Related papers: String Theory and Quark Confinement
The loop variable approach is a proposal for a gauge invariant generalization of the sigma-model renormalization group method of obtaining equations of motion in string theory. The basic guiding principle is space-time gauge invariance…
Time-dependent solutions of supergravity and string theory are studied. The examples are obtained from de Sitter deformation of gauge/gravity dualities, analytical continuation of static solutions, and ``exactly solvable'' worldsheet…
We study the renormalization of non-commutative gauge theories with matter. As in the scalar field theory cases, there are logarithmic infrared divergences resulting from integrating out high momentum modes. In order to reproduce the…
We present a consistency condition for 8d ${\cal N} = 1$ supergravity theories with non-trivial global structure $G/Z$ for the non-Abelian gauge group, based on an anomaly involving the $Z$ 1-form center symmetry. The interplay with other…
We propose a method for measuring the string tension in gauge theories, by considering an interference effect of mesons, which is governed by a space-time area law, due to confinement. Although it is only a gedanken experiment for real…
A string background, which is in some precise sense {\em universal} (i.e., incorporating all orders in the Feynman diagram expansion), is proposed to represent pure gauge theories. S-duality at the level of the string metric is considered…
This is an invited contribution to the Special Issue of "Foundations of Physics" titled "Forty Years Of String Theory: Reflecting On the Foundations". I have been asked to assess string theory as an outsider, and to compare it with the…
We consider the dynamics of confined strings embedded in a gapless four-dimensional theory. To this end, we examine finite-tension string-like solutions to the equations of motion of the $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1$ non-linear sigma model. We…
We review some recent results on the calculation of renormalization constants in Yang-Mills theory using open bosonic strings. The technology of string amplitudes, supplemented with an appropriate continuation off the mass shell, can be…
A candidate for the confining string of gauge theories is constructed via a representation of the ultraviolet divergences of quantum field theory by a closed string dilaton insertion, computed through the soft dilaton theorem. The resulting…
String theory provides the only consistent framework so far that unifies all interactions including gravity. We discuss gravity and cosmology in string theory. Conventional notions from general relativity like geometry, topology etc. are…
We study confining strings in massive adjoint two-dimensional chromodynamics. Off-shell, as a consequence of zigzag formation, the resulting worldsheet theory provides a non-trivial dynamical realization of infinite quon statistics. Taking…
These are notes of a series of lectures on mirror symmetry and topological string theory given at the Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University. The N=2 superconformal algebra, its deformations and its chiral ring are reviewed. A…
The strong coupling limit of a quantum system is in general quite complicated, but in some cases a great simplification occurs: the strongly coupled limit is equivalent to the weakly coupled limit of some other system. In string theory…
We review the current knowledge about the theoretical foundations of the effective string theory for confining flux tubes and the comparison of the predictions to pure gauge lattice data. A concise presentation of the effective string…
We study confining strings in ${\cal{N}}=1$ supersymmetric $SU(N_c)$ Yang-Mills theory in the semiclassical regime on $\mathbb{R}^{1,2} \times \mathbb{S}^1$. Static quarks are expected to be confined by double strings composed of two domain…
We study some features of the confining string connecting a quark-anti-quark pair in Yang-Mills theory. Monte Carlo investigations of the flux tube between two static quarks in the fundamental representation show that its thickness…
We illustrate why color deconfines when chiral symmetry is restored in gauge theories with quarks in the fundamental representation, and while these transitions do not need to coincide when quarks are in the adjoint representation,…
In string theory the coupling ``constants'' appearing in the low-energy effective Lagrangian are determined by the vacuum expectation values of some (a priori) massless scalar fields (dilaton, moduli). This naturally leads one to expect a…
In these lectures I discuss various unsolved problems of string theory and their relations to quantum gravity, 3d Ising model, large N QCD, and quantum cosmology. No solutions are presented but some new and perhaps useful approaches are…