Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

C. Bachas

Publications and source records attributed to C. Bachas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2009

Dynamics of Charged Events

In three spacetime dimensions the worldvolume of a magnetic source is a single point, an event. We make the event dynamical by regarding it as the imprint of a flux-carrying particle impinging from an extra dimension. This can be generalized to higher spacetime dimensions and to extended events. We exhibit universal observable consequences of the existence of events and argue that events are as important as particles or branes. We explain how events arise on the worldvolume of membranes in M theory, and in a Josephson junction in superconductivity.

hep-th↗
arXiv2008

Fusion of conformal interfaces

We study the fusion of conformal interfaces in the c=1 conformal field theory. We uncover an elegant structure reminiscent of that of black holes in supersymmetric theories. The role of the BPS black holes is played by topological interfaces, which (a) minimize the entropy function, (b) fix through an attractor mechanism one or both of the bulk radii, and (c) are (marginally) stable under splitting. One significant difference is that the conserved charges are logarithms of natural numbers, rather than vectors in a charge lattice, as for BPS states. Besides potential applications to condensed-matter physics and number theory, these results point to the existence of large solution-generating algebras in string theory.

hep-th↗
arXiv2002

Asymptotic symmetries of AdS2 Branes

I analyze the asymptotic symmetries of a theory of gravity in a background consisting of two patches of ${\rm AdS}_3$ spacetime glued together along an ${\rm AdS}_2$ brane. These are generated by a single Virasoro algebra, as expected from the conjectured dual description in terms of a scale-invariant interface separating two conformal field theories. Contributed to the proceedings of the Francqui Colloquium 2001: `Strings and Gravity: Tying the Forces Together .'

hep-th↗
arXiv2002

Permeable conformal walls and holography

We study conformal field theories in two dimensions separated by domain walls, which preserve at least one Virasoro algebra. We develop tools to study such domain walls, extending and clarifying the concept of `folding' discussed in the condensed-matter literature. We analyze the conditions for unbroken supersymmetry, and discuss the holographic duals in AdS3 when they exist. One of the interesting observables is the Casimir energy between a wall and an anti-wall. When these separate free scalar field theories with different target-space radii, the Casimir energy is given by the dilogarithm function of the reflection probability. The walls with holographic duals in AdS3 separate two sigma models, whose target spaces are moduli spaces of Yang-Mills instantons on T4 or K3. In the supergravity limit, the Casimir energy is computable as classical energy of a brane that connects the walls through AdS3. We compare this result with expectations from the sigma-model point of view.

hep-th↗
arXiv2001

D-branes in some near-horizon geometries

I review some properties of D-branes in the SU(2) and SL(2,R) WZW models. I comment on a potential difficulty for the realization of `warped brane worlds' in string theory. This short note is based on a talk given at the Strings'01 conference in Mumbay.

hep-th↗
arXiv2001

Nahm's equations, $N=1^*$ domain walls, and D-strings in $AdS_5 x S_5$

We consider the following two problems: classical domain walls in the $N=1^*$ mass deformation of the maximally supersymmetric Yang Mills theory, and D-strings as external magnetic sources in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence. We show that they are both described by Nahm's equations with unconventional boundary conditions, and analyze the relevant moduli space of solutions. We argue that general `fuzzy sphere' configurations of D-strings in AdS$_5$ correspond to Wilson-'t Hooft lines in higher representations of the dual SU(n) gauge theory.

hep-th↗
arXiv2001

Anti-de-Sitter D-branes

We study D-branes of the ${SL(2,\bR)}$ WZW model, and of its discrete orbifolds. Gluing the currents by group automorphisms leads to three types of D-branes: two-dimensional hyperbolic planes ($H_2$), de Sitter branes (dS$_2$), or anti-de-Sitter branes (AdS$_2$). We explain that the dS$_2$ branes are unphysical, because the electric field on their worldvolume is supercritical. By combining ${SL(2,\bR)}$ and SU(2), we exhibit a class of supersymmetric AdS$_2\times S^2$ three-brane worldvolumes, and consider their possible embeddings in the near-horizon region of stringy black holes. We point out the intriguing difference between the induced and the effective geometries of these D-branes, and speculate on its possible significance.

hep-th↗
arXiv2000

Flux Stabilization of D-branes

We explain how D-branes on group manifolds are stabilized against shrinking by quantized worldvolume U(1) fluxes. Starting from the Born-Infeld action in the case of the SU(2) group manifold we derive the masses, multiplicities and spectrum of small fluctuations of these branes, and show that they agree exactly with the predictions of conformal field theory, to all orders in the $α^\prime$ expansion. We discuss the generalization to other groups and comment on an apparent paradox: why are the `RR charges' of these branes not quantized?

hep-th↗
arXiv2000

Scales of String Theory

I review the arguments in favor of/against the traditional hypothesis that the Planck, string and compactification scales are all within a couple of orders of magnitude from each other. I explain how the extreme brane-world scenario, with TeV type I scale and two large (near millimetric) transverse dimensions, creates conditions analogous to those of the energy desert and is thus naturally singled out. I comment on the puzzle of gauge coupling unification in this context.

