Related papers: Factorization Conjecture and the Open/Closed Strin…
The structures in target space geometry that correspond to conformally invariant boundary conditions in WZW theories are determined both by studying the scattering of closed string states and by investigating the algebra of open string…
Factorization of string amplitudes is one way of constructing string interaction vertices. We show that correlation functions in string theory can be conveniently factorized using loop variables representing delta functionals. We illustrate…
We study possible backgrounds of 2D string theory using its equivalence with a system of fermions in upside-down harmonic potential. Each background corresponds to a certain profile of the Fermi sea, which can be considered as a deformation…
We investigate general observables of the complex Liouville string with worldsheet boundaries. We develop a universal formalism that reduces such observables to ordinary closed string amplitudes without boundaries, applicable to any…
In earlier work we proposed a string theory dual to two dimensional Yang-Mills theory at zero coupling (which can also be thought of as a $BF$ theory), given by a Polyakov-like generalization of Ho\v rava's topological rigid string theory,…
We discuss the link between string backgrounds and the associated world-sheet CFTs. In the search for new backgrounds and CFTs, Penrose limits and Lie algebra contractions are important tools. The Nappi-Witten construction and the recently…
We study the geometric action of some modular conjugations in two dimensional (2D) conformal field theories. We investigate the bipartition given by an interval when the system is in the ground state, either on the line or on the circle,…
We formulate the Exact Renormalization Group on the string world sheet for closed string backgrounds. The same techniques that were used for open strings is used here. There are some subtleties. One is that holomorphic factorization of the…
Fractional superstrings experience new types of ``internal projections'' which alter or deform their underlying worldsheet conformal field theories. In this talk I summarize some recent results concerning both the worldsheet theory which…
Studying a quantum field theory involves a choice of space-time manifold and a choice of background for any global symmetries of the theory. We argue that many more choices are possible when specifying the background. In the context of…
The quantum theory of a massless spin two particle is strongly constrained by diffeomorphism invariance, which is in turn implied by unitarity. We explicitly exhibit the space-time diffeomorphism algebra of string theory, realizing it in…
Preliminary investigations of the topological phase of string theory along the lines of a (restricted) $\dot{w}_{\infty}$ non-linear sigma model are provided. Gauge fixing the w gravity gauge fields by preserving a geometric identity Lorenz…
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 study diffeomorphisms of compact, oriented surfaces, developing methods of distinguishing those which have positive factorizations into Dehn twists from those which satisfy the weaker condition of right veering. We use these to construct…
We study a two-dimensional bosonic field theory with a random defect line. The theory has a background field coupled to the field variables at the defect line, which renders the model non-integrable. However, as the background field is…
Graphs on surfaces is an active topic of pure mathematics belonging to graph theory. It has also been applied to physics and relates discrete and continuous mathematics. In this paper we present a formal mathematical description of the…
It was shown in [hep-th/0503009], in the context of bosonic theory that the IR singular terms that arise as a result of integrating out high momentum modes in nonplanar diagrams of noncommutative gauge theory can be recovered from low lying…
We analyze the behaviour of heterotic squashed-Wess-Zumino-Witten backgrounds under renormalization-group flow. The flows we consider are driven by perturbation creating extra gauge fluxes. We show how the conformal point acts as an…
We present a classical conformal field theory on an arbitrary two-dimensional spacetime background. The dynamical object is a space-filling string, and the evolution may be thought as occurring on the manifold of the conformal group. The…
We discuss the string theory on AdS_3. In the first half of this talk, we review the SL(2,R) and the SL(2,C)/SU(2) WZW models which describe the strings on the Lorentzian and Euclidean AdS_3 without RR backgrounds, respectively. An emphasis…