Related papers: Duality, gauging and superHiggs effect in string a…
We compute the form of the Lagrangian of N=1 supersymmetric theories with gauged axion symmetries. It turns out that there appear generalized Chern-Simons terms that were not considered in previous superspace formulations of general N=1…
Compactifications of M-theory on singular manifolds contain additional charged massless states descending from M-branes wrapped on vanishing cycles. We construct the first explicit example of a complete supergravity Lagrangian that includes…
We show how enhanced gauge symmetry in type II string theory compactified on a Calabi--Yau threefold arises from singularities in the geometry of the target space. When the target space of the type IIA string acquires a genus $g$ curve $C$…
We propose a supergravity model that contains elements recently shown to arise in the strongly-coupled limit of the $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string (M-theory), including a no-scale--like K\"ahler potential, the identification of the string…
We present M-theory compactifications on $K_3 \times K_3$ with membranes near the $A_n$ or $D_n$ singularities of the $K_3$ spaces. By realizing each of these compactifications in two different ways as type I' models with 2- and 6-branes,…
Non-vanishing fluxes in M-theory and string theory compactifications induce a superpotential in the lower dimensional theory. Gukov has conjectured the explicit form of this superpotential. We check this conjecture for the heterotic string…
The unification of Higgs and electromagnetic fields in the context of higher dimensional gravity is studied. We show that these fields arise from an extra large dimension together with a compact small dimension. The question of the…
The focus of the present thesis is on the analysis of gauge symmetry and its various impacts on gauge theories. In the first part of this thesis, we have studied different aspects of symmetries in connection with various field and string…
The physical motivations and the basic construction rules for Type I strings and M-theory compactifications are reviewed in light of the recent developments. The first part contains the basic theoretical ingredients needed for building…
We examine non-gravitational minimal supermultiplets which are based on the tensor gauge fields appearing as matter fields in exceptional generalised geometry. When possible, off-shell multiplets are given. The fields in the multiplets…
We describe how to calculate the amount of supersymmetry associated to a class of supergravity theories obtained by compactification on T-folds. We illustrate our discussion by calculating the degree of supersymmetry enjoyed by a particular…
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 discuss aspects of global and gauged symmetries in quantum field theory and quantum gravity, focusing on discrete gauge symmetries. An effective Lagrangian description of $\Z_p$ gauge theories shows that they are associated with an…
We give brief ideas on building gauge models in superstring theory, especially the four-dimensional models obtained from the compactification of F-theory. According to Vafa, we discuss the construction of F-theory to approach…
Type I string theory in the presence of internal magnetic fields provides a concrete realization of split supersymmetry. To lowest order, gauginos are massless while squarks and sleptons are superheavy. For weak magnetic fields, the correct…
We place bounds on the order of enhanced discrete gauge symmetries that act on massless fields and thus arise at subloci of the moduli space in supergravity theories. We focus on supersymmetric theories with 8 or more supercharges which in…
Exceptional field theories are the manifestly duality covariant formulations of the target space theories of string/M-theory in the low-energy limit (supergravity) or for certain truncations. These theories feature a rich system of…
Maximal and non-maximal supergravities in three spacetime dimensions allow for a large variety of semisimple and non-semisimple gauge groups, as well as complex gauge groups that have no analog in higher dimensions. In this contribution we…
We review recent developments in duality symmetric string theory. We begin with the world sheet doubled formalism which describes strings in an extended space time with extra coordinates conjugate to winding modes. This formalism is…
In this paper we study duality properties of the M(atrix) theory compactified on a circle. We establish the equivalence of this theory to the strong coupling limit of type IIB string theory compactified on a circle. In the M(atrix) theory…