Related papers: Low-Scale Closed Strings and their Duals
In string theory, it is well known that any hard scattering amplitude inevitably suffers exponential suppression. We demonstrate that, if the string scale is M_s < 2TeV, this intrinsically stringy behavior leads to a dramatic reduction in…
In supersymmetric theories, cosmic strings produced in the early Universe often have a width of TeV scale, while the tension is much larger. In a scaling regime, an infinite cosmic string releases significant fraction of its energy in the…
We study the ``ordinary'' Scherk-Schwarz dimensional reduction of the bosonic sector of the low energy effective action of a hypothetical M-theory on $S^1 \times S^1 \cong T^2$. We thus obtain the low energy effective actions of type IIA…
In this lecture we review some of the recent developments in string theory on an introductory and qualitative level. In particular we focus on S-T-U dualities of toroidally compactified ten-dimensional string theories and outline the…
We probe a slice of the massive winding sector of bosonic string theory from toroidal compactifications of Double Field Theory (DFT). This string subsector corresponds to states containing one left and one right moving oscillators. We…
In Kaluza-Klein compactifications, some symmetries of the higher dimensional theory are preserved in lower dimensions, others are broken, and occasionally, there are symmetry enhancements. The symmetries that are enhanced by toroidal…
In the context of (0,2) gauged linear sigma models, we explore chains of perturbatively dual heterotic string compactifications. The notion of target space duality originates in non-geometric phases and can be used to generate distinct…
In this work, we aim to characterize the structure of higher-derivative corrections within low-energy Effective Field Theories (EFTs) arising from a UV-complete theory of quantum gravity. To this end, we use string theory as a laboratory…
We analyze the U-duality group for the case of a type II superstring compactified to four dimensions on a K3 surface times a torus. The various limits of this theory are considered which have interpretations as type IIA and IIB…
We show how Higgs mechanism for non-abelian N=2 gauge theories in four dimensions is geometrically realized in the context of type II strings as transitions among compactifications of Calabi-Yau threefolds. We use this result and T-duality…
We show how enhanced gauge symmetry in type II string theory compactified on a Calabi--Yau threefold arises from singularities in the geometry of the target space. When the target space of the type IIA string acquires a genus $g$ curve $C$…
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 study the compactification of the $(2,0)$ and type-II little-string theories on $S^1$, $T^2$ and $T^3$ with an R-symmetry twist that preserves half the supersymmetry. We argue that it produces the same moduli spaces of vacua as…
Four-graviton couplings in the low energy effective action of type II string vacua compactified on tori are strongly constrained by supersymmetry and U-duality. While the $R^4$ and $D^4 R^4$ couplings are known exactly in terms of…
Strong (sublattice or tower) formulations of the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) imply that, if a weakly coupled gauge theory exists, a tower of charged particles drives the theory to strong coupling at an ultraviolet scale well below the…
In recent years it has been realized that in string/$M$ theories compactified to four dimensions which satisfy cosmological constraints, it is possible to make some generic predictions for particle physics and dark matter: a non-thermal…
We investigate backgrounds of Type IIB string theory with null singularities and their duals proposed in hep-th/0602107. The dual theory is a deformed N=4 Yang-Mills theory in 3+1 dimensions with couplings dependent on a light-like…
In this paper we investigate compactifications of the type II and heterotic string on four-dimensional spaces with nongeometric monodromies. We explicitly construct backgrounds which contain the "Duality Twists" discussed by Dabholkar and…
We will report on recent advances in the understanding of non-perturbative interconnections between different string dualities. Weak-strong coupling duality (S-duality) and T-duality (symmetry under compactification on dual tori) allows one…
The low-momentum expansion of the two-loop four-graviton scattering amplitude in eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on a circle and a two-torus is considered up to terms of order S^6R^4 (where S is a Mandelstam invariant and R is…