Related papers: `Desert' in Energy or Transverse Space?
We argue for the existence of phase transitions in $3+1$ dimensions associated with the appearance of tensionless strings. The massless spectrum of this theory does not contain a graviton: it consists of one $N=2$ vector multiplet and one…
We provide a short overview of recent progress made in our understanding of the dark sector based on the Swampland program which in turn is rooted in lessons from string theory. We explain how the existence of one extra mesoscopic dimension…
We use string duality to describe instanton induced spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications with additional background fields. Dynamical supersymmetry breaking by space-time instantons in the heterotic string theory…
This is a very brief survey of some results in the geometry of string duality delivered at a lecture given at ICM 1998, Berlin. String Duality is the statement that one kind of string theory compactified on one space is equivalent in some…
Many candidate models for dark energy are based on the existence of a classical scalar field. In the context of Quantum Field Theory (QFT), we briefly discus the condensation of such a field from a light quantum scalar field produced by…
Amidst all candidates of physics beyond the Standard Model, string theory provides a unique proposal for incorporating gauge and gravitational interactions. In string theory, a four-dimensional theory that unifies quantum mechanics and…
We study compactifications of the $N=2$ 6D tensionless string on various complex two-folds down to two-dimensions. In the IR limit they become non-trivial conformal field theories in 2D. Using results of Vafa and Witten on the partition…
We consider a five-dimensional brane world scenario where the fifth dimension is compactified on $S^1/Z_2$. We show that the familiar four-dimensional cosmology on our brane is easily recovered during a primordial stage of inflation if…
In string compactification on a manifold X, in addition to the string scale and the normal scales of low-energy particle physics, there is a Kaluza-Klein scale 1/R associated with the size of X. We present an argument that generic string…
Duality symmetries in M--theory and string theory are reviewed, with particular emphasis on the way in which string winding modes and brane wrapping modes can lead to new spatial dimensions. Brane world-volumes wrapping around Lorentzian…
Axions, grand unification, and string theory are each compelling extensions of the Standard Model. We show that combining these frameworks imposes strong constraints on the QCD axion mass. Using unitarity arguments and explicit string…
We discuss the singularities in the moduli space of string compactifications to six dimensions with $N=1$ supersymmetry. Such singularities arise from either massless particles or non-critical tensionless strings. The points with…
In these lecture notes, an introduction to superstring theory is presented. Classical strings, covariant and light-cone quantization, supersymmetric strings, anomaly cancelation, compactification, T-duality, supersymmetry breaking, and…
Cosmic strings, a hot subject in the 1980's and early 1990's, lost its appeal when it was found that it leads to inconsistencies in the power spectrum of the measured cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies. However,…
The study of the so called brane world models has introduced completely new ways of looking up on standard problems in many areas of theoretical physics. Inspired in the recent developments of string theory, the Brane World picture involves…
The observation in the universe of a small but positive vacuum energy strongly suggests, in the string landscape picture, that there will ultimately be a phase transition to an exactly supersymmetric universe. This ground state or "true…
This thesis is devoted to the study of a class of constructions based on Superstring Theory, baptized in the literature as Intersecting Brane Worlds. In particular we explore several issues regarding the proposal of Intersecting Brane…
This article briefly summarizes and reviews the motivations for - and the present status of - the proposal that the small size of the observed Dark Energy density can be understood in terms of the dynamical relaxation of two large extra…
The supersymmetric particle spectrum is calculated in type I string theories formulated as orientifold compactifications of type IIB string theory. A string scale at an intermediate value of $10^{11}-10^{12}$ GeV is assumed and extra…
We investigate some classical aspects of fundamental strings via numerical experiments. In particular, we study the thermodynamics of a string network within a toroidal universe, as a function of string energy density and space…