Related papers: An N=2 Dual Pair and a Phase Transition

The well known N=2 string theory describes self-dual gravity, as was shown by Ooguri and Vafa sometime ago. In search of a variant of this theory which would describe self-dual supergravity in 2+2 dimensions, we have constructed two new N=2…

This thesis discusses various aspects of duality in quantum field theory and string theory. In the first part we consider duality in topological quantum field theories, concentrating on the Donaldson and Seiberg-Witten theories as (dual)…

We provide evidence that some four-dimensional N=1 string vacua with different numbers of generations are connected through phase transitions. The transitions involve going through a point in moduli space where there is a nontrivial fixed…

We review aspects of N=2 duality between the heterotic and the type IIA string. After a description of string duality intended for the non-specialist the computation of the heterotic prepotential and the $F_1$ function for the ST, STU and…

Using heterotic/type II string duality, we obtain exact nonperturbative results for the point particle limit (alpha' -> 0) of some particular four dimensional, N=2 supersymmetric compactifications of heterotic strings. This allows us to…

We investigate the connections between four-dimensional, N=2 M-theory vacua constructed as orbifolds of type II, heterotic, and type I strings. All these models have the same massless spectrum, which contains an equal number of vector…

We analyze U(N) Born-Infeld gauge theory in two spacetime dimensions. We derive the exact energy spectrum on the circle and show that it reduces to N relativistic fermions on a dual space. This contrasts to the Yang-Mills case that reduces…

We show that the duality phase transition in the unoriented type I theory of open and closed strings is_first order_. The order parameter is the semiclassical approximation to the heavy quark-antiquark potential at finite temperature,…

We consider an SU(2) gauge theory in six-dimensions. We show that there exists non-trivial structure of gauge vacua in compactified background M4xS2. In this circumstances, there can exist a cosmic string, whose solution is recently…

We present two new backgrounds of type IIA string theory preserving 16 supercharges. One is a Wilson line for (-1) to the left-moving spacetime fermion number, and the other is an orbifold by a reflection of four coordinates, along with the…

We demonstrate a novel feature of certain phase transitions in theories with large rank symmetry group that exhibit specific types of non-local interactions. A typical example of such a theory is a large-$N$ gauge theory where by `non-local…

The matrix model formulation of two dimensional string theory has been shown to admit time dependent classical solutions whose closed string duals are geodesically incomplete space-times with space-like boundaries. We investigate some…

We construct N=1 non-critical strings in four dimensions dual to strongly coupled N=1 quiver gauge theories in the Coulomb phase, generalizing the string duals of Argyres-Douglas points in N=2 gauge theories. They are the first examples of…

We give a first principles formulation of the equilibrium statistical mechanics of strings in the canonical ensemble, compatible with the Euclidean timelike T-duality transformations that link the six supersymmetric string theories in…

The dual of the four dimensional non-linear sigma model is constructed using techniques familiar to string theory. This construction necessitates the introduction of a rank two antisymmetric tensor field whose properties are examined. The…

We investigate the complete phase diagram of the decoupled world-sheet theory of (P,Q) strings. These theories include 1+1 dimensional super Yang-Mills theory and non-commutative open string theory. We find that the system exhibits a rich…

N=1 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory with adjoint matter $\Phi$ and a polynomial superpotential $\Tr W(\Phi)$ has been much studied recently. The classical theory has several vacua labeled by integers $(N_1,N_2,...,N_k)$, with the classical…

We generalize the results of Polchinski and Strassler regarding the N=1-preserving mass deformation of N=4 SU(N) SYM theories and its string theory dual to SO(N) and USp(2N) gauge groups. The string theory duals involve 5-branes wrapped on…

We show how Higgs mechanism for non-abelian N=2 gauge theories in four dimensions is geometrically realized in the context of type II strings as transitions among compactifications of Calabi-Yau threefolds. We use this result and T-duality…

We construct more dual pairs of type II-heterotic strings in four dimensions with $N=2,1$ spacetime supersymmetry. On the type II side the construction utilizes the various possible choices of K3 automorphisms with fixed points which…