Related papers: Geometric Transitions, del Pezzo Surfaces and Open…
In the present work certain features of the Penner model, such its enumerative meaning and its relation to the Chern-Simons theory on the 3-sphere, are reviewed. Also, some features related to geometric transitions at the level of the…
We construct a Chern-Simons action for q-deformed gauge theory which is a simple and straightforward generalization of the usual one. Space-time continues to be an ordinary (commuting) manifold, while the gauge potentials and the field…
This paper is an expanded version of a talk given at the XIX International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics, Salamanca, July, 1992. We discuss the geometry of topological terms in classical actions, which by themselves…
The role of integrable systems in string theory is discussed. We remind old examples of the correspondence between stringy partition functions or effective actions and integrable equations, based on effective application of the matrix model…
We revisit the relations between open and closed string scattering amplitudes discovered by Kawai, Lewellen, and Tye (KLT). We show that they emerge from the underlying algebro-topological identities known as the twisted period relations.…
This review is devoted to open strings, and in particular to the often surprising features of their spectra. It follows and summarizes developments that took place mainly at the University of Rome ``Tor Vergata'' over the last decade, and…
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…
We use the exact instanton expansion to illustrate various string characteristics of noncommutative gauge theory in two dimensions. We analyse the spectrum of the model and present some evidence in favour of Hagedorn and fractal behaviours.…
We show how conformal field theory topological defects can relate solutions of open string field theory for different boundary conditions. To this end we generalize the results of Graham and Watts to include the action of defects on…
A bosonic string coupled to the generalized Chern-Simons theory in 3+1D acquires a magnetic field along itself, when it is closed, and a topological charge at its extremity, when it is open. We construct the creation operators for the full…
We propose Chern-Simons models of fractional-spin fields interacting with ordinary tensorial higher-spin fields and internal color gauge fields. For integer and half-integer values of the fractional spins, the model reduces to finite sets…
Motivated by closed string perturbation theory arguments by S. Shenker, we consider non-perturbative effects of characteristic strength $\mathcal{O}(e^{-1/g_{s}})$, with $g_{s}$ the closed string coupling constant, in supersymmetric…
We present a string theory construction of Omega-deformed four-dimensional gauge theories with generic values of \epsilon_1 and \epsilon_2. Our solution gives an explicit description of the geometry in the core of Nekrasov and Witten's…
In this paper, we explicitly construct string theory backgrounds that realise the so-called $\mathcal N=2^\star$ gauge theory. We prove the consistency of our models by calculating their partition function and obtaining the correct gauge…
We construct off-shell amplitudes in heterotic and type II string theories involving arbitrary combination of Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz sector external states. We also construct the equations of motion of a gauge invariant 1PI effective…
In this text we review various relations between building blocks of closed and open string amplitudes at tree-level and genus one. We explain that KLT relations between tree-level closed and open string amplitudes follow from the…
These notes are based on the lecture the author gave at the workshop 'Geometry of Strings and Fields' held at Nordita, Stockholm. In these notes, I shall cover some topics in both the perturbative and non-perturbative aspects of the…
In this paper we develop the covariant string field theory approach to open 2d strings. Upon constructing the vertices, we apply the formalism to calculate the lowest order contributions to the 4- and 5- point tachyon--tachyon tree…
We study open and unoriented strings in a Topological Membrane (TM) theory through orbifolds of the bulk 3D space. This is achieved by gauging discrete symmetries of the theory. Open and unoriented strings can be obtained from all possible…
We study the large N limit of SO(N) and Sp(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory on S^3 and identify its closed string dual as topological strings on an orientifold of the small resolution of the conifold. Applications to large N dualities for N=1…