Related papers: Generalised chiral null models and rotating string…
An explicitly exact superconformal description is provided to some classes of Type II string theories in non constant RR backgrounds. This is done by applying the manifest (2,2) approach of Berkovits and Maldacena to Type II strings and by…
We construct new 1/2 supersymmetric solutions in D=3, N=2, matter coupled, U(1) gauged supergravities and study some of their properties. In the most general case they represent a string superposed with gravitational and Chern-Simons…
Six-dimensional conformal field theories with $(2,0)$ supersymmetry are shown to possess a protected sector of operators and observables that are isomorphic to a two-dimensional chiral algebra. We argue that the chiral algebra associated to…
Recently, Kim, Shiu and Vafa proposed general consistency conditions for six dimensional supergravity theories with minimal supersymmetry coming from couplings to strings. We test them in explicit perturbative orientifold models in order to…
Imposing the condition that there should be a null Killing spinor with all the metrics and background field strengths being functions of the light-cone coordinates, we find general 1/2 BPS solutions in D=11 supergravity, and discuss several…
A sigma model with four-dimensional target space parametrized by chiral and twisted chiral N=(2,2) superfields can be extended to N=(4,4) supersymmetry off-shell, but this is not true for a model of semichiral fields, where the N=(4,4)…
In this paper, we first construct a globally well-defined non-geometric background which contains several branes in type II string theory compactified on a 7-torus. One of these branes is called 5^2_2, which is a codimension-2 object and…
We show that almost all string theories, including the bosonic string, the superstring and $W$-string theories, possess a twisted N=2 superconformal symmetry. This enables us to establish a connection between topological gravity and the…
This thesis is almost entirely devoted to studying string theory backgrounds characterized by simple geometrical and integrability properties. The archetype of this type of system is given by Wess-Zumino-Witten models, describing string…
We analyze the backreaction of dilaton tadpoles on the geometry of non-supersymmetric strings. After finding explicit warped solutions for a T-dual version of the Sugimoto model, we examine the possibility of realizing large extra dimension…
In this dissertation we study hidden symmetries within the framework of string theory. There are two kinds of hidden symmetries investigated in this work: the first type is associated with dynamics of quantum fields and the second type is…
We construct new topological theories related to sigma models whose target space is a seven dimensional manifold of G_2 holonomy. We define a new type of topological twist and identify the BRST operator and the physical states. Unlike the…
The gauged sigma-model argument that string backgrounds related by T-dual give equivalent quantum theories is revisited, taking careful account of global considerations. The topological obstructions to gauging sigma-models give rise to…
We construct zero-curvature representations for the equations of motion of a class of sigma-models with complex homogeneous target spaces, not necessarily symmetric. We show that in the symmetric case the proposed flat connection is…
We prove that a large class of leading order string solutions which generalize both the plane-wave and fundamental string backgrounds are, in fact, exact solutions to all orders in \alpha'. These include, in particular, the traveling waves…
We develop the differential theory of complex spinorial forms associated with irreducible complex spinors across all dimensions and signatures. This framework enables the study of constrained parallelicity conditions for irreducible complex…
The Wilsonian renormalization group (WRG) equation is used to derive a new class of scale invariant field theories with nonvanishing anomalous dimensions in 2-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models. When the…
The unitary $N = 2$ superconformal minimal models have a long history in string theory and mathematical physics, while their non-unitary (and logarithmic) cousins have recently attracted interest from mathematicians. Here, we give an…
We discuss the non-linear sigma model representing a NSR open string in a curved background with non-zero $B_{\mu\nu}$-field. With this coupling the theory is not automatically supersymmetric, due to boundary contributions. When B=0…
The sigma model on complex projective superspaces CP^{S-1|S} gives rise to a continuous family of interacting 2D conformal field theories which are parametrized by the curvature radius R and the theta angle \theta. Our main goal is to…