Related papers: Gravitationally dresed RG flows and zig-zag invari…
Recently, a new framework for solving the hierarchy problem has been proposed which does not rely on low energy supersymmetry or technicolor. The gravitational and gauge interactions unite at the electroweak scale, and the observed weakness…
I investigate two discrete models of random geometries, namely simplicial quantum gravity and quantum string theory. In four-dimensional simplicial quantum gravity, I show that the addition of matter gauge fields to the model is capable of…
We present a novel mechanism of supersymmetry breaking embeddable in string theory and simultaneously sharing the main advantages of (sequestered) gravity and gauge mediation. It is driven by a Scherk-Schwarz deformation along a compact…
For a smooth affine algebraic group $G$ over an algebraically closed field, we consider several two-variables generalizations of the affine Grassmannian $G(\!(t)\!)/G[\![t]\!]$, given by quotients of the double loop group…
A lattice formulation of the four dimensional Wess-Zumino model that uses Ginsparg-Wilson fermions and keeps exact supersymmetry is presented. The supersymmetry transformation that leaves invariant the action at finite lattice spacing is…
Dimensional reduction of maximal supergravity to two dimensions leads to an infinite-dimensional (non-local) symmetry group W x E_9 which has a simpler action when the bosonic fields are dualised to an infinite tower of dual potentials. We…
We construct an interaction between a (2,0) tensor multiplet in six dimensions and a self-dual string. The interaction is a sum of a Nambu-Goto term, with the tension of the string given by the modulus of the scalar fields of the tensor…
This thesis focuses on renormalization of quantum field theories. Its first part considers three tensor models in three dimensions, a Fermionic quartic with tensors of rank-3 and two Bosonic sextic, of ranks 3 and 5. We rely upon the…
We study spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum field theories with fermionic order parameters and construct, for the first time in the literature, the constraint effective potential for it. The Grassmann-valued constraint we encounter is…
An exact conformal field theory describing a four dimensional 2-brane solution is found by considering a chiral gauged Wess-Zumino -Witten theory corresponding to $SL(2, R)\times R$ , where one gauges the one dimensional $U(1)$ subgroup…
We find a large class of new supersymmetric $AdS_5$ black strings from five-dimensional $N=4$ gauged supergravity coupled to five vector multiplets with $SO(2)_D\times SO(3)\times SO(3)$ gauge group. These solutions have near horizon…
We consider static, cylindrically symmetric configurations in general relativity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) with an arbitrary gauge-invariant Lagrangian of the form $L_{em}= \Phi(F)$, $F =F_{mn}F^{mn}$. We study electric and…
The Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) requires Euclidean signature. The conformal factor of the metric then has a wrong-sign kinetic term, which has a profound effect on its RG properties. Generically for the conformal sector, complete…
Time-dependent solutions of bosonic string theory resemble renormalisation group trajectories in the space of 2d field theories: they often interpolate between repulsive and attractive static solutions. It is shown that the attractive…
The supersymmetric SO(10) GUT based on the ${\bf{210\oplus 10\oplus 120\oplus 126\oplus {\bar {126}}}}$ Higgs system provides a minimal framework for the emergence of the R-parity exact MSSM at low energies and a viable supersymmetric…
In this paper we study the general conditions that have to be met for a gauged extension of a two-dimensional bosonic sigma-model to exist. In an inversion of the usual approach of identifying a global symmetry and then promoting it to a…
It has been known for some time that generalised geometry provides a particularly elegant rewriting of the action and symmetries of 10-dimensional supergravity theories, up to the lowest nontrivial order in fermions. By exhibiting the full…
We consider an initial value problem for shell models that mimic turbulent velocity fluctuations over a geometric sequence of scales. Our goal is to study the convergence of solutions in the inviscid (more generally, vanishing…
We study the quantum stabilization of a cosmic string by a heavy fermion doublet in a reduced version of the standard model. We show that charged strings, obtained by populating fermionic bound state levels, become stable if the…
The target space theory of the N=(2,1) heterotic string may be interpreted as a theory of gravity coupled to matter in either $1+1$ or $2+1$ dimensions. Among the target space theories in $1+1$ dimensions are the bosonic, type II, and…