Related papers: Noncompact Coset Spaces in String Theory
We study string propagation in a spacetime with positive cosmological constant, which includes a circle whose radius approaches a finite value as |t|\to\infty, and goes to zero at t=0. Near this cosmological singularity, the spacetime looks…
String propagation on D-dimensional curved backgrounds with Lorentzian signature is formulated as a geometrical problem of embedding surfaces. When the spatial part of the background corresponds to a general WZW model for a compact group,…
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…
We start by giving a brief introduction to string theory with emphasis on the example of the bosonic string. In order to fully appreciate string theory it is necessary to study the dynamics of the surface that the string traces out when…
Within the framework of "anomalously gauged" Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) models, we construct solutions which include nonabelian fields. Both compact and noncompact groups are discussed. In the case of compact groups, as an example of…
A review of the applications of noncommutative geometry to a systematic formulation of duality symmetries in string theory is presented. The spectral triples associated with a lattice vertex operator algebra and the corresponding…
Duality groups as (spontaneously broken) gauge symmetries for toroidal backgrounds, and their role in ($\infty$-dimensional) underlying string gauge algebras are reviewed. For curved backgrounds, it is shown that there is a duality in the…
We investigate space-time supersymmetry in the WZW-like open superstring field theory, whose complete action was recently constructed. Starting from a natural space-time supersymmetry transformation at the linearized level, we construct a…
A homogeneous anisotropic four dimensional spacetime with Lorentzian signature is constructed from an ungauged WZW model based on a non-semisimple Lie group. The associated non-linear $\sigma $-model describes string propagation in an…
We study some of the novel properties of conformal field theories with noncompact target spaces as applied to string theory. Standard CFT results get corrected by boundary terms in the target space in a way consistent with the expected…
We describe how the presence of the antisymmetric tensor (torsion) on the world sheet action of string theory renders the size of the target space a gauge non invariant quantity. This generalizes the R <--> 1/R symmetry in which momenta and…
We illustrate the various ways in which the algebraic framework of noncommutative geometry naturally captures the short-distance spacetime properties of string theory. We describe the noncommutative spacetime constructed from a vertex…
We present a conformal field theory -- obtained from a gauged WZW model -- that describes a closed, inhomogeneous expanding and recollapsing universe in $3+1$ dimensions. A possible violation of cosmic censorship is avoided because the…
The SL(2,R) WZW model, one of the simplest models for strings propagating in curved space time, was believed to be non-unitary in the algebraic treatment involving affine current algebra. It is shown that this was an error that resulted…
In the matrix model approaches of string/M theories, one starts from a generic symmetry $gl(\infty)$ to reproduce the space-time manifold. In this paper, we consider the generalization in which the space-time manifold emerges from a gauge…
The structures in target space geometry that correspond to conformally invariant boundary conditions in WZW theories are determined both by studying the scattering of closed string states and by investigating the algebra of open string…
Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond type heterotic and type-II superstrings in four dimensional curved space-time are constructed as exact $N=1$ superconformal theories. The tachyon is eliminated with a GSO projection. The theory is based on the N=1…
We explore the possibility of string theories in only four spacetime dimensions without any additional compactified dimensions. We show that, provided the theory is defined in curved spacetime that has a cosmological interpration, it is…
We study string theory on the extended spacetime of the BTZ black hole, as described by an orbifold of the SL(2,R) WZW model. The full spacetime has an infinite number of disconnected boundary components, each corresponding to a dual CFT.…
We study worldsheet theory of confining strings in two-dimensional massive adjoint QCD. Similarly to confining strings in higher dimensions this theory exhibits a non-trivial $S$-matrix surviving even in the strict planar limit. In the…