Related papers: On tachyons, gauged linear sigma models, and flip …
We discuss condensations of closed string tachyons localized in compact spaces. Time evolution of an on-shell condensation is naturally related to the worldsheet RG flow. Some explicit tachyonic compactifications of Type II string theory is…
We consider closed string tachyons localized at the fixed points of noncompact nonsupersymmetric orbifolds. We argue that tachyon condensation drives these orbifolds to flat space or supersymmetric ALE spaces. The decay proceeds via an…
We consider bulk tachyon condensations in a non-linear sigma model whose low energy effective theory contains a nontrivial scalar potential. We argue that one would typically encounter a strong coupling background along a RG flow…
The condensation of closed string tachyons localized at the fixed point of a C^d/\Gamma orbifold can be studied in the framework of renormalization group flow in a gauged linear sigma model. The evolution of the Higgs branch along the flow…
A class of non-supersymmetric string backgrounds can be constructed using twists that involve space-time fermion parity. We propose a non-perturbative definition of string theory in these backgrounds via gauge theories with supersymmetry…
These notes are an expanded version of a review lecture on closed string tachyon condensation at the RTN workshop in Copenhagen in September 2003. We begin with a lightning review of open string tachyon condensation, and then proceed to…
We study closed string tachyon condensation using the RG flow of the worldsheet theory. In many cases the worldsheet theory enjoys N=2 supersymmetry, which provides analytic control over the flow, due to non-renormalization theorems.…
The c=1 matrix model, with or without a type 0 hat, has an exact quantum solution corresponding to closed string tachyon condensation along a null surface. The condensation occurs, and spacetime dissolves, at a finite retarded time on I^+.…
Over the past three decades, considerable effort has been devoted to studying the rich and diverse phenomenologies of heterotic strings exhibiting spacetime supersymmetry. Unfortunately, during this same period, there has been relatively…
The spacetime physics of bulk closed string tachyon condensation is studied at the level of a two-derivative effective action. We derive the unique perturbative tachyon potential consistent with a full class of linearized tachyonic…
Motivated by the recent interest in the criticality of open quantum many-body systems, we study nonlinear sigma models with complexified couplings as a general framework for nonunitary field theory. Applying the perturbative…
We investigate orbifold and smooth Calabi-Yau compactifications of the non-supersymmetric heterotic SO(16)xSO(16) string. We focus on such Calabi-Yau backgrounds in order to recycle commonly employed techniques, like index theorems and…
Models of closed superstrings in certain curved NS-NS magnetic flux backgrounds are exactly solvable in terms of free fields. They interpolate between free superstring theories with periodic and antiperiodic boundary conditions for fermions…
We study classical solutions of a low energy effective theory of a string theory with tachyons. With a certain ansatz, we obtain all possible solutions which are weakly coupled and weakly curved. We find, in addition to the interpolating…
We determine generalized symmetries for 4D theories engineered via type II strings on non-supersymmetric orbifold backgrounds $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times \mathbb{R}^6 / \Gamma$. Probe branes detect generalized symmetries via the adjacency…
We discuss tachyon-free examples of (Type IIB on) non-compact non-supersymmetric orbifolds. Tachyons are projected out by discrete torsion between orbifold twists, while supersymmetry is broken by a Scherk-Schwarz phase (+1/-1 when acting…
The worldsheet renormalization group approach to tachyon condensation in string theory is reviewed. The open string case is summarized with examples, and closed string tachyon condensation on nonsupersymmetric orbifolds is examined in…
We conjecture that the end point of bulk closed string tachyon decay at any non-zero coupling, is the annihilation of space time by Witten's bubble of nothing, resulting in a topological phase of the theory. In support of this we present a…
We find that tachyonic orbifold examples of AdS/CFT have corresponding instabilities at small radius, and can decay to more generic gauge theories. We do this by computing a destabilizing Coleman-Weinberg effective potential for twisted…
We use the crosscap constraint to construct open descendants of the 0B string compactified on $T^6 /Z_3$ and on $T^4/Z_2$ free of tachyons both in the closed and in the open unoriented sectors. In four dimensions the construction results in…