Related papers: A Comment on Duality Transformations and (Discrete…
We extend earlier ideas about the appearance of noncommutative geometry in string theory with a nonzero B-field. We identify a limit in which the entire string dynamics is described by a minimally coupled (supersymmetric) gauge theory on a…
The focus of the present thesis is on the analysis of gauge symmetry and its various impacts on gauge theories. In the first part of this thesis, we have studied different aspects of symmetries in connection with various field and string…
We review the status of duality symmetries in superstring theories. These discrete symmetries mark the striking differences between theories of pointlike objects and theories of extended objects. They prove to be very helpful in…
We consider discrete gauge symmetries in D dimensions arising as remnants of broken continuous gauge symmetries carried by general antisymmetric tensor fields, rather than by standard 1-forms. The lagrangian for such a general ${\bf Z}_p$…
We investigate the electromagnetic duality properties of an abelian gauge theory on a compact oriented four-manifold by analysing the behaviour of a generalised partition function under modular transformations of the dimensionless coupling…
We examine T-duality transformations for supersymmetric strings with target space geometry with compact abelian isometries. We consider the partition function of these models and we show that although T-duality is not a symmetry, due to an…
We construct several examples where duality transformation commutes with the orbifolding procedure even when the orbifolding group does not act freely, and there are massless states from the twisted sector at a generic point in the moduli…
We develop a systematic method of obtaining duality symmetric actions in different dimensions. This technique is applied for the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator, the scalar field theory in two dimensions and the Maxwell theory in…
In four dimensions, partially massless fields of all spins and depths possess a duality invariance akin to electric-magnetic duality. We construct metric-like gauge invariant curvature tensors for partially massless fields of all integer…
String theories should reduce to ordinary four-dimensional field theories at low energies. Yet the formulation of the two are so different that such a connection, if it exists, is not immediately obvious. With the Schwinger proper-time…
Target space duality transformations are considered for bosonic sigma models and strings away from RG fixed points. A set of consistency conditions are derived, and are seen to be nontrivially satisfied at one-loop order for arbitrary…
We use freely acting asymmetric orbifolds of type IIB string theory to construct a class of theories in four dimensions with eight supercharges. Their low energy effective field theories resemble $STU$ models, but have different duality…
We extend the duality between massive and topologically massive antisymmetric tensor gauge theories in arbitrary space-time dimensions to include topological defects. We show explicitly that the condensation of these defects leads, in 4…
We investigate the subset of exactly solvable (0,4) world sheet supersymmetric string vacua contained in a recent class of Gepner-like (0,2) superconformal models. The identification of these models with certain points of enhanced gauge…
We describe topological gauge theories for which duality properties are encoded by construction. We study them for compact manifolds of dimensions four, eight and two. The fields and their duals are treated symmetrically, within the context…
We study a class of duality transformations in generalised Z(2) gauge theories and Ising models on two- and three-dimensional compact lattices. The theories are interpreted algebraically in terms of the structure constants of a…
Gravity duals for little string theories --- which give rise to four-dimensional theories that undergo permanent confinement in the infrared --- have not been studied in great detail. We address this question in the framework of heterotic…
It has recently been proposed that certain nonsupersymmetric type II orbifolds have vanishing perturbative contributions to the cosmological constant. We show that techniques of Sen and Vafa allow one to construct dual type II descriptions…
We study a class of four-dimensional N=1 heterotic string theories which have nontrivial quantum dynamics arising from asymptotically free gauge groups. These models are obtained by orbifolding 4d N=2 heterotic/type II dual pairs by…
Talk given at the 26th Workshop: ``From Superstrings to Supergravity" Erice - Sicily, 5-12 December 1992: In this talk we discuss string consistency requirements on four dimensional string models, namely the cancellation of target space…