Related papers: pp Wave Big Bangs: Matrix Strings and Shrinking Fu…

Recently, Berenstein et al. have proposed a duality between a sector of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory with large R-charge J, and string theory in a pp-wave background. In the limit considered, the effective 't Hooft coupling has been argued…

Key issues of classical and quantum strings in gravitational plane waves, shock waves and spacetime singularities are synthetically understood. This includes the string mass and mode number excitations, energy-momentum tensor, scattering…

We solve the tensionless string in a constant plane wave background and obtain a hugely degenerate spectrum. This is the case for a large class of plane wave backgrounds. We show that the solution can also be derived as a consistent limit…

We uncover a remarkable role that an infinite hierarchy of non-linear differential equations plays in organizing and connecting certain {hat c}<1 string theories non-perturbatively. We are able to embed the type 0A and 0B (A,A) minimal…

This talk considers possible lessons of string theory for low energy physics. These are of two types. First, assuming that string theory is the correct underlying theory of all interactions, we ask whether there are any generic predictions…

We consider massless string scattering amplitudes in a limit where the number of external particles becomes very large, while the energy of each particle remains small. Using the growth of the volume of the relevant moduli space, and by…

Four-particle tree-level scattering amplitudes in string theory are magically consistent with unitarity, reflected in the non-trivial fact that beneath the critical dimension, the residues of the amplitudes on massive poles can be expanded…

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,…

This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concepts of string theory and its impact on particle physics. The point of departure is a historical review of four decades of string theory within the broader context of six decades of…

String theory has been claimed to give rise to natural fuzzy dark matter candidates in the form of ultralight axions. In this paper we revisit this claim by a detailed study of how moduli stabilisation affects the masses and decay constants…

The BMN Matrix model can be regarded as a theory of coincident M-theory gravitons, which expand by Myers dielectric effect into the 2-sphere and 5-sphere giant graviton vacua of the theory. In this note we show that, in the same fashion,…

We use a combination of a 't Hooft limit and numerical methods to find non-perturbative solutions of exactly solvable string theories, showing that perturbative solutions in different asymptotic regimes are connected by smooth interpolating…

We consider, in a string theory framework, physical processes of phenomenological interest in models with a low string scale. The amplitudes we study involve tree-level virtual gravitational exchange, divergent in a field-theoretical…

At its very beginning, the universe is believed to have grown exponentially in size via the mechanism of inflation. The almost scale-invariant density perturbation spectrum predicted by inflation is strongly supported by cosmological…

In string theory, black holes are expected to transition into string stars as their Hawking temperatures approach the Hagedorn temperature. We study string stars and their phase transitions in the Euclidean spacetime…

Via compactification on a circle, the matrix model of M-theory proposed by Banks et al suggests a concrete identification between the large N limit of two-dimensional N=8 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and type IIA string theory. In this…

The pp-wave/SYM correspondence is an equivalence relation, H_{string}= Delta -J, between the Hamiltonian H_{string} of string field theory in the pp-wave background and the dilatation operator Delta in N=4 Super Yang-Mills in the double…

We consider one of the simplest time-dependent backgrounds in M-theory, describing the shrinking away of the M-theory dimension with the other spatial dimensions static. As the M-theory dimension becomes small, the situation becomes…

We prove the global existence of smooth solution to the relativistic string equation in a class of data that is not small. Our solution admits the feature that the right-travelling wave can be large and the left-travelling wave is…

Type II string theory and M-theory admit flux configurations that break supersymmetry below the Kaluza-Klein scale. These backgrounds play a central role in most models of the string landscape. I argue that the behavior of such backgrounds…