Related papers: Orientifolds, RG Flows, and Closed String Tachyons
The c=1 matrix model, with or without a type 0 hat, has an exact quantum solution corresponding to closed string tachyon condensation along a null surface. The condensation occurs, and spacetime dissolves, at a finite retarded time on I^+.…
This talk begins with some history and basic facts about string theory and its connections with strong interactions. Comparisons of stacks of Dirichlet branes with curved backgrounds produced by them are used to motivate the AdS/CFT…
In addition to the familiar string theories with spacetime supersymmetry, there exist a number of non-supersymmetric ten-dimensional superstrings. Nearly all of these theories have closed string tachyons, indicating a misidentification of…
String theory contains sources like orientifold planes that support higher derivative interactions. These interactions make possible static flux compactifications which are forbidden in supergravity. They can also lead to violations of the…
We generalize to the case of compactified superstrings a construction given previously for critical superstrings of finite one loop amplitudes that are well-defined for all external momenta. The novel issues that arise for compactified…
We analyse the classical decay process of unstable D-branes in superstring theory using the boundary string field theory (BSFT) action. We show that the solutions of the equations of motion for the tachyon field asymptotically approach to…
We consider the problem of condensation of open string tachyon fields which have an O(D) symmetric profile. This problem is described by a boundary conformal field theory with D scalar fields on a disc perturbed by relevant boundary…
We complete the construction of vacuum string field theory by proposing a canonical choice of ghost kinetic term -- a local insertion of the ghost field at the string midpoint with an infinite normalization. This choice, supported by level…
The theory of p-adic strings is reviewed along with some of their applications, foremost among them to the tachyon condensation problem in string theory. Some open problems are discussed, in particular that of the superstring in 10…
To illustrate our recent discussions of the target space-times in general orbifold-string theories of permutation-type, we return here to a detailed analysis of some simple examples of this type, namely an explicit set of…
We study a family of unstable heterotic string theories in more than ten dimensions which are connected via tachyon condensation to the ten-dimensional supersymmetric vacuum of heterotic string theory with gauge group SO(32). Calculating…
It is generally accepted that the double-scaled 1D matrix model is equivalent to the $c=1$ string theory with tachyon condensation. There remain however puzzles that are to be clarified in order to utilize this connection for our quest…
Supercritical string theories in D>10 dimensions with no moduli are described, generalizing the asymmetric orientifold construction of one of the authors. By taking the number of dimensions to be large and turning on fluxes, dilaton…
Orientifolds of the type IIB superstring that descend from F theory and M theory orbifolds are studied perturbatively. One finds strong evidence that a previously ignored twisted open string is required in these models. An attempt is made…
The Kaluza-Klein linear dilaton background of the bosonic string and the Scherk-Schwarz linear dilaton background of the superstring are shown to be unstable to the decay of half of spacetime. The decay proceeds via a condensation of a…
Recent work has shown that unstable D-branes in two dimensional string theory are represented by eigenvalues in a dual matrix model. We elaborate on this proposal by showing how to systematically include higher order effects in string…
Certain configurations of D-branes, for example wrong dimensional branes or the brane-antibrane system, are unstable to decay. This instability is described by the appearance of a tachyonic mode in the spectrum of open strings ending on the…
We give a systematic derivation of the consistency conditions which constrain open-closed disk amplitudes of topological strings. They include the A-infinity relations (which generalize associativity of the boundary product of topological…
It has been shown recently that the background independent open string field theory provides an exact description of the tachyon condensation on unstable D-branes of bosonic string theory. In this analysis the overall normalisation of the…
We present an exact solution of superstring theory that interpolates in time between an initial type 0 phase and a final phase whose physics is exactly that of the bosonic string. The initial theory is deformed by closed-string tachyon…