Related papers: Linear Dilatons, NS5-branes and Holography
We investigate further the recent proposal for the form of the Matrix theory action in weak background fields. We perform DVV reduction to the multiple D0-brane action in order to find the Matrix string theory action for multiple…
It is pointed out that string-loop effects may generate matter couplings for the dilaton allowing this scalar partner of the tensorial graviton to stay massless while contributing to macroscopic gravity in a way naturally compatible with…
Gravity duals for little string theories --- which give rise to four-dimensional theories that undergo permanent confinement in the infrared --- have not been studied in great detail. We address this question in the framework of heterotic…
We discuss the notion of translation-invariant vacua for 2d chiral algebras and relate it to the notion of the associated variety. The two-dimensional chiral algebra associated to four-dimensional ${\cal N}=4$ $U(N)$ SYM has a conjectural…
We show that little string theory on S^5 can be obtained as double-scaling limits of the maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories on RxS^2 and RxS^3/Z_k. By matching the gauge theory parameters with those in the gravity duals found by…
A new method for obtaining dual string theory backgrounds is presented. Preservation of the Hamiltonian density and the energy momentum tensor induced by O(d,d)-transformations leads to a relation between dual sets of coordinate one-forms…
We study metastable nonsupersymmetric configurations in type IIA string theory, obtained by suspending D4-branes and anti-D4-branes between holomorphically curved NS5's, which are related to those of hep-th/0610249 by T-duality. When the…
String theory appears to admit a group of discrete field transformations -- called $S$ dualities -- as exact non-perturbative quantum symmetries. Mathematically, they are rather analogous to the better-known $T$ duality symmetries, which…
We give a brief overview of the string landscape and techniques used to construct string compactifications. We then explain how this motivates the notion of the swampland and review a number of conjectures that attempt to characterize…
Using twistor string theory, we engineer a gravitational holographic dual of the self-dual sector of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. This provides a top-down example of holography at zero 't Hooft coupling. Our holographic…
We motivate a relation between dark energy and the scale of new physics in weakly coupled string theory. This mixing between infrared and ultraviolet physics leads to a unique corner for real-world phenomenology: barring fine-tunings, we…
We analyze topological string theory on a two dimensional torus, focusing on symmetries in the matter sector. Even before coupling to gravity, the topological torus has an infinite number of point-like physical observables, which give rise…
The zero modes of closed strings on a torus --the torus coordinates plus dual coordinates conjugate to winding number-- parameterize a doubled torus. In closed string field theory, the string field depends on all zero-modes and so can be…
The recently found non-critical open string theories is reviewed. These open strings, noncommutative open string theories (NCOS), arise as consistent quantum theories describing the low energy theory of D-branes in a background electric…
In this thesis we investigate some aspects of the dramatic consequences of supersymmetry breaking on string vacua. In particular, we focus on the issue of vacuum stability in ten-dimensional string models with broken, or without,…
In the context of gauge/gravity duality, we verify two types of gauge theory low-energy theorems, the dilation Ward identities and the decoupling of heavy flavor. First, we provide an analytic proof of non-trivial dilation Ward identities…
We build a novel time-like coset sigma-model describing type-II superstring theory in a charged rotating black-brane background that interpolates between a locally $AdS_3$ in the IR and a linear-dilaton geometry in the UV. This allows one…
We study a $U(N)$-invariant vector+matrix chain with the color structure of a lattice gauge theory with quarks and interpret it as a theory of open andclosed strings with target space $\Z$. The string field theory is constructed as a…
Field theories with weakly coupled holographic duals, such as large N gauge theories, have a natural separation of their operators into `single-trace operators' (dual to single-particle states) and `multi-trace operators' (dual to…
The string field theory of N=(2,1) heterotic strings describes a set of self-dual Yang-Mills fields coupled to self-dual gravity in 2+2 dimensions. We show that the exact classical action for this field theory is a certain complexification…