Related papers: Small $E_8$ Instantons and Tensionless Non-critica…
In this paper, we study the 't Hooft type instantons in eight dimensions, which satisfy the (anti)self-dual equations $F\wedge F=\pm\ast_8F\wedge F$. Using various designs of such instantons, we find new soliton solutions to the low-energy…
Gravity duals for little string theories --- which give rise to four-dimensional theories that undergo permanent confinement in the infrared --- have not been studied in great detail. We address this question in the framework of heterotic…
We derive the effect of instantons in the Penner model. It is known that the free energies of the Penner model and the c=1 noncritical string at self-dual radius agree in a suitable double scaling limit. On the other hand, the instanton in…
This paper deals with p-branes with small but non-zero tension. We prove the existence of canonical transformations, within a perturbation theory, that link specific geometries of p-branes to solvable theories, namely string-like and…
We conjecture the existence of two new non-gravitational six-dimensional string theories, defined as the decoupling limit of NS5-branes in the background of near-critical electrical two- and three-form RR fields. These theories are…
We analyze in detail the anomaly cancellation conditions for the strongly coupled $E_8 \times E_8$ heterotic string introduced by Horava and Witten and find new features compared to the ten-dimensional Green-Schwarz mechanism. We project…
The massless degrees of freedom of type 0 NS5-branes are derived. A non-chiral, purely bosonic spectrum is found in both type 0A and 0B. This non-chirality is confirmed by a one-loop computation in the bulk. Some puzzles concerning type 0B…
We explore the T-duality web of 6D Heterotic Little String Theories, focusing on flavor algebra reducing deformations. A careful analysis of the full flavor algebra, including Abelian factors, shows that the flavor rank is preserved under…
We show that the low-energy effective actions of two ten-dimensional supersymmetric heterotic strings are different by a $\mathbb{Z}_3$-valued discrete topological term even after we turn off the $E_8\times E_8$ and $Spin(32)/\mathbb{Z}_2$…
The string breaking phenomenon in QCD can be studied using the gauge/string duality. In this approach, one can make estimates of some of the string breaking distances at non-zero temperature and baryon chemical potential. These point…
Motivated by closed string perturbation theory arguments by S. Shenker, we consider non-perturbative effects of characteristic strength $\mathcal{O}(e^{-1/g_{s}})$, with $g_{s}$ the closed string coupling constant, in supersymmetric…
Compactifying the $E_8$ non-critical string in 6D down to 5D the 6D strings give rise to particles and strings in 5D. Using the dual M-theory description compactified on an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau we compare some of the 5D BPS…
We consider configurations of six-branes, five-branes and eight-branes in various superstring backgrounds. These configurations give rise to $(0,1)$ supersymmetric theories in six dimensions. The condition for RR charge conservation of a…
The mass scale of fundamental strings can be as low as few TeV/c^2 provided that spacetime extends into large extra dimensions. We discuss the phenomenological aspects of weakly coupled low mass string theory related to experimental…
Recent work on the action of T duality on Dirichlet-branes is generalized to the case in which the open string satisfies boundary conditions that are neither Neumann nor Dirichlet. This is achieved by implementing T duality as a canonical…
The spatial string tension, a classic non-perturbative probe for the convergence of the weak-coupling expansion at high temperatures, can be determined in full QCD as well as in a dimensionally reduced effective theory. Comparing both…
We use the recently found matrix description of noncritical superstring theory of Type 0A to compute tachyon scattering amplitudes in a background with a RR flux. We find that after the string coupling is multiplicatively renormalized, the…
We show that a simple account of hadronic high energy total cross-sections and of the observed masses and flavor-gauge-like couplings of the familiar vector mesons is obtained in a hadronic string model suggested by QCD in the limit of a…
The quantization of the tensionless p-brane is discussed. Inspection of the constraint algebra reveals that the central extensions for the p-branes have a simple form. Using a Hamiltonian BRST scheme we find that the quantization is…
We discuss the physics of zero modes of ED3/M5 instantons at strong coupling from three different viewpoints. Motivated by an anomaly inflow argument, we give a prescription for describing neutral instanton modes in terms of string…