arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Ashoke Sen.
Type IIB string theory admits a BPS configuration in which three strings (of different type) meet at a point. Using this three string configuration we construct a string network and study its properties. In particular we prove supersymmetry of this configuration. We also consider string lattices, which can be used to construct BPS states in toroidally compactified string theory.
The Hamiltonian describing Matrix theory on T^n is identified with the Hamiltonian describing the dynamics of D0-branes on T^n in an appropriate weak coupling limit for all n up to 5. New subtleties arise in taking this weak coupling limit for n=6, since the transverse size of the D0 brane system blows up in this limit. This can be attributed to the appearance of extra light states in the theory from wrapped D6 branes. This subtlety is related to the difficulty in finding a Matrix formulation of M-theory on T^6.
We show how F-theory on a Calabi-Yau (n+1)-fold, in appropriate limit, can be identified as an orientifold of type IIB string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau n-fold.
We study some aspects of the strong coupling dynamics of Dirichlet six branes, anti- six branes, and orientifold planes by using the equivalence of type IIA string theory and M-theory on S^1. In the strong coupling limit there exists static configuration of brane and anti-brane at arbitrary separation, suspended in an external magnetic field. The mass of the open string stretched between the brane and the anti-brane approaches a finite positive value even when the branes coincide. Similar result is obtained for a Dirichlet six brane on top of an orientifold six plane. We also derive the anomalous gravitational interaction on the brane and the orientifold plane from M-theory.
Two different mechanisms exist in non-perturbative String / M- theory for enhanced SU(N) (SO(2N)) gauge symmetries. It can appear in type IIA string theory or M-theory near an $A_{N-1}$ (D_N) type singularity where membrnes wrapped around two cycles become massless, or it can appear due to coincident D-branes (and orientifold planes) where open strings stretched between D-branes become massless. In this paper we exhibit the relationship between these two mechanisms by displaying a configuration in M-theory, which, in one limit, can be regarded as membranes wrapped around two cycles with $A_{N-1}$ (D_N) type intersection matrix, and in another limit, can be regarded as open strings stretched between N Dirichlet 6-branes (in the presence of an orientifold plane).
We analyse the world-volume theory of multiple Kaluza-Klein monopoles in string and M-theory by identifying the appropriate zero modes of various fields. The results are consistent with supersymmetry, and all conjectured duality symmetries. In particular for M-theory and type IIA string theory, the low energy dynamics of N Kaluza-Klein monopoles is described by supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory, and for type IIB string theory, the low energy dynamics is described by a (2,0) supersymmetric field theory in (5+1) dimensions with N tensor multiplets and tensionless self-dual strings. It is also argued that for the Kaluza-Klein monopoles in heterotic string theory, the apparently flat moduli space gets converted to the moduli space of BPS monopoles in SU(2) gauge theory when higher derivative corrections to the supergravity equations of motion are taken into account.
S-duality of hetertotic / type II string theory compactified on a six dimensional torus requires the existence of Kaluza-Klein dyons, carrying winding charge. We identify the zero modes of the Kaluza-Klein monopole solution which are responsible for these dyonic excitations, and show that we get the correct degeneracy of dyons as predicted by S-duality. The self-dual harmonic two form on the Euclidean Taub-NUT space plays a crucial role in this construction.
We study certain compactifications of the type I string on K3. The three topologically distinct choices of gauge bundle for the type I theory are shown to be equivalent to type IIB orientifolds with different choices of background anti-symmetric tensor field flux. Using a mirror transformation, we relate these models to orientifolds with fixed seven planes, and without any antisymmetric tensor field flux. This map allows us to relate these type I vacua to particular six-dimensional F theory and heterotic string compactifications.
We show how an F-theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau (n+1)-fold in appropriate weak coupling limit reduces formally to an orientifold of type IIB theory compactified on an auxiliary complex n-fold. In some cases (but not always) if the original (n+1)-fold is singular, then the auxiliary n-fold is also singular. We illustrate this by analysing F-theory on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau 3-folds on base $F_n$.
We establish the equivalence of the Gimon-Polchinski orientifold and F-theory on an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau three fold on base $CP^1 \times CP^1$ by comparing the gauge symmetry breaking pattern, local deformations in the moduli space, as well as the axion-dilaton background in the weak coupling limit in the two theories. We also provide an explanation for an apparent discrepancy between the F-theory and the orientifold results for constant coupling configuration.
