Related papers: ``N=4: A Unifying Framework for 2d Topological Gra…
(Talk given at Strings '93, Berkeley, and at XXVII. Internationales Symposium \"uber Elementarteilchentheorie, Wendisch-Rietz, 1993) We review the superconformal properties of matter coupled to $2d$ gravity, and $W$-extensions thereof. We…
We explore some aspects of 4D supergravity theories and F-theory vacua that are parallel to structures in the space of 6D theories. The spectrum and topological terms in 4D supergravity theories correspond to topological data of F-theory…
Based on the observation that the dimension of the tangent space is not necessarily equal to the dimension of the corresponding curved manifold and on the known fact that gravitational theories can be formulated in a gauge theoretic way, we…
The $\mathscr{N}=2^*$ supersymmetric gauge theory is a massive deformation of $\mathscr{N}=4$, in which the adjoint hypermultiplet gets a mass. We present a D-brane realisation of the (non-)Abelian $\mathscr{N}=2^*$ theory, and compute…
We propose new classes of $4d$ $\mathcal{N}\!=\!1$ S-confining gauge theories, with a simple gauge group, rank-two matter and cubic superpotentials. The gauge group can be symplectic, orthogonal or special unitary. In some cases we derive…
We develop a systematic framework for understanding symmetries in topological phases in 2+1 dimensions using the string-net model, encompassing both gauge symmetries that preserve anyon species and global symmetries permuting anyon species,…
Interacting AdS_4 higher spin gauge theories with N \geq 1 supersymmetry so far have been formulated as constrained systems of differential forms living in a twistor extension of 4D spacetime. Here we formulate the minimal N=1 theory in…
We present an algebraic approach to string theory. An embedding of $sl(2|1)$ in a super Lie algebra together with a grading on the Lie algebra determines a nilpotent subalgebra of the super Lie algebra. Chirally gauging this subalgebra in…
We discuss $N=2\to N=1$ reduction in four dimensional conformal supergravity. In particular, we keep the off-shell structure of supermultiplets (except hypermultiplets). As we will show, starting with (almost) off-shell conformal…
Expanding upon earlier results [arXiv:1702.02861], we present a compendium of $\sigma$-models associated with integrable deformations of AdS$_5$ generated by solutions to homogenous classical Yang-Baxter equation. Each example we study from…
We consider supergravity theories with 16 supercharges in Minkowski space with dimensions $d>3$. We argue that there is an upper bound on the number of massless modes in such theories depending on $d$. In particular we show that the rank of…
The geometric structure of theories with gauge fields of spins two and higher should involve a higher spin generalisation of Riemannian geometry. Such geometries are discussed and the case of $W_\infty$-gravity is analysed in detail. While…
By coupling {\cal N}=8 superconformal matter to {\cal N}=8 superconformal Chern-Simons gravity in three dimensions we obtain theories with novel terms in the scalar potential leading to AdS_3 solutions and superconformal symmetry breaking.…
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…
This report presents some studies of the gauge/string theory correspondence, a deep relation that is possible to establish between quantum field theories with local gauge symmetry and superstring theories including gravity. In its original…
We introduce a four-dimensional extension of the Poincar\'{e} algebra $(\mathcal{N})$ in (1+1)-dimensional space-time and obtain a (1+1)-dimensional gauge symmetric gravity model using the algebra $\mathcal{N}$. We show that the obtained…
A theory of gravitation in 4D is presented with strings used in the material action in $U_4$ spacetime. It is shown that the string naturally gives rise to torsion. It is also shown that the equation of motion a string follows from the…
We study the relationship between M theory on a nearly lightlike circle and U(N) gauge theory in p+1 dimensions. We define large N limits of these theories in which low energy supergravity is valid. The regularity of these limits implies an…
Recently we provided a microscopic derivation of the exact supergravity profile for the twisted scalar field emitted by systems of fractional D3-branes at a Z2 orbifold singularity. In this contribution we focus on a set-up supporting an N…
We study the 6d $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ superconformal field theory with smallest non-Higgsable gauge symmetry $SU(3)$. In particular, we propose new 2d gauge theory descriptions of its self-dual strings in the tensor branch. We use our gauge…