395 research outputs found
A new maximally supersymmetric background of IIB superstring theory
We present a maximally supersymmetric IIB string background. The geometry is
that of a conformally flat lorentzian symmetric space G/K with solvable G, with
a homogeneous five-form flux. We give the explicit supergravity solution,
compute the isometries, the 32 Killing spinors, and the symmetry superalgebra,
and then discuss T-duality and the relation to M-theory.Comment: 17 page
Conformal topological Yang-Mills theory and de Sitter holography
A new topological conformal field theory in four Euclidean dimensions is
constructed from N=4 super Yang-Mills theory by twisting the whole of the
conformal group with the whole of the R-symmetry group, resulting in a theory
that is conformally invariant and has two conformally invariant BRST operators.
A curved space generalisation is found on any Riemannian 4-fold. This
formulation has local Weyl invariance and two Weyl-invariant BRST symmetries,
with an action and energy-momentum tensor that are BRST-exact. This theory is
expected to have a holographic dual in 5-dimensional de Sitter space.Comment: 34 pages, AMSTex, Reference adde
Dyonic Membranes
We present dyonic multi-membrane solutions of the N=2 D=8 supergravity theory
that serves as the effective field theory of the -compactified type II
superstring theory. The `electric' charge is fractional for generic asymptotic
values of an axion field, as for D=4 dyons. These membrane solutions are
supersymmetric, saturate a Bogomolnyi bound, fill out orbits of an
subgroup of the type II D=8 T-duality group, and are non-singular when
considered as solutions of -compactified D=11 supergravity. On
compactification to D=4, the conjectured type II/heterotic equivalence allows
the group to be reinterpreted as the S-duality group of the
toroidally compactified heterotic string and the dyonic membranes wrapped
around homology two-cycles of as S-duals of perturbative heterotic string
states.Comment: Phyzzx. 27 pp. Additional para. added to introductio
Global Aspects of T-Duality, Gauged Sigma Models and T-Folds
The gauged sigma-model argument that string backgrounds related by T-dual
give equivalent quantum theories is revisited, taking careful account of global
considerations. The topological obstructions to gauging sigma-models give rise
to obstructions to T-duality, but these are milder than those for gauging: it
is possible to T-dualise a large class of sigma-models that cannot be gauged.
For backgrounds that are torus fibrations, it is expected that T-duality can be
applied fibrewise in the general case in which there are no globally-defined
Killing vector fields, so that there is no isometry symmetry that can be
gauged; the derivation of T-duality is extended to this case. The T-duality
transformations are presented in terms of globally-defined quantities. The
generalisation to non-geometric string backgrounds is discussed, the conditions
for the T-dual background to be geometric found and the topology of T-folds
analysed.Comment: Minor corrections and addition
Intersecting S-Brane Solutions of D=11 Supergravity
We construct all possible orthogonally intersecting S-brane solutions in
11-dimensions corresponding to standard supersymmetric M-brane intersections.
It is found that the solutions can be obtained by multiplying the brane and the
transverse directions with appropriate powers of two hyperbolic functions of
time. This is the S-brane analog of the ``harmonic function rule''. The
transverse directions can be hyperbolic, flat or spherical. We also discuss
some properties of these solutions.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, a reference adde
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
Compactifications with S-Duality Twists
We consider generalised Scherk Schwarz reductions of supergravity and
superstring theories with twists by electromagnetic dualities that are
symmetries of the equations of motion but not of the action, such as the
S-duality of D=4, N=4 super-Yang-Mills coupled to supergravity. The reduction
cannot be done on the action itself, but must be done either on the field
equations or on a duality invariant form of the action, such as one in the
doubled formalism in which potentials are introduced for both electric and
magnetic fields. The resulting theory in odd-dimensions has massive form fields
satisfying a self-duality condition . We construct such theories
in D=3,5,7.Comment: Latex, 26 pages. References adde
N=2 structures on solvable Lie algebras: the c=9 classification
Let G be a finite-dimensional Lie algebra (not necessarily semisimple). It is
known that if G is self-dual (that is, if it possesses an invariant metric)
then there is a canonical N=1 superconformal algebra associated to its N=1
affinization---that is, it admits an N=1 (affine) Sugawara construction. Under
certain additional hypotheses, this N=1 structure admits an N=2 extension. If
this is the case, G is said to possess an N=2 structure. It is also known that
an N=2 structure on a self-dual Lie algebra G is equivalent to a vector space
decomposition G = G_+ \oplus G_- where G_\pm are isotropic Lie subalgebras. In
other words, N=2 structures on G are in one-to-one correspondence with Manin
triples (G,G_+,G_-). In this paper we exploit this correspondence to obtain a
classification of the c=9 N=2 structures on self-dual solvable Lie algebras. In
the process we also give some simple proofs for a variety of Lie algebraic
results concerning self-dual Lie algebras admitting symplectic or K\"ahler
structures.Comment: 49 pages in 2 columns (=25 physical pages), (uufiles-gz-9)'d .dvi
file (uses AMSFonts 2.1+). Revision: Added 1 reference, corrected typos,
added some more materia
Static, non-SUSY -branes in diverse dimensions
We give explicit constructions of static, non-supersymmetric -brane (for
, where is the space-time dimensionality and including
or D-instanton) solutions of type II supergravities in diverse dimensions. A
subclass of these are the static counterpart of the time dependent solutions
obtained in [hep-th/0309202]. Depending on the forms of the non-extremality
function defined in the text, we discuss various possible solutions and
their region of validity. We show how one class of these solutions interpolate
between the -brane--anti -brane solutions and the usual BPS -brane
solutions in , while the other class, although have BPS limits, do not
have such an interpretation. We point out how the time dependent solutions
mentioned above can be obtained by a Wick rotation of one class of these static
solutions. We also discuss another type of solutions which might seem
non-supersymmetric, but we show by a coordinate transformation that they are
nothing but the near horizon limits of the various BPS -branes already
known.Comment: 29 pages, typos corrected, references adde
Twisted K-Theory from Monodromies
RR fluxes representing different cohomology classes may correspond to the
same twisted K-theory class. We argue that such fluxes are related by
monodromies, generalizing and sometimes T-dual to the familiar monodromies of a
D7-brane. A generalized theta angle is also transformed, but changes by a
multiple of 2pi. As an application, NS5-brane monodromies modify the twisted
K-theory classification of fluxes. Furthermore, in the noncompact case K-theory
does not distinguish flux configurations in which dG is nontrivial in compactly
supported cohomology. Such fluxes are realized as the decay products of
unstable D-branes that wrapped nontrivial cycles. This is interpreted using the
E8 bundle formalism.Comment: 24 Pages, 6 eps figure
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