Related papers: Non-Supersymmetric Open String Vacua
We consider an open-string realisation of $\mathcal{N}=2\to \mathcal{N}=0$ spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. It is based on type IIB orientifold theory compactified on $T^2\times…
We investigate the D-brane contents of asymmetric orbifolds. Using T-duality we find that the consistent description of open strings in asymmetric orbifolds requires to turn on background gauge fields on the D-branes. We derive the…
The perturbative analysis of models of open and closed superstrings presents a number of surprises. For instance, variable numbers of antisymmetric tensors ensure their consistency via generalized Green-Schwarz cancellations and a novel…
After a short introduction to Matrix theory, we explain how can one generalize matrix models to describe toroidal compactifications of M-theory and the heterotic vacua with 16 supercharges. This allows us, for the first time in history, to…
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…
The effective field theory of the minimal Low Scale Orientifold Models is developed. It describes universal features of related orientifold vacua in string theory. It contains, beyond the Standard Model fields, an MSSM-like Higgs sector and…
Using the flux compactification scenario in a generic supergravity model we construct a set of conditions which are necessary to generate de-Sitter or anti de-Sitter vacua for appropriate choices of the parameters in superpotential. It is…
In this paper we study non-perturbative instabilities in Anti de-Sitter vacua arising from flux compactifications of string models with broken supersymmetry. In the semi-classical limit, these processes drive the vacua towards lower fluxes,…
We begin a search for nonsupersymmetric/supersymmetric dual string pairs by constructing candidate critical nonsupersymmetric strings as solitons in supersymmetric string theories. Using orbifold techniques, one can construct cosmic string…
We study the type II string vacua with chiral space-time SUSY constructed as asymmetric orbifolds of torus and $ K3 $ compactifications. Despite the fact that all the D-branes are non-BPS in any chiral SUSY vacua, we show that the relevant…
We study the vacuum structure of compactifications of type II string theories on orientifolds with SU(3)xSU(3) structure. We argue that generalised geometry enables us to treat these non-geometric compactifications using a supergravity…
In this short note we review the main features of open-string orbifolds with a quantised flux for the NS-NS antisymmetric tensor in the context of the open descendants of non-supersymmetric asymmetric orbifolds with a vanishing cosmological…
We investigate maximally symmetric backgrounds in nonsupersymmetric string vacua with D-branes and O-planes localized in the compact space. We find a class of solutions with a perturbative string coupling constant in all regions of…
It has recently been proposed that certain nonsupersymmetric type II orbifolds have vanishing perturbative contributions to the cosmological constant. We show that techniques of Sen and Vafa allow one to construct dual type II descriptions…
The recently discovered $O(d,d)$ symmetry of the space of slowly varying cosmological string vacua in $d+1$ dimensions is shown to be preserved in the presence of bulk string matter. The existence of $O(d,d)$ conserved currents allows all…
We advocate a framework for constructing perturbative closed string compactifications which do not have large-radius limits. The idea is to augment the class of vacua which can be described as fibrations by enlarging the monodromy group…
Spinor--Vector Duality (SVD) has been observed in worldsheet constructions of heterotic--string compactifications. Recently, its realisation in the effective field theory limit of string vacua in six and five dimensions has been…
We study two-dimensional N=(4,4) supersymmetric gauge theories which do not have classical Higgs branches, but are believed to have isolated quantum Higgs vacua. We provide arguments for the existence of such vacua based on brane dynamics…
The study of string models including both unoriented closed strings and open strings presents a number of new features when compared to the standard case of models of oriented closed strings only. We review some basic features of the…
In the first lecture, we derive the five-dimensional effective action of strongly coupled heterotic string theory for the complete (1,1) sector of the theory by performing a reduction, on a Calabi-Yau three-fold, of M-theory on S1/Z2. The…