Related papers: Intersecting Branes, Defect Conformal Field Theori…
We review recent progress in the study of non-rational (boundary) conformal field theories and their applications to describe exact holographic backgrounds in superstring theory. We focus mainly on the example of the supersymmetric coset…
We conjecture a topology changing transition in M-theory on a non-compact asymptotically conical Spin(7) manifold, where a 5-sphere collapses and a CP(2) bolt grows. We argue that the transition may be understood as the condensation of…
We consider duality between type 0B string theory on $AdS_5\times S^5$ and the planar CFT on $N$ electric D3-branes coincident with $N$ magnetic D3-branes. It has been argued that this theory is stable up to a critical value of the `t Hooft…
The entropy of supersymmetric black holes in string theory compactifications can be related to that of a D- or M-brane system, which in many cases can be further reduced to a two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT). For black holes in…
This thesis describes an attempt to write down covariant actions for coincident D-branes using so-called boundary fermions instead of matrices to describe the non-abelian fields. These fermions can be thought of as Chan-Paton degrees of…
We construct non-supersymmetric four dimensional gauge theories arising as effective theories of D-branes placed on various singularities in Type 0B string theory. We mostly focus on models which are conformal in the large N limit and…
Using boundary states we derive the presence of (chiral) fermions on the intersection of type 0 D-branes. The corresponding anomalous couplings on the branes are then computed. Furthermore, we discuss systems of branes sitting at $A_n$…
The worldvolume theory of coincident M5-branes is expected to contain a nonabelian 2-form/nonabelian gerbe gauge theory that is a higher analog of self-dual Yang-Mills theory. But the precise details -- in particular the global moduli /…
In the fruitful interplay between gauge fields and strings and in many conjectured M-theory dualities, open strings play a prominent role. We review the construction of open-string descendants (un-orientifolds) of closed-string theories…
Recently, Kim, Shiu and Vafa proposed general consistency conditions for six dimensional supergravity theories with minimal supersymmetry coming from couplings to strings. We test them in explicit perturbative orientifold models in order to…
We derive an energy bound for a `baryonic' D5-brane probe in the $adS_5\times S^5$ background near the horizon of $N$ D3-branes. Configurations saturating the bound are shown to be 1/4 supersymmetric $S^5$-wrapped D5-branes, with a total…
Curved, intersecting brane configurations satisfying the type IIA supergravity equations of motion are found. In eleven dimensions, the models are interpreted in terms of orthogonally intersecting M5--branes, where the world--volumes are…
We study in detail the system of D6 branes and euclidean D2-brane instantons intersecting at angles in type IIA string theory. We find that in the absence of orientifolds the system does not contribute to the low energy superpotential, in…
We study tachyon condensation on brane-antibrane systems in orbifold theories from the viewpoint of boundary string field theory. We show that the condensation of holomorphic tachyon fields generates various fractional D-branes. The…
I discuss a model inspired from the string/brane framework, in which our Universe is represented as a three brane, propagating in a bulk space time punctured by D0-brane (D-particle) defects. As the D3-brane world moves in the bulk, the…
We describe the intersecting brane configurations, consisting of NS-branes, D4-branes(and anti-D4-branes), in type IIA string theory corresponding to the meta-stable nonsupersymmetric vacua of N=1 SU(N_c) x SU(N_c') x SU(N_c'') gauge theory…
We analyze the D-branes of a type IIB string theory on an orbifold singularity including the possibility of discrete torsion following the work of Douglas et al. First we prove some general results about the moduli space of a point…
We study novel conformal twist defects in 4d Maxwell theory, around which electric and magnetic fields are exchanged. These are codimension-2 defects living at the end of topological defects for certain non-invertible global symmetries. We…
We study a system of intersecting NS and D-branes in type IIA string theory in R^{9,1}. We show that the 3+1 dimensional non-supersymmetric theory at the intersection has unstable vacua which are long-lived in some regions of the parameter…
In this thesis we discuss some nonperturbative and noncommutative aspects of string theory. We present low-energy background field solutions corresponding to various D-branes (and their bound states) and intersecting branes in flat and…