Related papers: Higher-spin Realisations of the Bosonic String
We construct $\mathbb{Z}_N$ orbifolds of the ten-dimensional heterotic string theories appropriate for implementing the stringy replica method for the calculation of quantum entanglement entropy. A novel feature for the heterotic string is…
This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…
This paper studies in great detail a family of supersymmetric Wilson loop operators in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory we have recently found. For a generic curve on an S^3 in space-time the loops preserve two supercharges but we will…
Using the differential equation approach to W-algebras, we discuss the inclusion of punctures in W-string theory. The key result is the existence of different kinds of punctures in W-strings. This is similar to the NS and R punctures…
The central extension of a new infinite dimensional algebra which has both $W_\infty$ and affine $sl(2,R)$ as subalgebras is found. The critical dimension of the corresponding string model is $D=5$.
We study the irreducible unitary highest weight representations, which are obtained from free field realizations, of $W$ infinity algebras ($W_{\infty}$, $W_{1+\infty}$, $W_{\infty}^{1,1}$, $W_{\infty}^M$, $W_{1+\infty}^N$,…
We consider type-A higher-spin gravity in AdS_4, holographically dual to a free U(N) vector model on the boundary. We study the linearized version of the Didenko-Vasiliev "BPS black hole", which we view as this theory's equivalent of the…
We derive the universal threshold corrections in heterotic string theory including a continuous Wilson line. Unification of gauge and gravitational couplings is shown to be possible even within perturbative string theory. The relative…
Cosmic strings, topological defects predicted by high-energy theories, may contribute to the late-time expansion of the Universe, effectively mimicking dynamical dark energy. We investigate four phenomenological extensions of the…
We present the complete structure of the nonlinear $N=2$ super extension of Polyakov-Bershadsky, $W_3^{(2)}$, algebra with the generic central charge, $c$, at the {\it quantum} level. It contains extra two pairs of fermionic currents with…
We construct the lowest higher spin-2 current in terms of the spin-1 and the spin-1/2 currents living in the orthogonal SO(N+4)/[SO(N) x SO(4)] Wolf space coset theory for general N. The remaining fifteen higher spin currents are…
Starting from SO(N) current algebra, we construct two lowest primary higher spin-4 Casimir operators which are quartic in spin-1 fields. For N is odd, one of them corresponds to the current in the WB_{\frac{N-1}{2}} minimal model. For N is…
Is it possible for an anisotropic Lifshitz critical point to actually exhibit isotropic conformal invariance? We answer this question in the affirmative by constructing a concrete holographic realization. We study three-dimensional spin-3…
Many $W$-algebras (e.g. the $W_N$ algebras) are consistent for all values of the central charge except for a discrete set of exceptional values. We show that such algebras can be contracted to new consistent degenerate algebras at these…
We explore the use of real fermionization as a test case for understanding how specific features of phenomenological interest in the low-energy effective superpotential are realized in exact solutions to heterotic superstring theory. We…
We consider Penrose limits of the Klebanov-Strassler and Maldacena-Nunez holographic duals to N =1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills. By focusing in on the IR region we obtain exactly solvable string theory models. These represent the…
We perform a detailed study of bosonic type IIA string theory in a large light-cone momentum / near plane wave limit of $AdS_4 \times CP_3$. In order to attain this we derive the Hamiltonian up to cubic and quartic order in number of fields…
We discuss a covariant functional integral approach to the quantization of the bosonic string. In contrast to approaches relying on non-covariant operator regularizations, interesting operators here are true tensor objects with classical…
We study the spectrum of physical states for higher-spin generalisations of string theory, based on two-dimensional theories with local spin-2 and spin-$s$ symmetries. We explore the relation of the resulting effective Virasoro string…
We show that there are four chiral ${\cal W}$-algebra extensions of $\mathfrak{so}(2,3)$ algebra and construct them explicitly. We do this by a simple identification of each of the inequivalent embeddings of a copy of…