Related papers: Strong/Weak Coupling Duality Relations for Non-Sup…
We chart the classical moduli space of heterotic strings with broken supersymmetry a la Scherk-Schwarz and gauge group rank reduced by 8 in eight dimensions. This space consists of four connected components, each with its own characteristic…
We study the strong coupling dynamics of the heterotic E_8 x E_8 string theory on the orbifolds T^6/Z_3 and C^3/Z_3 using the duality with the Horava-Witten M-theory picture. This leads us to a conjecture about the low energy description of…
We use the free fermionic formulation of the heterotic-string in four dimensions to study the vacuum structure and energy of non-supersymmetric tachyon free models that correspond to compactifications of tachyonic vacua of the ten…
Geometric structures and dualities arise naturally in quantum field theories and string theory. In fact, these tools become very useful when studying strong coupling effects, where standard perturbative techniques can no longer be used. In…
The crossover transition from weak coupling at large \xi to strong coupling at small \xi is studied in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theory with the U(N) gauge group and N_f>N (here \xi is the Fayet--Iliopoulos parameter). We find that at strong…
We consider the methods by which higher-level and non-simply laced gauge symmetries can be realized in free-field heterotic string theory. We show that all such realizations have a common underlying feature, namely a dimensional truncation…
Some relationships between string theories and eleven-dimensional supergravity are discussed and reviewed. We see how some relationships can be derived from others. The cases of N=2 supersymmetry in nine dimensions and N=4 supersymmetry in…
We consider an eleven dimensional supergravity compactified on $K3\times T^2$ and show that the resulting five dimensional theory has identical massless states as that of heterotic string compactified on a specific five torus $T^5$. The…
We show that the one loop amplitudes of open and closed string theory in a constant background two-form tensor field are characterized by an effective string tension larger than the fundamental string tension, and by the appearance of…
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…
In this review I discuss various aspects of some of the recently constructed black hole and soliton solutions in string theory. I begin with the axionic instanton and related solutions of bosonic and heterotic string theory. The latter…
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…
This talk is divided into two parts. The first part reviews some of the duality relationships between superstring theories. These relationships are interpreted as providing evidence for the existence of a unique underlying fundamental…
In a certain strong coupling limit, compactification of the $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string on a Calabi-Yau manifold $X$ can be described by an eleven-dimensional theory compactified on $X\times \S^1/\Z_2$. In this limit, the usual…
We analyze the strong coupling behavior of the large N gauge theories in 4-dimensions with N=4 supersymmetry by making use of S-duality. We show that at large values of the coupling constant $\lambda=g_{YM}^2N$ the j-th non-planar amplitude…
We propose an exotic geometric M-theory dual for the weak coupling Type 0A string: compactification on a sub-Planckian $S^1\vee S^1$ (two circles connected at a point), where strong quantum effects lead to fields living on distinct…
Motivated by closed string perturbation theory arguments by S. Shenker, we consider non-perturbative effects of characteristic strength $\mathcal{O}(e^{-1/g_{s}})$, with $g_{s}$ the closed string coupling constant, in supersymmetric…
Following recent proposal of Dijkgraaf, Verlinde and Verlinde, we show that the M(atrix) theory compactified on $S_1/Z_2$ provides with a non-perturbative description of second-quantized light-cone heterotic string. This so-called heterotic…
The equations of motion of the massless sector of the two dimensional string theory, obtained by compactifying the heterotic string theory on an eight dimensional torus, is known to have an affine o(8,24) symmetry algebra generating an…
These lectures begin by reviewing the evidence for S duality of the toroidally compactified heterotic string in 4d that was obtained in the period 1992--94. Next they review recently discovered dualities that relate all five of the 10d…