Related papers: Three-Dimensional Gravity and String Ghosts
Currently, string theory represents the only advanced approach to a unification of all interactions, including gravity. In spite of the more than thirty years of its existence it did not make any empirically testable predictions. And it is…
In many cases the symmetry structure of quantum field theories can be neatly encoded into their associated symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT), a topological field theory in one dimension higher. For geometrically engineered QFTs in…
We study the possibility of obtaining noncommutative gravity dynamics from string theory in the Seiberg-Witten limit. We find that the resulting low-energy theory contains more interaction terms than those proposed in noncommutative…
The gauge symmetries that underlie string theory arise from inner automorphisms of the algebra of observables of the associated conformal field theory. In this way it is possible to study broken and unbroken symmetries on the same footing,…
This elementary introduction to string field theory highlights the features and the limitations of this approach to quantum gravity as it is currently understood. String field theory is a formulation of string theory as a field theory in…
In an on-shell conformal field theory approach, we find indications of a three-bracket structure for target space coordinates in general closed string backgrounds. This generalizes the appearance of noncommutative gauge theories for open…
Four-dimensional Einstein gravity in the Palatini first order formalism is shown to possess a vector supersymmetry of the same type as found in the topological theories for Yang-Mills fields. A peculiar feature of the gravitational theory,…
The primary object of this paper is to prove the conjecture of the authors from a previous paper, explaining how to recover the weak dimension of a ring from its derived category. In the process, we develop a theory of weak dimension, which…
The implications of string theory for understanding the dimension of uncompactified spacetime are investigated. Using recent ideas in string cosmology, a new model is proposed to explain why three spatial dimensions grew large. Unlike the…
We analyze topological string theory on a two dimensional torus, focusing on symmetries in the matter sector. Even before coupling to gravity, the topological torus has an infinite number of point-like physical observables, which give rise…
The search for a theory of quantum gravity faces two great challenges: the incredibly small scales of the Planck length and time, and the possibility that the observed constants of nature are in part the result of random processes. A…
It is well known that string theory can be formulated as two dimensional gravity coupled to matter. In the 2d gravity formulation the central charge of the matter together with a hidden dimension from the conformal factor or Liouville mode…
String theory is a quantum theory that reproduces the results of General Relativity at long distances but is completely different at short distances. Mathematically, string theory is based on a very new -- and little understood -- framework…
Multigravity theories are constructed from the discretization of the extra dimension of five dimensional gravity. Using an ADM decomposition, the discretization is performed while maintaining the four dimensional diffeomorphism invariance…
We present an overview of the intimate relationship between string and D-brane dynamics, and the dynamics of gauge and gravitational fields in three spacetime dimensions. The successes, prospects and open problems in describing both…
In this paper, we examine the analogy between topological string theory and equivariant cohomology. We also show that the equivariant cohomology of a topological conformal field theory carries a certain algebraic structure, which we call a…
Point particles fall freely along geodesics; strings do not. In string theory all probes of spacetime structure, including photons, are extended objects and therefore always subject to tidal forces. We illustrate how string theory modifies…
Three-dimensional gravity coupled to pressureless dust is a field theory with one local degree of freedom. In the canonical framework, the dust-time gauge encodes this physical degree of freedom as a metric function. We find that the…
It is shown how to sew string vertices with ghosts at tree level in order to produce new tree vertices using the Group Theoretic approach to String Theory. It is then verified the BRST invariance of the sewn vertex and shown that it has the…
It is hoped that these lectures will give a point of entry into that vast web of related ideas that go under the name "string theory". I start with a more or less qualitative introduction to gravity as a field theory and sketch how one…