803 research outputs found
Superstrings on NS5 backgrounds, deformed AdS3 and holography
We study a non-standard decoupling limit of the D1/D5-brane system, which
interpolates between the near-horizon geometry of the D1/D5 background and the
near-horizon limit of the pure D5-brane geometry. The S-dual description of
this background is actually an exactly solvable two-dimensional (worldsheet)
conformal field theory: {null-deformed SL(2,R)} x SU(2) x T^4 or K3. This model
is free of strong-coupling singularities. By a careful treatment of the
SL(2,R), based on the better-understood SL(2,R) / U(1) coset, we obtain the
full partition function for superstrings on SL(2,R) x SU(2) x K3. This allows
us to compute the partition functions for the J^3 and J^2 current-current
deformations, as well as the full line of supersymmetric null deformations,
which links the SL(2,R) conformal field theory with linear dilaton theory. The
holographic interpretation of this setup is a renormalization-group flow
between the decoupled NS5-brane world-volume theory in the ultraviolet (Little
String Theory), and the low-energy dynamics of super Yang--Mills string-like
instantons in six dimensions.Comment: JHEP style, 59 pages, 1 figure; v2: minor changes, to appear in JHE
Tree-Level Stability Without Spacetime Fermions: Novel Examples in String Theory
Is perturbative stability intimately tied with the existence of spacetime
fermions in string theory in more than two dimensions? Type 0'B string theory
in ten-dimensional flat space is a rare example of a non-tachyonic,
non-supersymmetric string theory with a purely bosonic closed string spectrum.
However, all known type 0' constructions exhibit massless NSNS tadpoles
signaling the fact that we are not expanding around a true vacuum of the
theory. In this note, we are searching for perturbatively stable examples of
type 0' string theory without massless tadpoles in backgrounds with a spatially
varying dilaton. We present two examples with this property in non-critical
string theories that exhibit four- and six-dimensional Poincare invariance. We
discuss the D-branes that can be embedded in this context and the type of gauge
theories that can be constructed in this manner. We also comment on the
embedding of these non-critical models in critical string theories and their
holographic (Little String Theory) interpretation and propose a general
conjecture for the role of asymptotic supersymmetry in perturbative string
theory.Comment: harvmac, 29 pages; v2 minor changes, version to appear in JHE
Dp Branes in PP-wave Background
Dirichlet p-branes in the background of pp waves are constructed using the
massive Green-Schwarz worldsheet action for open strings. These branes are
localized at the origin and only for preserve half the
supersymmetries. The spectrum of the brane theory is analyzed and is found to
be in agreement with the spectrum of the small fluctuations of the world-volume
super Yang-Mills theory in this background. These branes are expected to
correspond to objects that are nonperturbative in in the dual gauge theory.Comment: References added; minor correction
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