Related papers: String and Fivebrane Solitons: Singular or Non-sin…
Exact solutions of N=2 supergravity in five dimensions are found in the metric with cylindrical symmetry, a particular case corresponds to the exterior of a cosmic string.
We study the problem of stationary bi-axially symmetric solutions of the $5$-dimensional minimal supergravity equations. Essentially all possible solutions with nondegenerate horizons are produced, having the allowed horizon cross-sectional…
We study seven-brane SU(5) GUT models of string phenomenology which can be consistently analyzed in a purely local framework. The requirement that gravity can decouple constrains the form of four-dimensional physics as well as the geometry…
In these lectures I discuss the possibility that superstrings of cosmic length might exist and be observable. I first review the original idea of cosmic strings arising as gauge theory solitons, and discuss in particular their network…
The gauge/gravity duality conjecture claims the equivalence between gauge theory and superstring/M-theory. In particular, the one-dimensional gauge theory of D0-branes and type IIA string theory should agree on properties of hot black…
Superstring theory is one current, promising attempt at unifying gravity with the other three known forces: the electromagnetic force, and the weak and strong nuclear forces. Though this is still a work in progress, much effort has been put…
A stability analysis is made in the context of the previously discovered non-singular cosmological solution from 1-loop corrected superstring effective action. We found that this solution has an instability in graviton mode, which is shown…
We perform here a critical analysis of some non-supersymmetric gravity solutions in Type 0B string theory. We first consider the most general configuration of parallel N electric and M magnetic D3-branes. The field theory living on their…
The conical singularity in flat spacetime is mostly known as a model of the cosmic string or the wedge disclination in solids. Its another, equally important, function is to be a representative of quasiregular singularities. From all these…
We show how a solitonic ``magnetically'' charged $p$-brane solution of a given supergravity theory, with the magnetic charge carried by an antisymmetric tensor gauge field, can be generalized to a dyonic solution. We discuss the cases of…
Unlike the Schwarzschild black string in the Randall-Sundrum scenario which is known to have the geodesics reaching the AdS-horizon terminating there, the D=7 extremal BPS selfdual string of N=2 gauged supergravity potentially differs from…
Standard dilatonic supergravity $p$-branes have scalar charges that are not independent parameters, but are determined by the brane tension and Page charges. This feature can be traced to the no-hair theorem in the four-dimensional…
Recently, Kim, Shiu and Vafa proposed general consistency conditions for six dimensional supergravity theories with minimal supersymmetry coming from couplings to strings. We test them in explicit perturbative orientifold models in order to…
We find the gravity solution corresponding to a large number of NS or D fivebranes wrapped on a two sphere so that we have pure ${\cal N}=1$ super Yang-Mills in the IR. The supergravity solution is smooth, it shows confinement and it breaks…
In a universe whose elementary constituents are point particles there does not seem to be any obvious mechanism for avoiding the initial singularities in physical quantities in the standard model of cosmology. In contrast in string theory…
We consider a low energy effective theory of $p$-branes in a $D$-dimensional spacetime, and impose two conditions: 1) the theory is scale invariant, and 2) the electric-magnetic dual $(D-p-4)$-branes exist and they obey the same type of…
Superunification underwent a major paradigm shift in 1984 when eleven-dimensional supergravity was knocked off its pedestal by ten-dimensional superstrings. This last year has witnessed a new shift of equal proportions: perturbative…
We demonstrate that the commonly known concept, which treats solitons as nonsingular solutions produced by the interplay of nonlinear self-attraction and linear dispersion, may be extended to include modes with a relatively weak singularity…
The purpose of the present thesis is to give a self-contained review of the solvable Lie algebra approach to supergravity problems related with S, T and U dualities. After recalling the general features of dualities in both Superstring…
We investigate the cosmological constraints on exotic stable matter states which arise in realistic free fermionic superstring models. These states appear in the superstring models due to a ``Wilson--line'' breaking of the unifying…