Related papers: Coming to Terms with Strongly Coupled Strings
The holomorphicity property of N=1 superpotentials or of N=2 F-terms involving vector multiplets is generalized to the case of N=4 1/2-BPS effective operators defined in harmonic superspace. The resulting harmonicity equations are shown to…
In a previous paper we had proposed a specific route to relating the entropy of two charge black holes to the degeneracy of elementary string states in N=4 supersymmetric heterotic string theory in four dimensions. For toroidal…
We review recent developments concerning supersymmetric black holes in string theory. After a general introduction to the laws of black hole mechanics and to black hole entropy in string theory, we discuss black hole solutions in N=2…
There are many conceivable possibilities of embedding the MSSM in string theory. These proceedings describe an approach which is based on grand unification in higher dimensions. This allows one to obtain global string-derived models with…
The spectrum of stable electrically and magnetically charged supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously as one changes the vacuum on the Coulomb branch of gauge theories with extended supersymmetry in four dimensions. We show that…
There is evidence that string theory possesses a large discretuum of stable and/or metastable ground states, with zero or four supersymmetries in four dimensions. I discuss critically the nature of this evidence. Assuming this "landscape"…
Supersymmetric closed string theories contain an infinite tower of BPS-saturated, oscillating, macroscopic strings in the perturbative spectrum. When these theories have dual formulations, this tower of states must exist nonperturbatively…
If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of $M$-theory. We discuss some…
The non-perturbative superpotential can be effectively calculated in $M$-theory compactification to three dimensions on a Calabi-Yau four-fold $X$. For certain $X$, the superpotential is identically zero, while for other $X$, a…
We discuss the singularities in the moduli space of string compactifications to six dimensions with $N=1$ supersymmetry. Such singularities arise from either massless particles or non-critical tensionless strings. The points with…
In this thesis we investigate the microphysics of cosmic strings in non-minimal quantum field theories. In particular we consider theories in which fermion fields couple to the strings, and those with larger symmetry groups, such as grand…
This paper tentatively conjectures a possible physical picture that may help explain links between quantum field theories and string theories. A correspondence might occur if the stringy parameters $\tau $ and $\sigma_i $ are interpreted as…
These lectures provide a simple introduction to supersymmetry breaking. After presenting the basics of the subject and illustrating them in tree-level examples, we discuss dynamical supersymmetry breaking, emphasizing the role of holomorphy…
We assess the prospects of using metamaterials for simulating various aspects of analogue gravity and holographic correspondence. Albeit requiring a careful engineering of the dielectric media, some hallmark features reminiscent of the…
We review the existence, formation and properties of cosmic strings in string theory, the wide variety of observational techniques that are being employed to detect them, and the constraints that current observations impose on string theory…
The past year has seen enormous progress in string theory. It has become clear that all of the different string theories are different limits of a single theory. Moreover, in certain limits, one obtains a new, eleven-dimensional structure…
Cosmic strings are one-dimensional topological defects which could have been formed in the early stages of our Universe. They triggered a lot of interest, mainly for their cosmological implications: they could offer an alternative to…
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…
The aim of these lectures is to give an introduction to several topics which lie at the intersection of string theory, gravity theory and gravity phenomenology. One successively reviews: (i) the "membrane" approach to the dissipative…
A review is given of the implications of supersymmetric black holes for the non-perturbative formulation of toroidally compactified superstrings, with particular emphasis on symmetry enhancement at special vacua and S-duality of the…