Related papers: Can strings live in four dimensions?
We propose a world-sheet realization of the zigzag-invariant bosonic and fermionic strings as a perturbed Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten model at large negative level $k$ on a group manifold $G$ coupled to 2D gravity. In the large $k$ limit the…
We show that stable local cosmic strings are a generic prediction of supersymmetric models where supersymmetry is broken at scales within a few orders of magnitude of the weak scale and is fed down to the observable sector by gauge…
We make use of the formalism described in a previous paper [Martins {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. D90 (2014) 043518] to address general features of wiggly cosmic string evolution. In particular, we highlight the important role played by poorly…
We outline the construction of metastable de Sitter vacua of type IIB string theory. Our starting point is highly warped IIB compactifications with nontrivial NS and RR three-form fluxes. By incorporating known corrections to the…
In string gas cosmology, extra dimensions are stabilised by a gas of strings. In the matter-dominated era, competition between matter pushing the extra dimensions to expand and the string gas pulling them back can lead to oscillations of…
We examine gauge theories on Minkowski space-time times fuzzy coset spaces. This means that the extra space dimensions instead of being a continuous coset space S/R are a corresponding finite matrix approximation. The gauge theory defined…
Starting from the type IIB string on the Z orbifold, we construct some chiral open-string vacua with N=1 supersymmetry in four dimensions. The Chan-Paton group depends on the (quantized) NS-NS antisymmetric tensor. The largest choice,…
Is perturbative stability intimately tied with the existence of spacetime fermions in string theory in more than two dimensions? Type 0'B string theory in ten-dimensional flat space is a rare example of a non-tachyonic, non-supersymmetric…
String theories with two dimensional space-time target spaces are characterized by the existence of a ``ground ring'' of operators of spin $(0,0)$. By understanding this ring, one can understand the symmetries of the theory and illuminate…
There is evidence that string theory possesses a large discretuum of stable and/or metastable ground states, with zero or four supersymmetries in four dimensions. I discuss critically the nature of this evidence. Assuming this "landscape"…
We study the action of the BMS group in critical, bosonic string theory living on a target space of the form $\mathbb{M}^{d}\times C$. Here $M^{d}$ is $d$-dimensional (asymptotically) flat spacetime and $C$ is an arbitrary compactification.…
By promoting an invariant subgroup $H$ of $ISO(2,1)$ to a gauge symmetry of a WZWN action, we obtain the description of a bosonic string moving either in a curved 4-dimensional space--time with an axion field and curvature singularities or…
Brane-Universe model embedded in 6-dimensional space-time with the signature (2+4) is considered. A matter is gravitationally trapped in three space dimensions, but both time-like directions are open. Choosing of the dimension and the…
Aspects of string cosmology for critical and non-critical strings are discussed emphasizing the necessity to account for the dilaton dynamics for a proper incorporation of ``large - small" duality. This drastically modifies the intuition…
In gravitational theories with extra dimensions, it is argued that the existence of a positive vacuum energy generically implies catastrophic instability of our four-dimensional world. The most generic instability is a decompactification…
We suggest a conformally invariant generalization of string theory to higher-dimensional objects. As such a model, we consider a conformally invariant $\sigma$ model. For this theory, the Hamiltonian formalism is constructed, and the full…
We discuss the singularities in the moduli space of string compactifications to six dimensions with $N=1$ supersymmetry. Such singularities arise from either massless particles or non-critical tensionless strings. The points with…
The strong coupling dynamics of string theories in dimension $d\geq 4$ are studied. It is argued, among other things, that eleven-dimensional supergravity arises as a low energy limit of the ten-dimensional Type IIA superstring, and that a…
Four-dimensional spacetime, together with a natural generalisation to extra dimensions, is obtained through an analysis of the structures and symmetries deriving from possible arithmetic expressions for one-dimensional time. On taking the…
We study a recently discovered carrollian bosonic string, described classically by a sigma model where both the worldsheet and the target spacetime are carrollian. After fixing the carrollian analogue of the conformal gauge, we determine…