Related papers: $N=2$ heterotic string threshold correction, $K3$ …
Stringy corrections in AdS/CFT generally fall into the category of either \alpha' effects or string loop effects, corresponding to 1/\lambda and 1/N corrections, respectively, in the dual field theory. While \alpha'^3R^4 corrections have…
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…
The conjectured equivalence of the heterotic string to a $K_3$ compactified type IIA superstring is combined with the conjectured equivalence of the latter to a compactified 11-dimensional supermembrane to derive a string membrane duality…
We use heterotic/type-II prepotentials to study quantum/classical black holes with half the $N=2, D=4$ supersymmetries unbroken. We show that, in the case of heterotic string compactifications, the perturbatively corrected entropy formula…
We reconsider the issue of embedding space-time fermions into the four-dimensional N=2 world-sheet supersymmetric string. A new heterotic theory is constructed, taking the right-movers from the N=4 topological extension of the conventional…
Compactifications of the heterotic string on T^d are the simplest, yet rich enough playgrounds to uncover swampland ideas: the U(1)^{d+16} left-moving gauge symmetry gets enhanced at special points in moduli space only to certain groups. We…
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…
We compute and analyse a variety of four-derivative gravitational terms in the effective action of six- and four-dimensional type II string ground states with N=4 supersymmetry. In six dimensions, we compute the relevant perturbative…
We revisit the duality between heterotic string theory compactified on K3 x T^2 and type IIA compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold X in the hypermultiplet sector. We derive an explicit map between the field variables of the respective…
We construct a covariant formulation of the heterotic superstring on K3 times T^2 with manifest N=2 supersymmetry. We show how projective superspace appears naturally in the hybrid formulation giving a (partially) geometric interpretation…
Type IIB strings compactified on K3 have a rich structure of solitonic strings, transforming under SO(21,5,Z). We derive the BPS tension formula for these strings, and discuss their properties, in particular, the points in the moduli space…
We investigate the non-perturbative equivalence of some heterotic/type IIA dual pairs with N=2 supersymmetry. We compute R2-like corrections, both on the type IIA and on the heterotic side. The coincidence of their perturbative part…
We show that a class of torsional compactifications of the heterotic string are dual to conventional Kahler heterotic string compactifications. This observation follows from the recently proposed analogue of the c-map for the heterotic…
We construct the effective action for toroidal compactifications of bosonic string theory from generalized Scherk-Schwarz reductions of double field theory. The enhanced gauge symmetry arising at special points in moduli space is…
We study the topologically twisted string theory on the general back-ground $AdS_3\times {\cal N}$ which is compatible with the world-sheet N=2 superconformal symmetry and is extensively discussed in the recent works (hep-th/9904024,…
We study string-loop corrections to magnetic black hole. Four-dimensional theory is obtained by compactification of the heterotic string theory on the manifold $K3\times T^2$ or on a suitable orbifold yielding N=1 supersymmetry in 6D. The…
A worldsheet realization of the refined topological string is proposed in terms of physical string amplitudes that compute generalized N=2 F-terms of the form F_{g,n} W^{2g}Y^{2n} in the effective supergravity action. These terms involve…
We extend the investigation of special toroidal compactifications of heterotic string theory for which the half-BPS states provide representations of subgroups of the Conway group. We also explore dual descriptions of these theories and…
We study the compactification of the $(2,0)$ and type-II little-string theories on $S^1$, $T^2$ and $T^3$ with an R-symmetry twist that preserves half the supersymmetry. We argue that it produces the same moduli spaces of vacua as…
We demonstrate that type II string theory compactified on a singular Calabi-Yau manifold is related to $c=1$ string theory compactified at the self-dual radius. We establish this result in two ways. First we show that complex structure…