Related papers: Les Houches lectures on matrix models and topologi…

We study topological D-branes of type B in N=2 Landau-Ginzburg models, focusing on the case where all vacua have a mass gap. In general, tree-level topological string theory in the presence of topological D-branes is described…

We review various combinatorial applications of field theoretical and matrix model approaches to equilibrium statistical physics involving the enumeration of fixed and random lattice model configurations. We show how the structures of the…

We make a proposal for the string dual to the simplest large $N$ theory, the Gaussian matrix integral in the 'tHooft limit, and how this dual description emerges from double line graphs. This is a specific realisation of the general…

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 revisit the holomorphic anomaly equations satisfied by the topological string amplitude from the perspective of the 4D-5D lift, in the context of ''magic'' N=2 supergravity theories. In particular, we interpret the Gopakumar-Vafa…

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…

We analyze transitions between heterotic vacua with distinct gauge bundles using two complementary methods - the effective four-dimensional field theory and the corresponding geometry. From the viewpoint of effective field theory, such…

Random matrix models provide a phenomenological description of a vast variety of physical phenomena. Prominent examples include the eigenvalue statistics of quantum (chaotic) systems, which are conveniently characterized using the spectral…

We show that refined Chern-Simons theory and large N duality can be used to study the refined topological string with and without branes. We derive the refined topological vertex of hep-th/0701156 and hep-th/0502061 from a link invariant of…

We continue our study of the large N phase transition in q-deformed Yang-Mills theory on the sphere and its role in connecting topological strings to black hole entropy. We study in detail the chiral theory defined in terms of uncoupled…

We address the nonperturbative structure of topological strings and c=1 matrix models, focusing on understanding the nature of instanton effects alongside with exploring their relation to the large-order behavior of the 1/N expansion. We…

We introduce network science as a framework for studying the string landscape. Two large networks of string geometries are constructed, where nodes are extra-dimensional six-manifolds and edges represent topological transitions between…

Matrix models are a promising candidate for a nonperturbative formulation of the superstring theory. It is possible to study how the standard model and other phenomenological models appear from the matrix model, and estimate the probability…

In this paper, which is a revised version of the author's PhD thesis, we analyze two different applications of string theory. In the first part, we focus on four dimensional compactifications of Type II string theories preserving N=1…

We employ powerful techniques based on Hilbert- and Groebner bases to analyze particle physics models derived from string theory. Individual models are shown to have a huge landscape of vacua that differ in their phenomenological…

We investigate the connections between four-dimensional, N=2 M-theory vacua constructed as orbifolds of type II, heterotic, and type I strings. All these models have the same massless spectrum, which contains an equal number of vector…

We show that the most general two--matrix model with bilinear coupling underlies $c=1$ string theory. More precisely we prove that $W_{1+\infty}$ constraints, a subset of the correlation functions and the integrable hierarchy characterizing…

We describe the structure of string vacuum states in the supersymmetric matrix model for M theory compactified on a circle in the large-N limit. We show that the theory admits topological instanton field configurations which at…

We show that the full non-perturbative topological string free energy, in the holomorphic limit, follows simply from a target space integrating out calculation of M2 states. Qualitatively, this is the same as the calculation performed by…

We have discovered that the gauge invariant observables of matrix models invariant under U($N$) form a Lie algebra, in the planar large-N limit. These models include Quantum Chromodynamics and the M(atrix)-Theory of strings. We study here…