Related papers: On the Uniqueness of String Theory
In this lecture I make some educated guesses, about the landscape of string theory vacua. Based on the recent work of a number of authors, it seems plausible that the lanscape is unimaginably large and diverse. Whether we like it or not,…
A very quick introduction to the bosonic string, conformal field theory, the superstring and geometry. No background in quantum field theory is assumed and the omissions are vast. Based on four lectures at the 2024 Physical Mathematics of…
Using the reduced formulation of large-N Quantum Field Theories we study strings in space-time dimensions higher than one. Some preliminary results concerning the possible string susceptibilities and general properties of the model are…
We generalize the results of Polchinski and Strassler regarding the N=1-preserving mass deformation of N=4 SU(N) SYM theories and its string theory dual to SO(N) and USp(2N) gauge groups. The string theory duals involve 5-branes wrapped on…
We consider N=1 supersymmetric U(N), SO(N), and Sp(N) gauge theories, with two-index tensor matter and added tree-level superpotential, for general breaking patterns of the gauge group. By considering the string theory realization and…
We complete the proof of unitarity of (compactified) heterotic and type II string field theories by showing that in the cut diagrams only physical states appear in the sum over intermediate states. This analysis takes into account the…
In this work we review Schnabl's construction of the tachyon vacuum solution to bosonic covariant open string field theory and the results that followed. We survey the state of the art of string field theory research preceding this…
Recently Berkovits and Vafa have shown that the bosonic string can be viewed as the fermionic string propagating in a particular background. Such a background is described by a somewhat unusual $N=1$ superconformal system. By coupling it to…
String theory is the leading contemporary framework to explore the synthesis of quantum mechanics with gravity. String phenomenology aims to study string theory while maintaining contact with observational data. The fermionic $Z_2\times…
It is shown that non-supersymmetric spacetime varying string vacua can lead to an exponential hierarchy between the electroweak and the gravitational scales. The hierarchy is naturally generated by a string coupling of O(1).
This text is a review of aspects of supergravity theories that are relevant in superstring cosmology. In particular, it considers the possibilities and restrictions for `uplifting terms', i.e. methods to produce de Sitter vacua. We…
We demonstrate that the spectrum of any consistent string theory in $D$ dimensions must satisfy a number of supertrace constraints: $ Str~M^{2n}=0 $ for $0 \leq n < D/2-1$, integer $n$. These results hold for a large class of string…
A theory of closed bosonic string in time-like gauge, related in Lorentz-invariant way with the world sheet, is considered. Absence of quantum anomalies in this theory is shown.
With our current level of understanding, the problem of making string theory predictions is not one of "solving" the theory, but rather of trying to determine whether there are any generic expectations. Within this context, we discuss what…
We consider string theory in a time dependent orbifold with a null singularity. The singularity separates a contracting universe from an expanding universe, thus constituting a big crunch followed by a big bang. We quantize the theory both…
We construct bosonic string theories, RNS string theories and heterotic string theories on flat supermanifolds. For these string theories, we show cancellations of the central charges and modular invariance. Bosonic string theories on…
We investigate the connections between four-dimensional, N=2 M-theory vacua constructed as orbifolds of type II, heterotic, and type I strings. All these models have the same massless spectrum, which contains an equal number of vector…
The first part is an introduction to conformal field theory and string perturbation theory. The second part deals with the search for a deeper answer to the question posed in the title. Contents: 1. Conformal Field Theory 2. String Theory…
Using a classical action associated to a point-particle in (1+1)-dimensions the classical string theory is derived. In connection with this result two aspects are clarified: First, the point particle in (1+1)-dimensions is not an ordinary…
We review recent progress in embedding the supersymmetric standard model into string theory. We discuss how, with the incorporation of certain aspects of grand unification, a search strategy can be developed that allows to efficiently find…