537 research outputs found
Cluster decomposition, T-duality, and gerby CFT's
In this paper we study CFT's associated to gerbes. These theories suffer from
a lack of cluster decomposition, but this problem can be resolved: the CFT's
are the same as CFT's for disconnected targets. Such theories also lack cluster
decomposition, but in that form, the lack is manifestly not very problematic.
In particular, we shall see that this matching of CFT's, this duality between
noneffective gaugings and sigma models on disconnected targets, is a worldsheet
duality related to T-duality. We perform a wide variety of tests of this claim,
ranging from checking partition functions at arbitrary genus to D-branes to
mirror symmetry. We also discuss a number of applications of these results,
including predictions for quantum cohomology and Gromov-Witten theory and
additional physical understanding of the geometric Langlands program.Comment: 61 pages, LaTeX; v2,3: typos fixed; v4: writing improved in several
sections; v5: typos fixe
Dynamical Cobordisms in General Relativity and String Theory
We describe a class of time-dependent solutions in string- or M-theory that
are exact with respect to alpha-prime and curvature corrections and interpolate
in physical space between regions in which the low energy physics is
well-approximated by different string theories and string compactifications.
The regions are connected by expanding "domain walls" but are not separated by
causal horizons, and physical excitations can propagate between them. As
specific examples we construct solutions that interpolate between oriented and
unoriented string theories, and also between type II and heterotic theories.
Our solutions can be weakly curved and under perturbative control everywhere
and can asymptote to supersymmetric at late times.Comment: 35 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX v2: reference adde
Sums over topological sectors and quantization of Fayet-Iliopoulos parameters
In this paper we discuss quantization of the Fayet-Iliopoulos parameter in
supergravity theories with altered nonperturbative sectors, which were recently
used to argue a fractional quantization condition. Nonlinear sigma models with
altered nonperturbative sectors are the same as nonlinear sigma models on
special stacks known as gerbes. After reviewing the existing results on such
theories in two dimensions, we discuss examples of gerby moduli `spaces'
appearing in four-dimensional field theory and string compactifications, and
the effect of various dualities. We discuss global topological defects arising
when a field or string theory moduli space has a gerbe structure. We also
outline how to generalize results of Bagger-Witten and more recent authors on
quantization issues in supergravities from smooth manifolds to smooth moduli
stacks, focusing particular attention on stacks that have gerbe structures.Comment: 52 pages, LaTeX; v2: typo fixe
The String Coupling Accelerates the Expansion of the Universe
Generic cosmological models in non-critical string theory have a
time-dependent dilaton background at a late epoch. The cosmological
deceleration parameter Q_0 is given by the square of the string coupling,
g_s^2, up to a negative sign. Hence the expansion of the Universe must
accelerate eventually, and the observed value of Q_0 coresponds to g_s^2 ~ 0.6.
In this scenario, the string coupling is asymptotically free at large times,
but its present rate of change is imperceptibly small.Comment: 7 page
Non-birational twisted derived equivalences in abelian GLSMs
In this paper we discuss some examples of abelian gauged linear sigma models
realizing twisted derived equivalences between non-birational spaces, and
realizing geometries in novel fashions. Examples of gauged linear sigma models
with non-birational Kahler phases are a relatively new phenomenon. Most of our
examples involve gauged linear sigma models for complete intersections of
quadric hypersurfaces, though we also discuss some more general cases and their
interpretation. We also propose a more general understanding of the
relationship between Kahler phases of gauged linear sigma models, namely that
they are related by (and realize) Kuznetsov's `homological projective duality.'
Along the way, we shall see how `noncommutative spaces' (in Kontsevich's sense)
are realized physically in gauged linear sigma models, providing examples of
new types of conformal field theories. Throughout, the physical realization of
stacks plays a key role in interpreting physical structures appearing in GLSMs,
and we find that stacks are implicitly much more common in GLSMs than
previously realized.Comment: 54 pages, LaTeX; v2: typo fixe
Towards a microscopic construction of flavour vacua from a space-time foam model
The effect on flavour oscillations of simple expanding background
space-times, motivated by some D-particle foam models, is calculated for a
toy-model of bosons with flavour degrees of freedom. The presence of D-particle
defects in the space-time, which can interact non trivially (via particle
capture) with flavoured particles in a flavour non-preserving way, generates
mixing in the effective field theory of low-energy string excitations.
