Related papers: pp Wave Big Bangs: Matrix Strings and Shrinking Fu…
The behaviour of matrix string theory in the background of a type IIA pp wave at small string coupling, g_s << 1, is determined by the combination M g_s where M is a dimensionless parameter proportional to the strength of the Ramond-Ramond…
We construct Matrix Membrane theory in pp wave backgrounds that have a null linear dilaton in Type IIB string theory. Such backgrounds can serve as toy models of big bang cosmologies. At late times only abelian degrees of freedom survive,…
After a brief review on Matrix String Theory on flat backgrounds, we formulate matrix string models on different pp-wave backgrounds. This will be done both in the case of constant and variable RR background flux for certain exact string…
We formulate matrix models for strings in ten dimensional pp-wave backgrounds and for particles in eleven dimensional ones. This is done by first characterizing the deformations of ten dimensional {\cal N}=1 SYM which are induced by a…
A class of time dependent pp-waves with NS-NS flux in type IIA string theory is considered. The background preserves 1/4 supersymmetry and may provide a toy model of Big Bang cosmology with non trivial flux. At the Big Bang singularity in…
We explain how the string spectrum in flat space and pp-waves arises from the large $N$ limit, at fixed $g^2_{YM}$, of U(N) ${\cal N} =4$ super Yang Mills. We reproduce the spectrum by summing a subset of the planar Feynman diagrams. We…
In string theory, the traditional picture of a Universe that emerges from the inflation of a very small and highly curved space-time patch is a possibility, not a necessity: quite different initial conditions are possible, and not…
The light-like linear dilaton background represents a particularly simple time-dependent 1/2 BPS solution of critical type IIA superstring theory in ten dimensions. Its lift to M-theory, as well as its Einstein frame metric, are singular in…
Important open questions in cosmology require a better understanding of the Big Bang singularity. In string and matrix theories, light-like analogues of cosmological singularities (singular plane wave backgrounds) turn out to be…
The most general parallelizable pp-wave backgrounds which are non-dilatonic solutions in the NS-NS sector of type IIA and IIB string theories are considered. We demonstrate that parallelizable pp-wave backgrounds are necessarily homogeneous…
Following the holographic description of linear dilaton null Cosmologies with a Big Bang in terms of Matrix String Theory put forward by Craps, Sethi and Verlinde, we propose an extended background describing a Universe including both Big…
These proceedings are based on lectures delivered at the "RTN Winter School on Strings, Supergravity and Gauge Theories", CERN, January 16 - January 20, 2006. The school was mainly aimed at Ph.D. students and young postdocs. The lectures…
In this article we construct a tiny graviton matrix model for type IIB string theory on a plane-wave background with null dilaton. For the linear null dilaton case, we analyze its vacuum and the excitation spectrum around the vacuum, and…
We construct colliding plane wave solutions in higher dimensional gravity theory with dilaton and higher form flux, which appears naturally in the low energy theory of string theory. Especially, the role of the junction condition in…
We suggest that by virtue of the very early processes immediately following the big bang incipient 1st generation particles are created forming periodic strings to confine the quarks. These strings may be described either by the Laplace…
We consider a model of static cosmic string loops in type IIB string theory, where the strings wrap cycles within the internal space. The strings are not topologically stabilised, however the presence of a lifting potential traps the…
We consider string theory in a time dependent orbifold with a null singularity. The singularity separates a contracting universe from an expanding universe, thus constituting a big crunch followed by a big bang. We quantize the theory both…
We construct two new classes of exact solutions to string theory which are not of the standard plane wave or gauged WZW type. Many of these solutions have curvature singularities. The first class includes the fundamental string solution,…
We study a class of classical dilaton vacua in string theory that depend on the light-cone variable $z=t\pm x$ and, thus, have wavelike behavior. One of the interesting results is the existence of a solution subclass with perfectly regular…
We consider the evolution of circular string loops in power law expanding universes represented by a spatially flat Friedman-Robertson-Walker metric with scale factor $a(t)\propto t^p$ where $t$ is the cosmic time and $p\geq 0$. Our main…