A T-dual version of the Gimon-Polchinski orientifold can be described by a configuration of intersecting Dirichlet seven branes and orientifold seven planes in the classical limit. We study modification of this background due to quantum corrections. It is shown that non-perturbative effects split each orientifold plane into a pair of nearly parallel seven branes. Furthermore, a pair of intersecting orientifold planes, instead of giving rise to two pairs of intersecting seven branes, gives just one pair of seven branes, each representing a pair of nearly orthogonal seven branes smoothly joined to each other near the would be intersection point. Interpretation of these results from the point of view of the dynamics on a three brane probe is also discussed.
We argue that all conjectured dualities involving various string, M- and F- theory compactifications can be `derived' from the conjectured duality between type I and SO(32) heterotic string theory, T-dualities, and the definition of M- and F- theories. (Based on a talk given at the conference on `Advanced Quantum Field Theory', Le Londe-les-Maures, France, Aug.31-Sept.5, 1996, in memory of Claude Itzykson)
Recently Banks, Douglas and Seiberg have shown that the world volume theory of a three brane of the type IIB theory in the presence of a configuration of four Dirichlet seven branes and an orientifold plane is described by an N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theory with four quark flavours in 3+1 dimensions. In this note we show how the BPS mass formula for N=2 supersymmetric gauge theory arises from masses of open strings stretched between the three brane and the seven brane along appropriate geodesics.
By analyzing $F$-theory on $K3$ near the orbifold limit of $K3$ we establish the equivalence between $F$-theory on $K3$ and an orientifold of type IIB on $T^2$, which in turn, is related by a T-duality transformation to type I theory on $T^2$. By analyzing the $F$-theory background away from the orbifold limit, we show that non-perturbative effects in the orientifold theory splits an orientifold plane into two planes, with non-trivial SL(2,Z) monodromy around each of them. The mathematical description of this phenomenon is identical to the Seiberg-Witten result for N=2 supersymmetric $SU(2)$ gauge theory with four quark flavors. Points of enhanced gauge symmetry in the orientifold / $F$-theory are in one to one correspondence with the points of enhanced global symmetry in the Seiberg-Witten theory.
We construct several examples where duality transformation commutes with the orbifolding procedure even when the orbifolding group does not act freely, and there are massless states from the twisted sector at a generic point in the moduli space. Often the matching of spectrum in the dual theories is a result of non-trivial identities satisfied by the coefficients of one loop tadpoles in the heterotic, type II and type I string theories.
It is shown that many of the conjectured dualities involving orbifold compactification of M-theory follow from the known dualities involving M-theory and string theory in ten dimensions, and the ansatz that orbifolding procedure commutes with the duality transformation. This ansatz also leads to a new duality conjecture, namely that M-theory compactified on $T^8/Z_2$ is dual to type I string theory on $T^7$. In this case the `twisted sector states' in M-theory live on sixteen membranes transverse to the internal manifold.
We analyze $M$-theory compactified on $(K3\times S^1)/Z_2$ where the $Z_2$ changes the sign of the three form gauge field, acts on $S^1$ as a parity transformation and on K3 as an involution with eight fixed points preserving SU(2) holonomy. At a generic point in the moduli space the resulting theory has as its low energy limit N=1 supergravity theory in six dimensions with eight vector, nine tensor and twenty hypermultiplets. The gauge symmetry can be enhanced (e.g. to $E_8$) at special points in the moduli space. At other special points in the moduli space tensionless strings appear in the theory.
We investigate possible existence of duality symmetries which exchange the Kaluza-Klein modes with the wrapping modes of a BPS saturated $p$-brane on a torus. Assuming the validity of the conjectured $U$-duality symmetries of type II and heterotic string theories and $M$-theory, we show that for a BPS saturated $p$-brane there is an SL(2,Z) symmetry that mixes the Kaluza-Klein modes on a $(p+1)$ dimensional torus $T^{(p+1)}$ with the wrapping modes of the $p$-brane on $T^{(p+1)}$. The field that transforms as a modular parameter under this SL(2,Z) transformation has as its real part the component of the $(p+1)$-form gauge field on $T^{(p+1)}$, and as its imaginary part the volume of $T^{(p+1)}$, measured in the metric that couples naturally to the $p$-brane.