Related papers: String-Unification, Universal One-Loop Corrections…
Effective theories with the matter content of the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model below the string scale M_string predict a wrong value for the weak--mixing angle sin^2\theta_W and strong coupling constant \alpha_S at the scale M_Z.…
Some recent developments in the weakly-coupled heterotic string phenomenology are reviewed. We discuss several important issues such as dilaton/moduli stabilization, supersymmetry breaking (by hidden-sector gaugino condensation), gauge…
This is the second paper of a series of three. We construct effective open-closed superstring couplings by classically integrating out massive fields from open superstring field theories coupled to an elementary gauge invariant tadpole…
A fundamental task for the heterotic superstring theory is the determination of the effective action describing the physics of massless string excitations at low energies. This is necessary for the phenomenological applications of string…
We use recently obtained 2-loop string coupling constants to analyze a class of string models based on orbifold compactification. Assuming weak coupling at the string scale and single-scale unification leads to restrictions on the spectrum…
A recently proposed connection between closed string field and an open Wilson line defined on an arbitrary contour is further explored here. We suggest that reparametrization invariance of a Wilson line is the principle which determines the…
The R^4-type corrections to ten and eleven dimensional supergravity required by string and M-theory imply corrections to supersymmetric supergravity compactifications on manifolds of special holonomy, which deform the metric away from the…
In earlier work we proposed a string theory dual to two dimensional Yang-Mills theory at zero coupling (which can also be thought of as a $BF$ theory), given by a Polyakov-like generalization of Ho\v rava's topological rigid string theory,…
We present an overview of Gromov-Witten theory and its links with string theory compactifications, focussing on the GW potential as the generating function for topological string amplitudes at genus $g$. Restricting to Calabi-Yau target…
String theory is the leading candidate for a unified theory of the standard model and gravity. In the last few years theorists have realized that there is a unique structure underlying string theory. In this unification a prominent role is…
We find a curious duality between the bosonic sector of heterotic supergravity and the noncritical bosonic string with conformal anomaly. This allows us to map the Mink$_4\times S^3\times S^3$ vacuum of the bosonic string to a new warped…
An effective field theory approach is introduced to compute one-loop radiative corrections to the gauge couplings due to Kaluza-Klein states associated with a two-torus compactification. The results are compared with those of the string in…
The strongly coupled limit of string scattering and the automorphic construction of the graviton S-matrix is compared with the eleven dimensional formulation of M-theory. In a particular scaling limit at strong string coupling, M-theory is…
In the context of the field theory limit of superstrings, we consider an almost realistic model of supersymmetry breaking by gaugino condensation which includes, through nonperturbative corrections to the K\"ahler potential, dilaton…
We consider compactifications of the matrix model of M-theory on $S^1/Z_2\times T^d$ for $d>0$, and interpret them as orbifolds of the supersymmetric U(N) Yang-Mills theory on $R\times T^{d+1}$. The orbifold group acts both on the gauge…
We consider the class of effective supergravity theories from the weakly coupled heterotic string in which local supersymmetry is broken by gaugino condensation in a hidden sector, with dilaton stabilization achieved through corrections to…
The intersection of string theory with cosmology is unavoidable in the early universe, and its exploration may shine light on both fields. In this thesis, three papers at this intersection are presented and reviewed, with the aim of…
In this thesis the recently developed duality covariant approach to string and M-theory is investigated. In this formalism the U-duality symmetry of M-theory or T-duality symmetry of Type II string theory becomes manifest upon extending…
String theory is at the moment the only advanced approach to a unification of all interactions, including gravity. But, in spite of the more than thirty years of its existence, it does not make any empirically testable predictions, and it…
We compute the one-loop string corrections to the Wilson loop, glueball Regge trajectory and stringy hadron masses in the Witten model of non supersymmetric, large-N Yang-Mills theory. The classical string configurations corresponding to…