Related papers: On Anomaly-free Supergravity as an Effective Strin…
This PhD thesis investigates several aspects of nonabelian higher gauge theories, which appear in many areas of physics, notably string theory and gauged supergravity. We show that nonabelian higher gauge theory admits a consistent…
We construct a ``pseudo-supersymmetric" fermionic extension of the effective action of the bosonic string in arbitrary spacetime dimension D. The theory is invariant under pseudo-supersymmetry transformations up to the quadratic fermion…
The untwisted moduli in four-dimensional fermionic string models are identified by considering world-sheet Abelian Thirring interactions. The full Kahler potentials of untwisted sector fields are given for a restricted class of models.
We study the effect of anomalous U(1) gauge groups in string theory compactification with fluxes. We find that, in a gauge invariant formulation, consistent AdS vacua appear breaking spontaneously supergravity. Non vanishing D-terms from…
Conformal invariance for bosonic strings in time-dependent backgrounds of graviton, dilaton and Kalb-Ramond field is obtained by imposing Weyl-beta functions to be homogeneous in time, to all orders in $\alpha^{'}$. This construction is…
We consider non-Abelian semilocal strings (vortices, or vortex-strings) arising in N=2 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory with Nf=N+\~N matter hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation (quarks), and a Fayet-Iliopoulos term {\xi}. We…
This Ph.D. thesis investigates effective field and string theories in which supersymmetry is realized and broken in various ways. Chapter 1 addresses effective theories with nonlinearly realized supersymmetry, constructed using the…
A number of supersymmetric Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity theories are known to be described (in the Euclidean path integral formulation) by double-scaled random matrix models. Such matrix models can be characterized using a certain…
The super-$\sigma$-model of dynamics of the super-charged loop in an ambient supermanifold in the presence of worldsheet defects of arbitrary topology is formalised within Gaw\c{e}dzki's higher-cohomological approach, drawing inspiration…
We study a string theory which is exclusively based on extrinsic curvature action. It is a tensionless string theory because the action reduces to perimeter for the flat Wilson loop. We are able to solve and quantize this high-derivative…
The chiral kinetic theory is derived from exact spinor mean field equations without symmetry-breaking terms for large classes of SU(2) systems with spin-orbit coupling. The influence of the Wigner function's off-diagonal elements is worked…
A Weyl invariant extension of Einstein gravity is studied. It simply consists in the group averaging of Einstein's action under Weyl transformations. Contradicting cherished beliefs, a conformal anomaly is found in the trace of the…
We study string theory in supersymmetric time-dependent backgrounds. In the framework of general relativity, supersymmetry for spacetimes without flux implies the existence of a covariantly constant null vector, and a relatively simple form…
In this paper we study the spectrum of all conformal, ${\cal N}$-extended supergravities (${\cal N}=1,2,3,4$) in four space-time dimensions. When these theories are obtained as massless limit of Einstein plus Weyl$^2$supergravity, the…
We prove a formula for the global gravitational anomaly of the self-dual field theory in the presence of background gauge fields, assuming the results of arXiv:1110.4639. Along the way, we also clarify various points about the self-dual…
Duality symmetries for strings moving in non-trivial spacetime backgrounds are analysed. It is shown that, for backgrounds generated from compact WZW and coset models, such duality symmetries are exact to all orders in string perturbation…
This thesis is almost entirely devoted to studying string theory backgrounds characterized by simple geometrical and integrability properties. The archetype of this type of system is given by Wess-Zumino-Witten models, describing string…
We describe an effective theory of a scalar field, motivated by some features expected in the low energy theory of gluodynamics in 3+1 dimensions. The theory describes two propagating massless particles in a certain limit, which we identify…
We consider "super no-scale models" in the framework of the heterotic string, where the N=4,2,1 --> 0 spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry is induced by geometrical fluxes realizing a stringy Scherk-Schwarz perturbative mechanism.…
The finite form of the $N=2$ super-Weyl transformations in the chiral and twisted-chiral irreducible formulations of the two-dimensional $N=2$ superfield supergravity are found in $N=2$ superspace. The super-Weyl anomaly of the $N=2$…