Moreover, the recoil of the D-particle defect during the capture/scattering
process implies Lorentz violation, which however may be averaged to zero in
isotropic D-particle populations, but implies non-trivial effects in
correlators. Both features imply that the flavoured mixed state sees a
non-trivial flavour (Fock-space) vacuum of a type introduced earlier by Blasone
and Vitiello in a generic context of theories with mixing. We discuss the
orthogonality of the flavour vacua to the usual Fock vacua and the effect on
flavour oscillations in these backgrounds. Furthermore we analyse the equation
of state of the Flavour vacuum, and find that, for slow expansion rates induced
by D particle recoil, it is equivalent to that of a cosmological constant. Some
estimates of these novel non-perturbative contribution to the vacuum energy are
made. The contribution vanishes if the mass difference and the mixing angle of
the flavoured states vanish.Comment: 27 pages RevTex, 2 eps figures incorporate
SU(2) reductions in N=4 multidimensional supersymmetric mechanics
We perform an su(2) Hamiltonian reduction in the bosonic sector of the
su(2)-invariant action for two free (4, 4, 0) supermultiplets. As a result, we
get the five dimensional N=4 supersymmetric mechanics describing the motion of
an isospin carrying particle interacting with a Yang monopole. We provide the
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian descriptions of this system. Some possible
generalizations of the action to the cases of systems with a more general
bosonic action, a four-dimensional system which still includes eight fermionic
components, and a variant of five-dimensional N=4 mechanics constructed with
the help of the ordinary and twisted N=4 hypermultiplets were also considered.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX file, no figures; 3 references added, minor
correction
Mirage Cosmology on Unstable D3-Brane Universe
We study the geodesic motion of an unstable brane moving in a higher
dimensional bulk spacetime. The tachyon which is coupled to a U(1) gauge field
induces a non-trivial cosmological evolution. Interestingly enough, this system
exhibits a much smoother initial cosmological singularity in comparison with
former works.Comment: 6 pages. Talk at the RTN conference ``The Quest for Unification:
Theory Confronts Experiment", Corfu, Greece, Sept, 11-18, 200
D-branes in T-fold conformal field theory
We investigate boundary dynamics of orbifold conformal field theory involving
T-duality twists. Such models typically appear in contexts of non-geometric
string compactifications that are called monodrofolds or T-folds in recent
literature. We use the framework of boundary conformal field theory to analyse
the models from a microscopic world-sheet perspective. In these backgrounds
there are two kinds of D-branes that are analogous to bulk and fractional
branes in standard orbifold models. The bulk D-branes in T-folds allow
intuitive geometrical interpretations and are consistent with the classical
analysis based on the doubled torus formalism. The fractional branes, on the
other hand, are `non-geometric' at any point in the moduli space and their
geometric counterparts seem to be missing in the doubled torus analysis. We
compute cylinder amplitudes between the bulk and fractional branes, and find
that the lightest modes of the open string spectra show intriguing non-linear
dependence on the moduli (location of the brane or value of the Wilson line),
suggesting that the physics of T-folds, when D-branes are involved, could
deviate from geometric backgrounds even at low energies. We also extend our
analysis to the models with SU(2) WZW fibre at arbitrary levels.Comment: 38 pages, no figure, ams packages. Essentially the published versio
Inflation Assisted by Heterotic Axions
We explore the possibility of obtaining inflation in weakly coupled heterotic
string theory, where the model dependent axions are responsible for driving
inflation. This model can be considered as a certain extrapolation of
-inflation, and is an attempt to explicitly realize the so
called N-flation proposal in string theory. The instanton generated potential
for the axions essentially has two parameters; a natural mass scale and the
string coupling . For isotropic compactifications leading to of order
axions in the four dimensional spectrum we find that with
the observed temperature fluctuations in the
CMB are correctly reproduced. We assume an initially random distribution for
the vevs of the axions. The spectral index, , is generically more red
than for -inflation. The greater the vevs, the more red the
spectral index becomes. Allowing for a wide range of vevs 55 -foldings from
the end of inflation, we find . The
tensor-to-scalar ratio, , is more sensitive to the vevs, but typically
smaller than in -inflation. Furthermore, in the regime where the
leading order theory is valid, is bounded by . The spectral index
and the tensor-to-scalar ratio are correlated. For example,
corresponds to .Comment: 1+21 pages, 2 figures, v2: Typos corrected, v3: Typos, very minor
corrections, reference added, to appear in JCA
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