Fundamental Strings and Black Holes

We propose a black hole thermodynamic description of highly excited charged and uncharged perturbative string states in 3+1 dimensional type II and 4+1 dimensional heterotic string theory. We also discuss the generalization to extremal and non-extremal black holes carrying magnetic charges.Comment: 25 pages, harvmac; V2: Added reference

Central Charges and U(1)RU(1)_R Symmetries in N=1{\cal N}=1 Super Yang-Mills

We use recent results of Intriligator and Wecht [hep-th/0304128] to study the phase structure of \NN=1 super Yang-Mills theory with gauge group $SU(N_c)$, a chiral superfield in the adjoint, and $N_f$ chiral superfields in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. Our discussion sheds new light on [hep-th/0304128] and supports the conjecture that the central charge $a$ decreases under RG flows and is non-negative in unitary four dimensional conformal field theories.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures; harvma

D-branes and SQCD in Non-Critical Superstring Theory

Using exact boundary conformal field theory methods we analyze the D-brane physics of a specific four-dimensional non-critical superstring theory which involves the N=2 SL(2)/U(1) Kazama-Suzuki model at level 1. Via the holographic duality of hep-th/9907178 our results are relevant for D-brane dynamics in the background of NS5-branes and D-brane dynamics near a conifold singularity. We pay special attention to a configuration of D3- and D5-branes that realizes N=1 supersymmetric QCD and discuss the massless spectrum and classical moduli of this setup in detail. We also comment briefly on the implications of this construction for the recently proposed generalization of the AdS/CFT correspondence by Klebanov and Maldacena within the setting of non-critical superstrings.Comment: harvmac, 47 pages, 6 figures; v4 same as v3 due to submission erro

Universality of Nonperturbative Effects in c<1 Noncritical String Theory

Nonperturbative effects in c<1 noncritical string theory are studied using the two-matrix model. Such effects are known to have the form fixed by the string equations but the numerical coefficients have not been known so far. Using the method proposed recently, we show that it is possible to determine the coefficients for (p,q) string theory. We find that they are indeed finite in the double scaling limit and universal in the sense that they do not depend on the detailed structure of the potential of the two-matrix model.Comment: 17 page

Non-critical Heterotic Superstrings in Various Dimensions

We construct heterotic string theories on spacetimes of the form R^{d-1,1} times N=2 linear dilaton, where d=6,4,2,0. There are two lines of supersymmetric theories descending from the two supersymmetric ten-dimensional heterotic theories. These have gauge groups which are lower rank subgroups of E_{8} times E_{8} and SO(32). On turning on a (2,2) deformation which makes the two dimensional part a smooth SL_{2}(R)/U(1) supercoset, the gauge groups get broken further. In the deformed theories, there are non-trivial moduli which are charged under the surviving gauge group in the case of d=6. We construct the marginal operators on the worldsheet corresponding to these moduli.Comment: 27 pages, harvmac. v2 reference adde

More on Superstrings in AdS(3) x N

We study superstring theories on AdS(3) x N backgrounds yielding N=2,3,4 extended superconformal symmetries in the dual boundary CFT. In each case the necessary constraints on the internal worldsheet theory N are found.Comment: JHEP style, 22 pages; v2: new references and a couple of sentences on N=1 are adde

Power-Law Inflation from the Rolling Tachyon

Modeling the potential by an inverse square law in terms of the tachyon field ($V(T)=\beta T^{-2}$) we find exact solution for spatially flat isotropic universe.We show that for $\beta>2\sqrt{3}/3$ the model undergoes power-law inflation. A way to construct other exact solutions is specified and exemplified.Comment: References added. Matches the version in print. To appear in PR

c=1 Matrix Models: Equivalences and Open-Closed String Duality

We give an explicit demonstration of the equivalence between the Normal Matrix Model (NMM) of c=1 string theory at selfdual radius and the Kontsevich-Penner (KP) model for the same string theory. We relate macroscopic loop expectation values in the NMM to condensates of the closed string tachyon, and discuss the implications for open-closed duality. As in c<1, the Kontsevich-Miwa transform between the parameters of the two theories appears to encode open-closed string duality, though our results also exhibit some interesting differences with the c<1 case. We also briefly comment on two different ways in which the Kontsevich model originates.Comment: 27 pages, latex, 1 figure, typos, discussion added, acknowledgements update

Lessons from QCD2(N→∞)QCD_2 (N\to\infty): Vacuum structure, Asymptotic Series, Instantons and all that

We discuss two dimensional $QCD (N_c\to\infty)$ with fermions in the fundamental as well as adjoint representation. We find factorial growth $\sim (g^2N_c\pi)^{2k}\frac{(2k)!(-1)^{k-1}}{(2 \pi)^{2k}}$ in the coefficients of the large order perturbative expansion. We argue that this behavior is related to classical solutions of the theory, instantons, thus it has nonperturbative origin. Phenomenologically such a growth is related to highly excited states in the spectrum. We also analyze the heavy-light quark system $Q\bar{q}$ within operator product expansion (which it turns out to be an asymptotic series). Some vacuum condensates \la\bar{q}(x_{\mu}D_{\mu})^{2n}q\ra\sim (x^2)^n\cdot n! which are responsible for this factorial growth are also discussed. We formulate some general puzzles which are not specific for 2D physics, but are inevitable features of any asymptotic expansion. We resolve these apparent puzzles within $QCD_2$ and we speculate that analogous puzzles might occur in real 4-dimensional QCD as well.Comment: latex, 26 pages. A final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Tachyon Condensation, Open-Closed Duality, Resolvents, and Minimal Bosonic and Type 0 Strings

Type 0A string theory in the (2,4k) superconformal minimal model backgrounds and the bosonic string in the (2,2k-1) conformal minimal models, while perturbatively identical in some regimes, may be distinguished non-perturbatively using double scaled matrix models. The resolvent of an associated Schrodinger operator plays three very important interconnected roles, which we explore perturbatively and non-perturbatively. On one hand, it acts as a source for placing D-branes and fluxes into the background, while on the other, it acts as a probe of the background, its first integral yielding the effective force on a scaled eigenvalue. We study this probe at disc, torus and annulus order in perturbation theory, in order to characterize the effects of D-branes and fluxes on the matrix eigenvalues. On a third hand, the integrated resolvent forms a representation of a twisted boson in an associated conformal field theory. The entire content of the closed string theory can be expressed in terms of Virasoro constraints on the partition function, which is realized as wavefunction in a coherent state of the boson. Remarkably, the D-brane or flux background is simply prepared by acting with a vertex operator of the twisted boson. This generates a number of sharp examples of open-closed duality, both old and new. We discuss whether the twisted boson conformal field theory can usefully be thought of as another holographic dual of the non-critical string theory.Comment: 37 pages, some figures, LaTe