Related papers: Unification of String Dualities
Buscher duality is a sigma-model duality, implemented by transformation of the target space. Not only in the case of a flat target space, but in a general background, should the Buscher duality reduce to the T-duality familiar in the…
We complete the proof of unitarity of (compactified) heterotic and type II string field theories by showing that in the cut diagrams only physical states appear in the sum over intermediate states. This analysis takes into account the…
The physical motivations and the basic construction rules for Type I strings and M-theory compactifications are reviewed in light of the recent developments. The first part contains the basic theoretical ingredients needed for building…
String theories should reduce to ordinary four-dimensional field theories at low energies. Yet the formulation of the two are so different that such a connection, if it exists, is not immediately obvious. With the Schwinger proper-time…
It is known that string theory compactifications leading to low energy effective theories with different chiral matter content ({\it e.g.} different numbers of standard model generations) are connected through phase transitions, described…
We investigate in the Matrix theory framework, the subgroup of dualities of the DLCQ of M-theory compactified on three-tori, which corresponds to T-duality in the auxiliary Type II string theory. We show how these dualities are realized in…
I review the appearance, within Matrix theory, of the $SL(5,Z)$ U-duality group of M-theory on $T^4$, and the duality between M-theory on K3 and the Heterotic string on $T^3$. In both cases the duality is geometrical and manifest.
It is argued that $M$-theory compactified on {\it any} of Joyce's $Spin(7)$ holonomy 8-manifolds are dual to compactifications of heterotic string theory on Joyce 7-manifolds of $G_2$ holonomy.
When the gauge groups of the two heterotic string theories are broken, over tori, to their "SO(16)x SO(16)" subgroups, the winding modes correspond to representations which are spinorial with respect to those subgroups. Globally, the two…
The R^4 terms in the effective action for M-theory compactified on a two-torus are motivated by combining one-loop results in type II superstring theories with the Sl(2,Z) duality symmetry. The conjectured expression reproduces precisely…
On compactification to six spacetime dimensions, the fundamental heterotic string admits as a soliton a dual string whose effective worldsheet action couples to the background fields of the dual formulation of six-dimensional supergravity.…
We argue that duality symmetries can be manifestly realised when theories with these symmetries are quantised using phase space quantum theory. In particular, using background fields and phase space quantum theory, we quantise the bosonic…
We review recent developments in duality symmetric string theory. We begin with the world sheet doubled formalism which describes strings in an extended space time with extra coordinates conjugate to winding modes. This formalism is…
We show that the duality between F-theory and the CHL string in seven dimensions defines algebraic correspondences between K3 surfaces polarized by the rank-ten lattices $H \oplus N$ and $H\oplus E_8(-2)$. In the special case when the…
We discuss the duality between two type I compactifications to four dimensions and an heterotic construction with spontaneous breaking of the N=4 supersymmetry to N=2. This duality allows us to gain insight into the non-perturbative…
The aim of these notes is to give recent developments in string theory. In particular, we discuss the string spectrums, compactifications, brane physics and dualities.
Superunification underwent a major paradigm shift in 1984 when eleven-dimensional supergravity was knocked off its pedestal by ten-dimensional superstrings. This last year has witnessed a new shift of equal proportions: perturbative…
Gauge symmetry enhancing, at specific points of the compactification space, is a distinguished feature of string theory. In this work we discuss the breaking of such symmetries with tools provided by Double Field Theory (DFT). As a main…
In this thesis we study compactifications of type II string theories and M-theory to four dimensions. We construct the four-dimensional N=2 supergravities that arise from compactifications of type IIA string theory and M-theory on manifolds…
We formulate a twisted version of the conjectured duality between heterotic and type I string theories. Our formulation relates the chiral part of the heterotic string with a type I topological B-model on a Calabi-Yau five-fold. We provide…