Related papers: Bi-branes: Target Space Geometry for World Sheet t…
We discuss some general properties of "defect branes", i.e. branes of co-dimension two, in (toroidally compactified) IIA/IIB string theory. In particular, we give a full classification of the supersymmetric defect branes in dimensions 2 < D…
We introduce a new topological sigma model, whose fields are bundle maps from the tangent bundle of a 2-dimensional world-sheet to a Dirac subbundle of an exact Courant algebroid over a target manifold. It generalizes simultaneously the…
I review some properties of D-branes in the SU(2) and SL(2,R) WZW models. I comment on a potential difficulty for the realization of `warped brane worlds' in string theory. This short note is based on a talk given at the Strings'01…
We realize the CFT with target a lens space SU(2)/Z_l as a simple current construction. This allows us to compute the boundary states and the annuli coefficients, and in particular to study the B-type branes, in purely algebraic terms.…
D-branes on orbifolds with and without discrete torsion are analysed in a unified way using the boundary state formalism. For the example of the Z2 x Z2 orbifold it is found that both the theory with and without discrete torsion possess…
The Wess-Zumino coupling on D-branes in string theory is known to receive higher derivative corrections which couple the Ramond-Ramond potential to terms involving the square of the spacetime curvature tensor. Consistency with T-duality…
Studying the topological aspects of M-branes in M-theory leads to various structures related to Wu classes. First we interpret Wu classes themselves as twisted classes and then define twisted notions of Wu structures. These generalize many…
Given a double vector bundle $D\to M$, we define a bigraded `Weil algebra' $\mathcal{W}(D)$, which `realizes' the algebra of smooth functions on the supermanifold $D[1,1]$. We describe in detail the relations between the Weil algebras of…
In the twisted M-theory setting, various types of fusion of M2 and M5 branes induce coproducts between the algebra of operators on M2 branes and the algebra of operators on M5 branes. By doing a perturbative computation in the gravity side,…
We study non-invertible twisted compactification of class $\mathcal S$ theories on $S^1$: we insert a non-invertible symmetry defect at $S^1$ extending along remaining directions and then compactify on $S^1$. We show that the resulting 3d…
Horava--Witten M theory -- heterotic string duality poses special problems for the twisted sectors of heterotic orbifolds. In [1] we explained how in M theory the twisted states couple to gauge fields apparently living on M9 branes at both…
WZW models are abstract conformal field theories with an infinite dimensional symmetry which accounts for their integrability, and at the same time they have a sigma model description of closed string propagation on group manifolds which,…
For five-dimensional braneworlds with an $S_1/\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold topology for the extra dimension $x^5$, we discuss the validity of recent claims that a gauge exists where the two boundary branes lie at fixed positions and the metric…
This is the second in a series of papers dedicated to studying w-knots, and more generally, w-knotted objects (w-braids, w-tangles, etc.). These are classes of knotted objects that are wider but weaker than their "usual" counterparts. To…
We consider spaces of plane curves in the setting of algebraic geometry and of singularity theory. On one hand there are the complete linear systems, on the other we consider unfolding spaces of bivariate polynomials of Brieskorn-Pham type.…
We study conformal defects in two important examples of string theory orbifolds. First, we show that topological defects in the language of Landau-Ginzburg models carry information about the RG flow between the non-compact orbifolds…
In two-dimensional conformal field theory, we analyze conformally invariant boundary conditions which break part of the bulk symmetries. When the subalgebra that is preserved by the boundary conditions is the fixed algebra under the action…
We reformulate boundary conditions for axisymmetric codimension-2 braneworlds in a way which is applicable to linear perturbation with various gauge conditions. Our interest is in the thin brane limit and thus this scheme assumes that the…
We concentrate on a treatment of a Higgs-Coulomb duality as an absence of manifest phase transition between ordered and disordered phases of 2d $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ theories. We consider these examples of QFTs in the Schr\"odinger picture…
Given a smooth complex projective variety $M$ and a smooth closed curve $X \subset M$ such that the homomorphism of fundamental groups $\pi_1(X) \rightarrow \pi_1(M)$ is surjective, we study the restriction map of Higgs bundles, namely from…