hep-th↗
arXiv1999

High Energy Scattering on Distant Branes

We consider the elastic scattering of two open strings living on two D-branes separated by a distance $r$. We compute the high-energy behavior of the amplitude, to leading order in string coupling, as a function of the scattering angle $ϕ$ and of the dimensionless parameter $v= r/(πα^\prime\sqrt{s})$ with $\sqrt{s}$ the center-of-mass energy. The result exhibits an interesting phase diagram in the $(v,ϕ)$ plane, with a transition at the production threshold for stretched strings at $v=1$. We also discuss some more general features of the open-string semiclassical world-sheets, and use T-duality to give a quantum tunneling interpretation of the exponential suppression at high-energy.

hep-th↗
arXiv1999

Gauge couplings in four-dimensional Type I string orbifolds

We compute threshold effects to gauge couplings in four-dimensional $Z_N$ orientifold models of type I strings with ${\cal N}=2$ and ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry, and study their dependence on the geometric moduli. We also compute the tree-level (disk) couplings of the open sector gauge fields to the twisted closed string moduli of the orbifold in various models and study their effects and that of the one-loop threshold corrections on gauge coupling unification. We interpret the results from the (supergravity) effective theory point of view and comment on the conjectured heterotic-type I duality

hep-th↗
arXiv1999

`Desert' in Energy or Transverse Space?

I review the issue of string and compactification scales in the weak-coupling regimes of string theory. I explain how in the Brane World scenario a (effectively) two-dimensional transverse space that is hierarchically larger than the string length may replace the conventional `energy desert' described by renormalizable supersymmetric QFT. I comment on the puzzle of unification in this context.

hep-th↗
arXiv1999

Branes and the Gauge Hierarchy

If the fundamental type-I string scale is of the order of few TeV, the problem of the gauge hierarchy is that of understanding why some dimensions transverse to our brane-world are so large. The technical aspect of this problem, as usually formulated, is `why quantum corrections do not modify drastically the masses and other parameters of the Standard Model'. We argue that within type-I perturbation theory, the technical hierarchy problem is solved (a) if all massless tadpoles cancel locally over distances of order the string length in the transverse space, or (b) if the massless fields with uncancelled local tadpoles propagate `effectively' in $d_\perp \ge 2$ large transverse dimensions. These restrictions ensure that loop corrections to the Standard Model parameters decouple from the four-dimensional Planck scale, except when there are uncancelled tadpoles in $d_\perp =2$ in which case the dependence on $M_P$ is logarithmic. This latter case is thus singled out as the only one in which the origin of the hierarchy would not be attributed entirely to `out of this world' bulk physics. The role of the renormalization group equations in summing the leading large logs is replaced by the classical 2d supergravity equations in the transverse space.

hep-th↗
arXiv1999

New String Excitations in the Two-Higgs Standard Model

We establish the existence of a static, classically stable string solution in a region of parameters of the generic two-Higgs Standard Model. In an appropriate limit of parameters, the solution reduces to the well-known soliton of the O(3) non-linear sigma model.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1997

Heterotic / type I duality and D-brane instantons

We study heterotic/type I duality in d=8,9 uncompactified dimensions. We consider the special (``BPS saturated'') F^4 and R^4 terms in the effective one-loop heterotic action, which are expected to be non-perturbatively exact. Under the standard duality map these translate to tree-level, perturbative and non-perturbative contributions on the type I side. We check agreement with the one-loop open string calculation, and discuss the higher-order perturbative contributions, which arise because of the mild non-holomorphicities of the heterotic elliptic genus. We put the heterotic world-sheet instanton corrections in a form that can be motivated as arising from a D-brane instanton calculation on the type-I side.

hep-th↗
arXiv1997

Heterotic versus Type I

I compare the calculations of special $F^4$ and $R^4$ terms in the (toroidally-compactified) heterotic and type-I effective actions. Besides checking duality, this elucidates the quantitative rules of D-brane calculus. I explain in particular (a) why D-branes do not run in loops, and (b) how their instanton contributions arise from orbifold fixed points of their moduli space. The instanton sum has a simple representation as a sum of the elliptic genera of matrix models.

hep-th↗
arXiv1996

Aspects of Type I - Type II - Heterotic Triality in Four Dimensions

We discuss the equivalence between Type I, Type II and Heterotic N=2 superstring theories in four dimensions. We study the effective field theory of Type I models obtained by orientifold reductions of Type IIB compactifications on $K_3\times T^2$. We show that the perturbative prepotential is determined by the one-loop corrections to the Planck mass and is associated to an index. As is the case for threshold corrections to gauge couplings, this renormalization is entirely due to N=2 BPS states that originate from D=6 massless string modes. We apply our result to the so-called S-T-U model which admits simultaneous Type II and Heterotic descriptions, and show that all three prepotentials agree in the appropriate limits as expected from the superstring triality conjecture.

hep-th↗