Related papers: String Theory - From Physics to Metaphysics
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that may be formed at phase transitions in the very early universe. At one time they were thought to provide a possible origin for the density inhomogeneities from which galaxies eventually…
I discuss cosmological models either derived from, or inspired by, string theory or M-theory. In particular I discuss solutions in the low-energy effective theory and the role of the dilaton, moduli and antisymmetric form fields in the…
We develop the idea for a new string field theory of ours that was proposed earlier in a very rudimentary form in a talk in the Symposium of Tohwa University [1]. The main point is to describe the system of strings in the Universe by means…
We study string theory in supersymmetric time-dependent backgrounds. In the framework of general relativity, supersymmetry for spacetimes without flux implies the existence of a covariantly constant null vector, and a relatively simple form…
In the past three years our views on how the standard model of particle physics could be embedded into string theory have dramatically changed. The heterotic string is no longer the only possibility for such an embedding and other…
In an effort to promote communication between the formal and phenomenological branches of the high-energy theory community, we provide a description of some important issues in supersymmetric and string phenomenology. We describe each…
Lattice regularizations of the bosonic string allow no tachyons. This has often been viewed as the reason why these theories have never managed to make any contact to standard continuum string theories when the dimension of spacetime is…
If there is a single underlying "theory of everything" which in some limits of its "moduli space" reduces to the five weakly coupled string theories in 10D, and 11D SUGRA, then it is possible that all six of them have some common domain of…
We present a class of solvable models that resemble string theories in many respects but have a strikingly different non-perturbative sector. In particular, there are no exponentially small contributions to perturbation theory in the string…
The tensionless limit of classical string theory may be formulated as a topological theory on the world-sheet. A vector density carries geometrical information in place of an internal metric. It is found that path-integral quantization…
We briefly review three aspects of string cosmology: (1) the ``stochastic'' approach to the pre-big bang scenario, (2) the presence of chaos in the generic cosmological solutions of the tree-level low-energy effective actions coming out of…
In this lecture I make some educated guesses, about the landscape of string theory vacua. Based on the recent work of a number of authors, it seems plausible that the lanscape is unimaginably large and diverse. Whether we like it or not,…
New physics beyond the Standard Model can give rise to stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds, for example through cosmic strings. In this way, gravitational-wave searches with pulsar-timing arrays as well as existing and future laser…
Superstring theory involves a single unifying superstring current for bosons and fermions that in the low-energy limit generalizes the Klein-Gordon (not the Dirac) current. By adopting a relativistic-covariant probabilistic interpretation…
In these lectures we give a brief introduction to perturbative and non-perturbative string theory. The outline is the following: 1. Introduction to perturbative string theory 1.1 From point particle to extended objects 1.2 Free closed and…
We review the idea of our earlier proposed string field theory \cite{early1,early2,ourappear}, which makes the second quantized string theory appear as described by one or two types of stationary - so called - "objects" for string theories…
We elaborate on a string world-sheet connection to flat space-time holography. More specifically, in the high energy (zero tension) limit of tree-level string scattering in flat backgrounds the underlying string world-sheets can be related…
The two major goals in fundamental physics are: 1) Unification of all forces incorporating relativity and quantum theory, 2) Understanding the origin and evolution of the Universe as well as explaining the smallness of the cosmological…
We discuss how, in a Universe restricted to the causal region connected to the observer, General Relativity implies the quantum nature of physical phenomena and directly leads to a string theory scenario, whose dynamics is ruled by a…
We consider, in a string theory framework, physical processes of phenomenological interest in models with a low string scale. The amplitudes we study involve tree-level virtual gravitational exchange, divergent in a field-theoretical…