Related papers: Supercritical stability, transitions and (pseudo)t…
We construct a new model of four-dimensional relativistic strings with integrable dynamics on the worldsheet. In addition to translational modes this model contains a single massless pseudoscalar worldsheet field - the worldsheet axion. The…
We consider linear cosmological perturbations on the background of a D-brane gas in which the compact dimensions and the dilaton are stabilized. We focus on long wavelength fluctuations and find that there are no instabilities. In…
We show that a tachyon condensate phase replaces the spacelike singularity in certain cosmological and black hole spacetimes in string theory. We analyze explicitly a set of examples with flat spatial slices in various dimensions which have…
We study the possibility of spontaneous CP violation in string models with the dilaton field stabilized at a phenomenologically acceptable value. We consider three mechanisms to stabilize the dilaton: multiple gaugino condensates, a…
We study a class of UV-complete, strongly coupled, confining three-dimensional field theories, that exhibit a novel stabilisation mechanism for the mass of the lightest scalar composite state, relying on the existence of a critical point.…
We discuss the fate of certain tachyonic closed string theories from two perspectives. In both cases our approach involves studying directly configurations with finite negative tree-level cosmological constant. Closed string analogues of…
Dilaton contact terms in the bosonic and heterotic strings are examined following the recent work of Distler and Nelson on the bosonic and semirigid strings. In the bosonic case dilaton two-point functions on the sphere are calculated as a…
We revisit the possibility of de Sitter vacua and slow-roll inflation in type II string theory at the level of the classical two-derivative supergravity approximation. Previous attempts at explicit constructions were plagued by ubiquitous…
It is well-known that a hypothetical particle which moves faster than the light, a \emph{tachyon}, is unstable in the Minkowski space-time. Here we shall show that, contrary to the Minkowski case, the tachyon is stable in the rotating…
If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of $M$-theory. We discuss some…
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 construct a new class of exact and stable superstring solutions based on $N=4$ superconformal world-sheet symmetry. In a subclass of these, the full spectrum of string excitations is derived in a modular-invariant way. In the weak…
We study the phenomenology of superheavy decaying dark matter with mass around $10^{10}$ GeV which can arise in the low-energy limit of string compactifications. Generic features of string theory setups (such as high scale supersymmetry…
Superconducting cosmic strings can exhibit longitudinal, pinching instabilities in some regions of the parameter space. We make predictions about the onset of this instability using the thin string approximation (TSA) and develop an…
This talk begins with some history and basic facts about string theory and its connections with strong interactions. Comparisons of stacks of Dirichlet branes with curved backgrounds produced by them are used to motivate the AdS/CFT…
We study IIA/B string theory compactified on twisted circles. These models possess closed string tachyons and reduce to type 0B/A theory in a special limit. Using methods of gauged linear sigma models and mirror symmetry we construct a…
We discuss how to describe time-dependent phenomena in string theory like the decay of unstable D-branes with the help of the world-sheet formulation. It is shown in a nontrivial well-controlled example that the coupling of the tachyons to…
For a class of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker type string solutions with compact hyperbolic spatial slices formulated in critical dimension, we find the world sheet conformal field theory which involves the linear dilaton and Wess-Zumino-Witten…
We investigate the problem of derivation of consistent equations of motion for the massive spin 2 field interacting with gravity within both field theory and string theory. In field theory we derive the most general classical action with…
We study the effect of higher-curvature terms in the string low-energy effective actions on the cosmological solutions of the theory, up to corrections quartic in the curvatures, for the bosonic and heterotic strings as well as the type II…