BPS States, String Duality, and Nodal Curves on K3

We describe the counting of BPS states of Type II strings on K3 by relating the supersymmetric cycles of genus $g$ to the number of rational curves with $g$ double points on K3. The generating function for the number of such curves is the left-moving partition function of the bosonic string.Comment: 12 pages, harvma

D-Branes and Topological Field Theories

In the presence of a D-brane a string theory develops a new subsector. We show that for curved D-branes the corresponding sector is a (partially twisted) topological field theory. We use this result to compute the degeneracy of 2-branes wrapped around $K3$ cycles as well as 3-branes wrapped around CY threefold vanishing 3-cycles. In both cases we find the degeneracy is in accord with expectation. The counting of BPS states of a gas of 0-branes in the presence of a 4-brane in $K3$ is considered and it is noted that the effective 0-brane charge is shifted by 1, due to a quantum correction. This is in accord with string duality and the fact that left-moving ground state energy of heterotic string starts at $-1$. We also show that all the three different topological twistings of four dimensional $N=4$ Yang-Mills theory do arise from curved three-branes embedded in different spaces (Calabi-Yau manifolds and manifolds with exceptional holonomy groups).Comment: 22 page

D-Brane Boundary State Dynamics

We construct the open string boundary states corresponding to various time-dependent deformations of the D-brane and explore several ways in which they may be used to study stringy soliton collective coordinate quantum dynamics. Among other things, we find that D-strings have exact moduli corresponding to arbitrary chiral excitations of the basic soliton. These are presumably the duals of the BPS-saturated excitations of the fundamental Type IIB string. These first steps in a systematic study of the dynamics and interactions of Dirichlet-brane solitons give further evidence of the consistency of Polchinski's new approach to string soliton physics.Comment: 14 pages, harvmac; reference added, end of section 3 modifie

Classical and quantum aspects of 4 dimensional black holes

In this talk I address some aspects in the recent developments for N=2 black holes in 4 dimensions. I restrict myself on axion-free solutions that can classically be related to intersections of isotropic $D$- or $M$-branes. After reviewing of some classical properties I include corrections coming from a general cubic prepotential. On the heterotic side these are quantum corrections for these black hole solutions. Finally, I discuss a microscopic interpretation of the entropy for the extremal as well as near-extremal black hole.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure, LaTeX, small correction

D-Branes and Bundles on Elliptic Fibrations

We study the D-brane spectrum on a two-parameter Calabi-Yau model. The analysis is based on different tools in distinct regions of the moduli space: wrapped brane configurations on elliptic fibrations near the large radius limit, and SCFT boundary states at the Gepner point. We develop an explicit correspondence between these two classes of objects, suggesting that boundary states are natural quantum generalizations of bundles. We also find interesting D-brane dynamics in deep stringy regimes. The most striking example is, perhaps, that nonsupersymmetric D6-D0 and D4-D2 large radius configurations become stable BPS states at the Gepner point.Comment: 22 page

Four Dimensional String/String/String Triality

In six spacetime dimensions, the heterotic string is dual to a Type $IIA$ string. On further toroidal compactification to four spacetime dimensions, the heterotic string acquires an SL(2,\BbbZ)_S strong/weak coupling duality and an SL(2,\BbbZ)_T \times SL(2,\BbbZ)_U target space duality acting on the dilaton/axion, complex Kahler form and the complex structure fields $S,T,U$ respectively. Strong/weak duality in $D=6$ interchanges the roles of $S$ and $T$ in $D=4$ yielding a Type $IIA$ string with fields $T,S,U$. This suggests the existence of a third string (whose six-dimensional interpretation is more obscure) that interchanges the roles of $S$ and $U$. It corresponds in fact to a Type $IIB$ string with fields $U,T,S$ leading to a four-dimensional string/string/string triality. Since SL(2,\BbbZ)_S is perturbative for the Type $IIB$ string, this $D=4$ triality implies $S$-duality for the heterotic string and thus fills a gap left by $D=6$ duality. For all three strings the total symmetry is SL(2,\BbbZ)_S \times O(6,22;\BbbZ)_{TU}. The O(6,22;\BbbZ) is {\it perturbative} for the heterotic string but contains the conjectured {\it non-perturbative} SL(2,\BbbZ)_X, where $X$ is the complex scalar of the $D=10$ Type $IIB$ string. Thus four-dimensional triality also provides a (post-compactification) justification for this conjecture. We interpret the $N=4$ Bogomol'nyi spectrum from all three points of view. In particular we generalize the Sen-Schwarz formula for short multiplets to include intermediate multiplets also and discuss the corresponding black hole spectrum both for the $N=4$ theory and for a truncated $S$--$T$--$U$ symmetric $N=2$ theory. Just as the first two strings are described by the four-dimensional {\it elementary} and {\it dual solitonic} solutions, so theComment: 36 pages, Latex, 2 figures, some references changed, minor changes in formulas and tables; to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Open P-Branes

It is shown that many of the $p$-branes of type II string theory and $d=11$ supergravity can have boundaries on other $p$-branes. The rules for when this can and cannot occur are derived from charge conservation. For example it is found that membranes in $d=11$ supergravity and IIA string theory can have boundaries on fivebranes. The boundary dynamics are governed by the self-dual $d=6$ string. A collection of $N$ parallel fivebranes contains \half N(N-1) self-dual strings which become tensionless as the fivebranes approach one another.Comment: harvmac, 8 page

Nonperturbative Effects in Noncritical Strings with Soliton Backgrounds

We explicitly construct soliton operators in $D<2$ (or $c<1$) string theory, and show that the Schwinger-Dyson equations allow solutions with these solitons as backgrounds. The dominant contributions from 1-soliton background are explicitly evaluated in the weak coupling limit, and shown to agree with the nonperturbative analysis of string equations. We suggest that fermions should be treated as fundamental dynamical variables since both macroscopic loops and solitons are constructed in their bilinear forms.Comment: 15 pages + 1 eps figure, LaTeX, Minor Change

D-brane Analyses for BPS Mass Spectra and U-duality

We give a confirmation of U-duality of type II superstring by discussing mass spectrum of the BPS states. We first evaluate the mass spectrum of BPS solitons with one kind of R-R charges. Our analysis is based on the 1-loop effective action of D-brane, which is known as ``Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action'', and the fact that BPS states correspond to the SUSY cycles with minimal volumes. We show the mass formula derived in this manner is completely fitted with that given by U-duality. We further discuss the cases of BPS solitons possessing several kinds of R-R charges. These are cases of ``intersecting D-branes'', which cannot be described by simple DBI actions. We claim that, in these cases, higher loop corrections should be incorporated as binding energies between the branes. It is remarkable that the summation of the contributions from all loops reproduces the correct mass formula predicted by U-duality.Comment: 44 pages, Latex, 9 figures (eps. files), Analyses based on M-theory are added. final version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

BPS states and supersymmetric index in N=2 type I string vacua

We study the moduli dependence of a class of couplings in $K3\times T^2$ compactifications of type I string theory, for which one-loop amplitudes can be written in terms of an N=2 supersymmetric index. This index is determined for generic models as a function of the BPS spectrum. As an application we compute the one-loop moduli dependence of the $F_g W^{2g}$ couplings, where W is the N=2 gravitational superfield, for type I compactifications based on the Gimon-Johnson K3 orientifolds, showing explicitly their dependence on the aforementioned index.Comment: LaTex file, 26 pages, no figures, references added and typographical errors correcte