Related papers: Stable Singularities in String Theory
Many N=1 heterotic string compactifications exhibit physically mysterious singularities at codimension one in the moduli space of vacua. At these singularities, Yukawa couplings of charged fields develop poles as a function of the moduli.…
Intersecting D6-branes provide a geometrically intuitive road to stringy particle physics models, where D6-branes stuck at orbifold singularities can lead to the stabilisation of deformation moduli, and the QCD axion can arise from the open…
We point out that the moduli sector of the $(2,2)$ string compactification with its nonperturbatively preserved non-compact symmetries is a fertile framework to study global topological defects, thus providing a natural source for the large…
In these lectures, we review the physics of time-dependent orbifolds of string theory, with particular attention to orbifolds of three-dimensional Minkowski space. We discuss the propagation of free particles in the orbifold geometries,…
String theory in 4 dimensions has the unique feature that a topological term, the oriented self-intersection number, can be added to the usual action. It has been suggested that the corresponding theory of random surfaces wold be free from…
Heterotic toroidal orbifolds are a powerful framework for testing our understanding of string vacua. We review recent advances in heterotic model building, from constructing new vacua to proving novel de Sitter no-go theorems. We also…
Classical target space duality transformations are studied for the non-linear sigma model with a dilaton field. Working within the framework of the Hamiltonian formalism we require the duality transformation to be a property only of the…
Quantization of coordinates leads to the non-commutative product of deformation quantization, but is also at the roots of string theory, for which space-time coordinates become the dynamical fields of a two-dimensional conformal quantum…
The main limitations of string field theory arise because its present formulation requires a background representing a classical solution, a background defined by a strictly conformally invariant theory. Here we sketch a construction for a…
We study the relation between topological string theory and singularity theory using the partition function of $A_{N-1}$ topological string defined by matrix integral of Kontsevich type. Genus expansion of the free energy is considered, and…
We demonstrate that field theories involving explicit breaking of continous symmetries, incorporate two generic classes of topological defects each of which is stable for a particular range of parameters. The first class includes defects of…
String theory contains sources like orientifold planes that support higher derivative interactions. These interactions make possible static flux compactifications which are forbidden in supergravity. They can also lead to violations of the…
We study the null orbifold singularity in 2+1 d flat space higher spin theory as well as string theory. Using the Chern-Simons formulation of 2+1 d Einstein gravity, we first observe that despite the singular nature of this geometry, the…
In this note we explore the possible marginal deformations of general (0,2) non-linear sigma-models, which arise as descriptions of the weakly-coupled (large radius) limits of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}= 1$ compactifications of the…
The first-order bosonic string theory, perturbed by primary operator, corresponding to the deformation of target-space complex structure is considered. We compute the correlation functions in this theory and study their divergencies. It is…
If the vacuum manifold of a field theory has the appropriate topological structure, the theory admits topological structures analogous to the D-branes of string theory, in which defects of one dimension terminate on other defects of higher…
We construct a string theory in three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time that is independent of the boundary metric. It is a topologically twisted theory of quantum gravity. We study string theories with an asymptotic N=2 superconformal…
We analyze topological string theory on a two dimensional torus, focusing on symmetries in the matter sector. Even before coupling to gravity, the topological torus has an infinite number of point-like physical observables, which give rise…
We propose that a novel deformation of string perturbation theory, involving non-local interactions between strings, is required to describe the gravity duals of field theories deformed by multiple-trace operators. The new perturbative…
A brief review of the status of duality symmetries in string theory is presented. The evidence is accumulating rapidly that an enormous group of duality symmetries, including perturbative T dualities and non-perturbative S-dualities,…