics of fast moving strings in anti-de Sitter space times a sphere and discuss the role of conserved charges. An interesting relation between the local conserved charges of rigid solutions was found in…
We describe how the presence of the antisymmetric tensor (torsion) on the world sheet action of string theory renders the size of the target space a gauge non invariant quantity. This generalizes the R <--> 1/R symmetry in which momenta and…
Recent work has shown that the addition of an appropriate covariant boundary term to the gravitational action yields a well-defined variational principle for asymptotically flat spacetimes and thus leads to a natural definition of conserved…
We study an exact model of string theory propagating in a space-time containing regions with closed time-like curves (CTCs) separated from a finite cosmological region bounded by a Big Bang and a Big Crunch. The model is an non-trivial…
Searching for space/time noncommutativity we reconsider open strings in a constant background electric field. The main difference between this situation and its magnetic counterpart is that here there is a critical electric field beyond…
Boundary conformal field theory (BCFT) is simply the study of conformal field theory (CFT) in domains with a boundary. It gains its significance because, in some ways, it is mathematically simpler: the algebraic and geometric structures of…
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…
Recently, string theory on some specific curved backgroud spacetime geometries has been conjectured to be equivalent to certain gauge theories (AdS/CFT correspondence). This correspondence may be used to investigate the non-perturbative…
We analyse the 3-point CFT correlators involving non-conserved spinning operators in momentum space. We derive a general expression for the conformal Ward identities defining the 3-point functions involving two generic spin $s$…
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…
We discuss quotients of Anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime by a discrete group in light of the AdS-CFT correspondence. Some quotients describe closed universes which expand from zero volume to a maximum size and then contract. Maldacena's…
We investigate the field theory of strings having as a target space an arbitrary discrete one-dimensional manifold. The existence of the continuum limit is guaranteed if the target space is a Dynkin diagram of a simply laced Lie algebra or…
This is an introduction to the microscopic techniques of non-rational bulk and boundary conformal field theory which are needed to describe strings moving in non-compact curved backgrounds. The latter arise e.g. in the context of…
Symmetry transformations of the space-time fields of string theory are generated by certain similarity transformations of the stress-tensor of the associated conformal field theories. This observation is complicated by the fact that, as we…
We review issues related to conservation laws for gravity with a negative cosmological constant subject to asymptotically (locally) anti-de Sitter boundary conditions. Beginning with the empty AdS spacetime, we introduce asymptotically…
String theory is canonically accompanied with a space-time interpretation which determines S-matrix-like observables, and connects to the standard physics at low energies in the guise of local effective field theory. Recently, we have…
We constrain the spectrum of $\mathcal{N}=(1, 1)$ and $\mathcal{N}=(2, 2)$ superconformal field theories in two-dimensions by requiring the NS-NS sector partition function to be invariant under the $\Gamma_\theta$ congruence subgroup of the…