Related papers: M-theory and N=2 Strings
String theory and supersymmetry are theoretical ideas that go beyond the standard model of particle physics and show promise for unifying all forces. After a brief introduction to supersymmetry, we discuss the prospects for its experimental…
M-theory on ${\mathbf{S}}^1\vee{\mathbf{S}}^1$ has recently been proposed to yield, via quotients, ten-dimensional non-supersymmetric string theories. We revisit the construction that leads to the heterotic theories, finding a consistent…
This PhD-thesis reviews matrix string theory and recent developments therein. Emphasis is put on symmetries, interactions and scattering processes in the matrix model. We start with an introduction to matrix string theory and a review of…
In the past three years our views on how the standard model of particle physics could be embedded into string theory have dramatically changed. The heterotic string is no longer the only possibility for such an embedding and other…
I suggest the possibility of a new string in ten dimensions. Evidence for this string is presented both from orientifold physics and from K-theory, along with a mystery concerning the M-theory description. Motivated by this possibility,…
We study the three string junctions and string networks in Type IIB string theory by explicity constructing the holomorphic embeddings of the M-theory membrane that describe such configurations. The main feature of them such as…
We construct solitonic string solutions of N=2 four-dimensional heterotic models of rank three, four and five. These finite energy configurations have constant dilaton while the moduli fields vary over space-time with jumps at the location…
The non-perturbative equivalence of four-dimensional N=2 superstrings with three vector multiplets and four hypermultiplets is analysed. These models are obtained through freely acting orbifold compactifications from the heterotic, the…
The well known N=2 string theory describes self-dual gravity, as was shown by Ooguri and Vafa sometime ago. In search of a variant of this theory which would describe self-dual supergravity in 2+2 dimensions, we have constructed two new N=2…
This thesis studies meta- and exactly stable supersymmetry breaking mechanisms in heterotic and type IIB string theories and constructs an F-theory Grand Unified Theory model for neutrino physics in which neutrino mass is determined by the…
We identify the 4D field theories living on the world volume of D4 branes in non-supersymmetric type IIA string theory constructions. They are softly broken N=2 SQCD with the breakings introduced through vevs of the auxilliary fields in the…
We construct the action for N M2-branes on $S^1/{Z}_2$. The resulting theory has a gauge anomaly but this can be cancelled if the two fixed point planes each support 8 chiral Fermions in the fundamental of U(N). Taking the low energy limit…
We present string duals of four dimensional N=2 pure SU(N) SYM theory. The theory is obtained as the low energy limit of D5-branes wrapped on non-trivial two-cycles. Using seven dimensional gauged supergravity and uplifting the result to…
Matrix string theory is equivalent to type IIA superstring theory in the light-cone gauge, together with extra degrees of freedom representing D-brane states. It is therefore the appropriate framework in which to study systems of multiple…
We construct a hierarchy of supersymmetric string theories by showing that the general N-extended superstrings may be viewed as a special class of the (N+1)-extended superstrings. As a side result, we find a twisted (N+2) superconformal…
The heterotic string occurs as a soliton of the type I superstring in ten dimensions, supporting the conjecture that these two theories are equivalent. The conjecture that the type IIB string is self-dual, with the strong coupling dynamics…
We consider a conformal system of a string and a particle defined in D=10+2 space-time dimensions. The extra time-like dimension is a gauge artifact and can be eliminated by choosing a gauge in which the SO(10,1) Lorentz symmetry is…
String theory in two-dimensional spacetime illuminates two main threads of recent development in string theory: (1) Open/closed string duality, and (2) Tachyon condensation. In two dimensions, many aspects of these phenomena can be explored…
We describe the structure of string vacuum states in the supersymmetric matrix model for M theory compactified on a circle in the large-N limit. We show that the theory admits topological instanton field configurations which at…
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…