Related papers: On SO(32) heterotic - type I superstring duality i…
We study the duality between the Spin$(32)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ heterotic string without vector structure and F-theory with frozen singularities. We give a complete description in theories with $6$d $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ supersymmetry and identify…
The (abelian bosonic) heterotic string effective action, equations of motion and Bianchi identity at order alpha prime in ten dimensions, are shown to be equivalent to a higher dimensional action, its derived equations of motion and Bianchi…
We study large dimensions and low string scale in four-dimensional compactifications of type II theories of closed strings at weak coupling. We find that the fundamental string scale, together with all compact dimensions, can be at the TeV,…
String theories should reduce to ordinary four-dimensional field theories at low energies. Yet the formulation of the two are so different that such a connection, if it exists, is not immediately obvious. With the Schwinger proper-time…
It is frequently useful to construct dual descriptions of theories containing antisymmetric tensor fields by introducing a new potential whose curl gives the dual field strength, thereby interchanging field equations with Bianchi…
We present supersymmetric soliton solutions of the four-dimensional heterotic string corresponding to monopoles, strings and domain walls. These solutions admit the $D=10$ interpretation of a fivebrane wrapped around $5$, $4$ or $3$ of the…
Following recent proposal of Dijkgraaf, Verlinde and Verlinde, we show that the M(atrix) theory compactified on $S_1/Z_2$ provides with a non-perturbative description of second-quantized light-cone heterotic string. This so-called heterotic…
T-duality has been shown to constrain the higher derivative corrections of string theory. We revisit the problem of understanding the T-duality constraints imposed on the $\alpha'$ corrections using the language of a torsionful connection.…
In this work we study the duality between F-theory and the heterotic string beyond the stable degeneration limit in F-theory and large fiber limit in the heterotic theory. Building upon a recent proposal by Clingher-Doran and…
We study a special class of higher derivative F-terms of the form $F_{g,n}W^{2g}(\Pi f)^{n}$ where W is the N=2 gravitational superfield and $\Pi$ is the chiral projector applied to a non-holomorphic function $f$ of the heterotic dilaton…
This paper discusses some results on semiclassical string configurations lying in the IR sector of supergravity backgrounds dual to confining gauge theories. On the gauge theory side, the string states we analyse correspond to Wilson loops,…
In these lectures, we review the main properties of the topological theory obtained by twisting the N=2 two-dimensional superconformal algebra, associated to supersymmetric string compactifications. In particular, we describe a set of…
Type-IIB supersymmetric theories have an SL(2,Z) invariance, known as U-duality, which controls the non-perturbative behavior of the theory. Under SL(2,Z) the supercharges are doublets, implying that the bosonic charges would be singlets or…
Four dimensional heterotic string effective action is known to admit non-rotating electrically and magnetically charged black hole solutions. It is shown that the partition functions and entropies in both the cases are identical when these…
We consider a space-time invariant duality symmetric action for a free Maxwell field and an $SL(2,{\bf R})\times SO(6,22)$ invariant effective action describing a low-energy bosonic sector of the heterotic string compactified on a…
M-theory on ${\mathbf{S}}^1\vee{\mathbf{S}}^1$ has recently been proposed to yield, via quotients, ten-dimensional non-supersymmetric string theories. We revisit the construction that leads to the heterotic theories, finding a consistent…
We propose a manifestly U-duality invariant modular form for the D^6 R^4 interaction in the effective action of type IIB string theory compactified on T^2. It receives perturbative contributions upto genus three, as well as non-perturbative…
We review electric/magnetic duality in $N=4$ (and certain $N=2$) globally supersymmetric gauge theories and show how this duality, which relates strong to weak coupling, follows as a consequence of a string/string duality. Black holes,…
A free superstring with chiral N=2 supersymmetry in six dimensions is proposed. It couples to a two-form gauge field with a self-dual field strength. Compactification to four dimensions on a two-torus gives a strongly coupled N=4…
We study F-theory duals of six dimensional heterotic vacua in extreme regions of moduli space where the heterotic string is very strongly coupled. We demonstrate how to use orientifold limits of these F-theory duals to regain a perturbative…