Related papers: Removing Singularities
In two-dimensional string theory, a probe D0-brane does not see the black hole singularity due to a cancellation between its metric coupling and the dilaton coupling. A similar mechanism may work in the Schwarzschild black hole in large $D$…
It is well known that a closed universe with a minimally coupled massive scalar field always collapses to a singularity unless the initial conditions are extremely fine tuned. We show that the corrections to the equations of motion for the…
Spacetime singularities pose a long-standing puzzle in quantum gravity. Unlike Schwarzschild, a generic family of black holes gives rise to a Cauchy horizon on which, even in the Hartle-Hawking state, quantum observables such as $\langle…
We show that simple scalar field models can give rise to curvature singularities in the effective Friedmann dynamics of Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC). We find singular solutions for spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies with…
Despite impressive phenomenological successes, cosmological models are incomplete without an understanding of what happened at the big bang singularity. Depending on the model, one would like to understand how appropriate initial conditions…
Time dependent orbifolds with spacelike or null singularities have recently been studied as simple models of cosmological singularities. We show that their apparent simplicity is an illusion: the introduction of a single particle causes the…
Key issues of classical and quantum strings in gravitational plane waves, shock waves and spacetime singularities are synthetically understood. This includes the string mass and mode number excitations, energy-momentum tensor, scattering…
The method of large spin perturbation theory allows to analyse conformal field theories (CFT) by turning the crossing equations into an algebraic problem. We apply this method to a generic CFT with weakly broken higher spin (HS) symmetry,…
We consider a (supersymmetric) bosonization of general commuting matter $\beta\gamma$ CFT. Unlike the conventional ghost $\beta\gamma$ CFT bosonization, which is typically described in terms of one scalar and one set of $\xi\eta$ CFT, the…
We solve a $1+5$-dimensional cylindrical gravitational-wave solution of the Einstein equation, in which there are two curvature singularities. Then we show that one of the curvature singularities can be removed by an extension of the…
We hereby address the cosmological singularity problem in a general gravitational theory invariant under Weyl conformal transformations. In particular, we focus on the Bianchi IX spacetime and we show that both the initial (big bang) and…
The largest known class of gravitational backgrounds with an exact string theoretical description is based on coset G/H CFTs and the corresponding gauged WZW models. These backgrounds generically lack isometries and are quite complicated.…
We review recent progress on the resolution of gravitational singularities in string theory. The main example is the fundamental string in five dimensions which is singular in the standard supergravity description but regular after taking…
Following earlier work on the same topic, we consider once more scalar field theories on the world sheet parametrized by the light cone coordinates. For most of the way, we use the same approach as in the previous work, but there is an…
Electromagnetic waves propagating in the background provided by a spacetime hosting a strong curvature, naked singularity, are fully studied. The analysis is performed not only in the realm of geometrical optics -- which, not surprisingly,…
Starting with exact solutions to string theory on curved spacetimes we obtain deformations that represent gravitational shock waves. These may exist in the presence or absence of sources. Sources are effectively induced by a tachyon field…
The big bang singularity of the expanding-universe Friedmann solution of the Einstein gravitational field equation can be regularized by the introduction of a degenerate metric and a nonzero length scale $b$. The result is a nonsingular…
Is string theory uniquely determined by self-consistency? Causality and unitarity seemingly permit a multitude of putative deformations, at least at the level of two-to-two scattering. Motivated by this question, we initiate a systematic…
The interpretation of the apparent unification of gauge couplings within supersymmetric theories depends on uncertainties induced through heavy particle thresholds. While in standard grand unified theories these effects can be estimated…
We extend the effective field theory (EFT) formalism for gravitational radiation from a binary system of compact objects to the case of extended objects. In particular, we study the EFT for a binary system consisting of two infinitely-long…