Related papers: Introduction to M Theory and AdS/CFT Duality
The past year has seen enormous progress in string theory. It has become clear that all of the different string theories are different limits of a single theory. Moreover, in certain limits, one obtains a new, eleven-dimensional structure…
Exceptional field theories are the manifestly duality covariant formulations of the target space theories of string/M-theory in the low-energy limit (supergravity) or for certain truncations. These theories feature a rich system of…
With the help of M-theory configuration of N=1 supersymmetric QCD, we analyze the strong coupling moduli of N=1 theory and its relation with S-duality transformation in N=2 supersymmetric QCD. As a result we confirm that two type-IIA…
These lectures intend to give a pedagogical introduction into some of the developments in string theory during the last years. They include perturbative T-duality and non perturbative S- and U-dualities, their unavoidable demand for…
Special solutions of string theory in supercritical dimensions can interpolate in time between theories with different numbers of spacetime dimensions (via dimension quenching) and different amounts of worldsheet supersymmetry (via…
These lectures give an introduction to duality in Quantum Field Theory. We discuss the phases of gauge theories and the implications of the electric-magnetic duality transformation to describe the mechanism of confinement. We review the…
These lectures explore what can be learnt about M-theory from its superalgebra. The first three lectures introduce the 'basic' branes of M-theory, and type II superstring theories, and show how the duality relations between them are encoded…
The first part of these lectures contains an introductory review of the AdS/CFT duality and of its tests. Applications to thermal gauge theory are also discussed briefly. The second part is devoted to a review of gauge-string dualities…
The recent developments in string theory suggest that the space-time coordinates should be generalized to non-commuting matrices. Postulating this suggestion as the fundamental geometrical principle, we formulate a candidate for covariant…
In a recent paper, Polchinski and Strassler found a string theory dual of a gauge theory with reduced supersymmetry. Motivated by their approach, we perturb the $\N=8$ theory living on a set of N M2 branes to $\N=2$, by adding fermion mass…
We show how a recently proposed large $N$ duality in the context of type IIA strings with ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry in 4 dimensions can be derived from purely geometric considerations by embedding type IIA strings in M-theory. The phase…
We review the status of duality symmetries in superstring theories. These discrete symmetries mark the striking differences between theories of pointlike objects and theories of extended objects. They prove to be very helpful in…
Duality groups of Abelian gauge theories on four manifolds and their reduction to two dimensions are considered. The duality groups include elements that relate different space-times in addition to relating different gauge-coupling…
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…
We review recent developments in the study of the AdS/CFT correspondence in lower dimensions. We start summarising the classification of AdS$_3\times$S$^2$ solutions in massive Type IIA supergravity with (0,4) supersymmetries, and the…
The duality between the type IIB superstring theory in an $AdS_5 \times S^5$ background with $N$ units of five-form flux and ${\cal N} =4$ super Yang--Mills theory with a $U(N)$ gauge group has been studied extensively. My version of the…
A manifestly S-dual, and `12 dimensional', IIB superstring action with an $Sl(2;\bR)$ doublet of `Born-Infeld' fields is presented. The M-theory origin of the 12th dimension is the M-2-brane tension, which can be regarded as the flux of a…
Input from QCD and string theory is used in order to elucidate basic features of the string theory dual of QCD, It is argued that the relevant string theory is a five-dimensional version of the type-0 superstring. The vacuum solution is…
In these lecture proceedings, we describe some of the fundamental mathematical concepts that underlie supersymmetric string theory and field theory, and their role in describing and testing dualities. In particular, we provide a pedagogical…
This article contains an overview of some recent attempts at understanding supergravity and string duals of four dimensional gauge theories using the AdS/CFT correspondence. We discuss the general philosophy underlying the various ways to…