Related papers: On Tensionless Strings in $3+1$ Dimensions
In this paper we show how two dimensional electron systems can be modeled by strings interacting with D-branes. The dualities of string theory allow several descriptions of the system. These include descriptions in terms of solitons in the…
This talk begins with some history and basic facts about string theory and its connections with strong interactions. Comparisons of stacks of Dirichlet branes with curved backgrounds produced by them are used to motivate the AdS/CFT…
The defect conformal field theory describing intersecting D3-branes at a C^2/Z_k orbifold is used to (de)construct the theory of intersecting M5-branes, as well as M5-branes wrapping the holomorphic curve xy=c. The possibility of a 't Hooft…
We use the `branes within branes' approach to study the appearance of stable $ (p-2)-branes and unstable (p-1)-branes in type II string theory from p-brane--p-antibrane pairs.Our goal is to describe the emergence of these lower dimensional…
The standard picture of viable higher-dimensional theories is that extra dimensions manifest themselves at short distances only, their effects being negligible at scales larger than some critical value. We show that this is not necessarily…
We study the three-pronged strings (three string junctions) from the point of view of D-string worldsheet gauge theory. We justify interpreting kink solutions in the 2-dimensional gauge theory as pronged strings by examining BPS energy…
We systematically analyse weak coupling limits for 2-form tensor fields in the presence of gravity. Such limits are significant for testing various versions of the Weak Gravity and Swampland Distance Conjectures, and more broadly, the…
We study M5 branes by considering the selfdual strings parallel to a plane. With the internal oscillation frozen, each selfdual string gives a 5d SYM field. All selfdual strings together give a 6d field with 5 scalars, 3 gauge degrees of…
This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…
The observable universe could be a 1+3-surface (the "brane") embedded in a 1+3+d-dimensional spacetime (the "bulk"), with standard-model particles and fields trapped on the brane while gravity is free to access the bulk. At least one of the…
The interaction of defects can lead to a phenomenon of erasure. During this process, a lower-dimensional object gets absorbed and dissolved by a higher-dimensional one. The phenomenon is very general and has a wide range of implications,…
String theory relies on spacetime supersymmetry to guarantee the existence of stable vacua. In this review, we survey two features of non-supersymmetric strings that challenge both aspects: the appearance of tachyons and worldsheet…
We consider D3 branes in presence of an S-fold plane. The latter is a non perturbative object, arising from the combined projection of an S-duality twist and a discrete orbifold of the R-symmetry group. This construction naively gives rise…
These lectures intend to give a pedagogical introduction into some of the developments in string theory during the last years. They include perturbative T-duality and non perturbative S- and U-dualities, their unavoidable demand for…
We review recent progress in constructing realistic brane models from type I string vacua. Explicit models with three families of the standard model gauge group and its left-right generalizations are presented with supersymmetry broken at…
Revisiting Einstein's gravitational theory, we build a five-dimensional braneworld. Within this framework, one announces the appearance of symmetric and asymmetric domain walls. Furthermore, it examines the emergent four-dimensional gravity…
We describe a model of hybrid quintessence in which in addition to the tracker field there is a trigger field which is responsible for ending quintessence. As a result, hybrid quintessence does not suffer from the problems associated with…
We obtain the non-perturbative effective potential for the dual five-dimensional N=4 strings in the context of finite-temperature regarded as a breaking of supersymmetry into four space-time dimensions. Using the properties of gauged N=4…
The strong version of Maldacena's AdS/CFT conjecture implies that the large N expansion of free N=4 super-YM theory describes an interacting string theory in the extreme limit of high spacetime curvature relative to the string length.…
The entanglement renormalization flow of a (1+1) free boson is formulated as a path integral over some auxiliary scalar fields. The resulting effective theory for these fields amounts to the dilaton term of non-critical string theory in two…