Related papers: New Moduli Spaces from String Background Independe…
Modular and quasimodular forms have played an important role in gravity and string theory. Eisenstein series have appeared systematically in the determination of spectrums and partition functions, in the description of non-perturbative…
Searching for space/time noncommutativity we reconsider open strings in a constant background electric field. The main difference between this situation and its magnetic counterpart is that here there is a critical electric field beyond…
In this paper we extend our correlation functions to the open/closed case. This gives rise to actions of an open/closed version of the Sullivan PROP as well as an action of the relevant moduli space. There are several unexpected structures…
Turning on background fields in string theory sometimes has an alternative interpretation as a deformation of the target space geometry. A particularly well-known case is the NS-NS two form B, which gives rise to space-time…
We study constant Q-curvature metrics conformal to the round metric on the sphere with finitely many point singularities. We show that the moduli space of solutions with finitely many punctures in fixed positions, equipped with the…
Nonperturbative corrections in type II string theory corresponding to Riemann surfaces with one boundary are calculated in several noncompact geometries of desingularized orbifolds. One of these models has a complicated phase structure…
It is shown that background fields of a topological character usually introduced as such in compactified string theories correspond to quantum degrees of freedom which parametrise the freedom in choosing a representation of the zero mode…
This paper explores the cohomological consequences of the existence of moduli spaces for flat bundles with bounded rank and irregularity at infinity and gives unconditional proofs. Namely, we prove the existence of a universal bound for the…
A type IIA string (or F-theory) compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold is believed to be dual to a heterotic string on a K3 surface times a 2-torus (or on a K3 surface). We consider how the resulting moduli space of hypermultiplets is…
The appearance of space/time non-commutativity in theories of open strings with a constant non-diagonal background metric is considered. We show that, even if the space-time coordinates commute, when there is a metric with a time-space…
The quantization of circular strings in an anti-de Sitter background spacetime is performed, obtaining a discrete spectrum for the string mass. A comparison with a four-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic spacetime coupled to a conformal…
We construct heterotic string backgrounds corresponding to families of homogeneous spaces as exact conformal field theories. They contain left cosets of compact groups by their maximal tori supported by NS-NS 2-forms and gauge field fluxes.…
Infinite distance limits in the moduli space of a quantum gravity theory are characterized by having infinite towers of states becoming light, as dictated by the Distance Conjecture in the Swampland program. These towers imply a drastic…
A brief discussion is presented assessing the achievements and challenges of string phenomenology: the subfield dedicated to study the potential for string theory to make contact with particle physics and cosmology. Building from the well…
Target space modular symmetries relevant to string loop threshold corrections are studied for $Z_N$ orbifold compactified string theories containing Wilson line background fields.
String backgrounds are described as purely geometric objects related to moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces, in the spirit of Segal's definition of a conformal field theory. Relations with conformal field theory, topological field theory and…
We construct a Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) algebra on moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. This algebra is background independent in that it makes no reference to a state space of a conformal field theory. Conformal theories define a homomorphism…
We give a complete proof of local background independence of the classical master action for closed strings by constructing explicitly, for any two nearby conformal theories in a CFT theory space, a symplectic diffeomorphism between their…
D-branes in curved backgrounds can be treated with techniques of boundary conformal field theory. We discuss the influence of scalar condensates on such branes, i.e. perturbations of boundary conditions by marginal boundary operators. A…
Closed string theory exhibits an O(D,D) duality symmetry on tori, which in double field theory is manifest before compactification. I prove that to first order in $\alpha'$ there is no manifestly background independent and duality invariant…