Non-Abelian Duality for Open Strings

We examine non-abelian duality transformations in the open string case. After gauging the isometries of the target space and developing the general formalism, we study in details the duals oftarget spaces with SO(N) isometries which, for the SO(2) case, reduces to the known abelian T-duals. We apply the formalism to electrically and magnetically charged 4D black hole solutions and, as in the abelian case, dual coordinates satisfy Dirichlet conditions.Comment: 18 pages, Latex. Some formulas are added. Final version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Dynamical Instability of Self-Tuning Solution with Antisymmetric Tensor Field

We consider the dynamical stability of a static brane model that incorporates a three-index antisymmetric tensor field and has recently been proposed as a possible solution to the cosmological constant problem. Ultimately, we are able to establish the existence of time-dependent, purely gravitational perturbations. As a consequence, the static solution of interest is ``dangerously'' located at an unstable saddle point. This outcome is suggestive of a hidden fine tuning in what is an otherwise self-tuning model.Comment: 16 Pages, Latex; Discussion added but conclusions unchange

Semiclassical quantization of rotating superstring in AdS_5 x S^5

Motivated by recent proposals in hep-th/0202021 and hep-th/0204051 we develop semiclassical quantization of superstring in $AdS_5 x S^5$. We start with a classical solution describing string rotating in $AdS_5$ and boosted along large circle of $S^5$. The energy of the classical solution $E$ is a function of the spin $S$ and the momentum $J$ (R-charge) which interpolates between the limiting cases S=0 and J=0 considered previously. We derive the corresponding quadratic fluctuation action for bosonic and fermionic fields from the GS string action and compute the string 1-loop (large \lambda= {R^4\over \a'^2}) correction to the classical energy spectrum in the $(S,J)$ sector. We find that the 1-loop correction to the ground-state energy does not cancel for non-zero $S$. For large $S$ it scales as $\ln S$, i.e. as the classical term, with no higher powers of $\ln S$ appearing. This supports the conjecture made in hep-th/0204051 that the classical $E-S = a \ln S$ scaling can be interpolated to weak coupling to reproduce the corresponding operator anomalous dimension behaviour in gauge theory.Comment: harvmac, 35p. v2,3: minor corrections; v4: added remarks about higher-loop corrections in section 4 and an argument suggesting the absence of higher than log S corrections to the energy to all orders in string tension in section 6.1; v5: factor 1/2 misprints corrected in eqs. (6.6) and (6.8) and thus in (6.5) and (6.9

A note on brane cosmology

We derive a new class of time-dependent solutions for the Randall-Sundrum model by patching together isometries broken by the brane. Solutions generated by generalized boosts along the fifth dimension are associated with localized gravity and lead to an effective Friedman equation on the brane with a scale factor exhibiting power law or exponential behaviour. The effective energy-density on the brane depends linearly on the brane tension.Comment: 10 pages, references adde

Can Inflation Induce Supersymmetry Breaking in a Metastable Vacuum?

We argue that fields responsible for inflation and supersymmetry breaking are connected by gravitational couplings. In view of the recent progress in studying supersymmetry breaking in a metastable vacuum, we have shown that in models of supersymmetric hybrid inflation, where R-symmetry plays an important role, the scale of supersymmetry breaking is generated dynamically at the end of inflation and turns out to be consistent with gravity mediation.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, Footnote and references added, Journal versio

Wilson loops from supergravity and string theory

We present a theorem that determines the value of the Wilson loop associated with a Nambu-Goto action which generalizes the action of the $AdS_5\times S_5$ model. In particular we derive sufficient conditions for confining behavior. We then apply this theorem to various string models. We go beyond the classical string picture by incorporating quadratic quantum fluctuations. We show that the bosonic determinant of $D_p$ branes with 16 supersymmetries yields a Luscher term. We confirm that the free energy associated with a BPS configuration of a single quark is free from divergences. We show that unlike for a string in flat space time in the case of $AdS_5\times S_5$ the fermionic determinant does not cancel the bosonic one. For a setup that corresponds to a confining gauge theory the correction to the potential is attractive. We determine the form of the Wilson loop for actions that include non trivial $B_{\mu\nu}$ field. The issue of an exact determination of the value of the stringy Wilson loop is discussed. Talk presented in string 99 Potsdam.Comment: 12 pages Late

Model for self-tuning the cosmological constant

The vanishing cosmological constant in the four dimensional space-time is obtained in a 5D Randall-Sundrum model with a brane (B1) located at $y=0$. The matter fields can be located at the brane. For settling any vacuum energy generated at the brane to zero, we need a three index antisymmetric tensor field $A_{MNP}$ with a specific form for the Lagrangian. For the self-tuning mechanism, the bulk cosmological constant should be negative.Comment: LaTeX file of 4 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Brane gravity, massless bulk scalar and self-tuning of the cosmological constant

We show that a self-tuning mechanism of the cosmological constant could work in 5D non-compact space-time with a $Z_2$ symmetry in the presence of a massless scalar field. The standard model matter fields live only on the 4D brane. The change of vacuum energy on the brane (brane cosmological constant) by, for instance, electroweak and QCD phase transitions, just gives rise to dynamical shifts of the profiles of the background metric and the scalar field in the extra dimension, keeping 4D space-time flat without any fine-tuning. To avoid naked singularities in the bulk, the brane cosmological constant should be negative. We introduce an additional brane-localized 4D Einstein-Hilbert term so as to provide the observed 4D gravity with the non-compact extra dimension. With a general form of brane-localized gravity term allowed by the symmetries, the low energy Einstein gravity is successfully reproduced on the brane at long distances. We show this phenomenon explicitly for the case of vanishing bulk cosmological constant.Comment: 1+15 pages, no figure, Version to appear in PR