Related papers: Corfu 05 lectures - part I: Strings on curved back…
We study the dynamics of strings by means of a distribution function f(A, B, x, t) defined on a 9+1D phase space, where A and B are the correlation vectors of right- and left-moving waves. We derive a transport equation (an analogous to…
This work is devoted to a study of some of the non-perturbative aspects of superstring theory that have come within reach thanks to dualities. The first chapter gives a non-technical zero-equation introduction to these developments intended…
Using our previous construction of Eisenstein-like automorphic forms we derive formulae for the perturbative and non-perturbative parts for any group and representation. The result is written in terms of the weights of the representation…
In these lectures I review recent attempts to apply string theory to cosmology, including string cosmology and various models of brane cosmology. In addition, the review includes an introduction to inflation as well as a discussion of…
This review provides an introduction to non-geometric backgrounds in string theory. Starting from a discussion of T-duality, geometric and non-geometric torus-fibrations are reviewed, generalised geometry and its relation to non-geometric…
An analysis of a special class of type II string theory compactifications is presented. We focus on recent work in one particular orientifold background of intersecting brane models and the resulting four dimensional gauge group and matter…
Much has been learned about string theory over the last few years by studying properties of cycles and branes in a given background geometry. Here we discuss three situations (quantum volume, attractor flows/D-brane stability, and dynamical…
This article reviews the non-perturbative structure of certain higher derivative terms in the type II string theory effective action and their connection to one-loop effects in eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on a torus. New…
1. Preliminaries. 2. Heterotic string and motivations for large volume compactifications; 2.1 Gauge coupling unification; 2.2 Supersymmetry breaking by compactification. 3. M-theory on S^1/Z_2 \times Calabi-Yau. 4. Type I/I' string theory…
A brief review of the status of duality symmetries in string theory is presented. The evidence is accumulating rapidly that an enormous group of duality symmetries, including perturbative T dualities and non-perturbative S-dualities,…
We advocate a framework for constructing perturbative closed string compactifications which do not have large-radius limits. The idea is to augment the class of vacua which can be described as fibrations by enlarging the monodromy group…
We provide a qualitative review of flux compactifications of string theory, focusing on broad physical implications and statistical methods of analysis.
These lecture notes provide a pedagogical introduction, with exercises, to the techniques used in attempts to construct vacua with stabilised moduli in string theory. The reader is only assumed to have a basic knowledge of general…
This is a short account, based on a talk given at the 2024 Moriond Cosmology Conference, of where and why string theory matters in early universe cosmology. It is written for a cosmology audience predisposed to be at best sceptical, and at…
Much of the recent progress in String Theory can be traced to a precise strategy: a careful study of the few models known since the beginnings of the subject, and the abstraction from them of basic properties that one would like to demand…
In addition to being a prime candidate for a fundamental unified theory of all interactions in nature, string theory provides a natural setting to understand gauge field theories. This is linked to the concept of "D-branes": extended,…
An overview is presented of some cosmological aspects of string theory. Recent developments are emphasised, especially the attempts to derive inflation or alternatives to inflation from the dynamics of branes in string theory. Time…
In these lectures we present a few topics in Quantum Field Theory in detail. Some of them are conceptual and some more practical. They have been selected because they appear frequently in current applications to Particle Physics and String…
We study semiclassical strings in the near horizon geometry of certain curved branes. We investigate the rigidly rotating strings in the near horizon geometry of NS5-branes wrapped on AdS3 x S3 and in the presence of background NS-NS flux.…
Input from QCD and string theory is used in order to elucidate basic features of the string theory dual of QCD, It is argued that the relevant string theory is a five-dimensional version of the type-0 superstring. The vacuum solution is…