Related papers: Dynamical Topology Change, Compactification and Wa…
Positive vacuum energy together with extra dimensions of space imply that our four-dimensional Universe is unstable, generically to decompactification of the extra dimensions. Either quantum tunneling or thermal fluctuations carry one past…
We construct flux-stabilised IIB compactifications whose extra dimensions (EDs) have very different sizes, and use these to describe several vacua with a TeV string scale. Because we can access regimes where 2 dimensions are hierarchically…
Warped compactifications with branes provide a new approach to the hierarchy problem and generate a diversity of four-dimensional thresholds. We investigate the relationships between these scales, which fall into two classes. Geometrical…
We develop a string-motivated dynamical Gauss--Bonnet completion of Starobinsky inflation. Since a constant Gauss--Bonnet term is topological in four dimensions, observable effects must arise from a modulus, dilaton, or compactification…
Aspects of superstring cosmology are reviewed with an emphasis on the cosmological implications of duality symmetries in the theory. The string effective actions are summarized and toroidal compactification to four dimensions reviewed.…
In recent years it has been realized that in string/$M$ theories compactified to four dimensions which satisfy cosmological constraints, it is possible to make some generic predictions for particle physics and dark matter: a non-thermal…
Recent developments in string theory have important implications for cosmology. Topics discussed here are inflation, the cosmological constant, smoothing of cosmological singularities, and dark matter from parallel universes. Talk presented…
String theory is canonically accompanied with a space-time interpretation which determines S-matrix-like observables, and connects to the standard physics at low energies in the guise of local effective field theory. Recently, we have…
We study D-branes on three-dimensional orbifold backgrounds that admit topologically distinct resolutions differing by flop transitions. We show that these distinct phases are part of the vacuum moduli space of the super Yang-Mills gauge…
We study the cosmological evolution of the volume moduli in a class of recently proposed Inflationary Universe models arising out of Type IIB string theory, where a number of the moduli fields have been stabilised through flux…
A four-dimensional universe, arising from a flux compactification of Type IIB string theory, contains scalar fields with a potential determined by topological and geometric parameters of the internal -hidden- dimensions. We show that…
If string theory controls physics at the string scale, the dynamics of the early universe before the GUT era will be governed by the low-energy string equations of motion. Studying these equations for FRW spacetimes, we find that depending…
In this contribution to the proceedings of the Conference on Modern Physics of Compact Stars and Relativistic Gravity in Yerevan, Armenia (September 18-21, 2013), I review recent work attempting to give a fundamental definition to string…
We study the topological string on local P2 with O-plane and D-brane at its real locus, using three complementary techniques. In the A-model, we refine localization on the moduli space of maps with respect to the torus action preserved by…
The role of topology change in a fundamental theory of quantum gravity is still a matter of debate. However, when regarding string theory as two-dimensional quantum gravity, topological fluctuations are essential. Here we present a third…
The complete set of solutions of two dimensional classical string theory are constructed for any curved spacetime. They describe folded strings moving in curved spacetime. Surprizing stringy behavior becomes evident at singularities such as…
We study the process of compactification as a topology change. It is shown how the mediating spacetime topology, or cobordism, may be simplified through surgery. Within the causal Lorentzian approach to quantum gravity, it is shown that any…
We extend the analysis of the recently obtained stringy cosmological solutions induced by thermal and quantum effects, once space-time supersymmetry is spontaneously broken by geometrical fluxes. Cases in which more than one modulus…
The motion of and interaction between phase singularities that anchor spiral waves captures many qualitative and, in some cases, quantitative features of complex dynamics in excitable systems. Being able to accurately reconstruct their…
We construct stringy cosmic string solutions corresponding to compactifications of F-theory on several elliptic Calabi-Yau manifolds by solving the equations of motion of low energy effective action of ten dimensional type IIB superstring…