3182110
Brane worlds, string cosmology, and AdS / CFT
Using the thin-shell formalism we discuss the motion of domain walls in de Sitter and anti--de Sitter (AdS) time-dependent bulks. This motion results in a dynamics for the brane scale factor. We show that in the case of a clean brane the scale factor describes both singular and nonsingular universes, with phases of contraction and expansion. These phases can be understood as quotients of AdS spacetime by a discrete symmetry group. We discuss this effect in some detail, and suggest how the AdS/CFT correspondence could be applied to obtain a nonperturbative description of brane-world string cosmology.
121982373
Fermionic current algebra in three dimensions
We consider the fermion-boson mapping in three dimensional space-time, in the Abelian case, from the current algebra point of view. It is shown that in a path-integral framework one can derive a general bosonization recipe leading, in the bosonic language, to the correct equal-time current commutators of the original free fermionic theory.
17311968
Backreacting flavors in the Klebanov-Strassler background
In this paper we present new analytic solutions of pure Type IIB supergravity plus D7-branes describing the addition of an arbitrary number of flavors to the Klebanov-Tseytlin and Klebanov-Strassler backgrounds. We provide a precise field theory dual and a detailed analysis of the duality cascade which describes its RG flow. Matchings of beta functions and anomalies between the field theory and the string setup are presented. We give an understanding of Seiberg duality as a large gauge transformation on the RR and NSNS potentials. We also analyze the UV behavior of the field theory that, as suggested by the string background, can be associated with a duality wall.
118385203
Towards multi-scale dynamics on the baryonic branch of Klebanov-Strassler
We construct explicitly a new class of backgrounds in type-IIB supergravity which generalize the baryonic branch of Klebanov-Strassler. We apply a solution-generating technique that, starting from a large class of solutions of the wrapped-D5system, yields the new solutions, and then proceed to study in detail their properties, both in the IR and in the UV. We propose a simple intuitive field theory interpretation of the rotation procedure and of the meaning of our new solutions within the Papadopoulos-Tseytlin ansatz, in particular in relation to the duality cascade in the Klebanov-Strassler solution. The presence in the field theory of different VEVs for operators of dimensions 2, 3 and 6 suggests that this is an important step towards the construction of the string dual of a genuinely multi-scale (strongly coupled) dynamical model.
15805106
String duals of two-dimensional (4,4) supersymmetric gauge theories
We study duals to field theories in two dimensions with = (4, 4) SUSY. The string backgrounds reproduce certain non-perturbative aspects of the dual field theory with a large number of colors Nc and a tunable number of flavors Nf. Different aspects of the two-dimensional field theory are discussed, among them the running of gauge couplings, the spectrum of mesons in Higgs and Coulomb branches, entanglement entropy and the non-relativistic version of our string backgrounds.
12143928
Unquenched flavors in the Klebanov-Witten model
Using AdS/CFT, we study the addition of an arbitrary number of backreacting flavors to the Klebanov-Witten theory, making many checks of consistency between our new Type IIB plus branes solution and expectations from field theory. We study generalizations of our method for adding flavors to all = 1 SCFTs that can be realized on D3-branes at the tip of a Calabi-Yau cone. Also, general guidelines suitable for the addition of massive flavor branes are developed.
119502096
N=2 COSET COMPACTIFICATIONS WITH NONDIAGONAL INVARIANTS
We consider four-dimensional string models obtained by tensoring N=2 coset theories with nondiagonal modular invariants. We present results from a systematic analysis including moddings by discrete symmetries.
119116593
Coulomb integrals and conformal blocks in the AdS3-WZNW model
We study spectral flow preserving four-point correlation functions in the AdS3-WZNW model using the Coulomb gas method on the sphere. We present a multiple integral realization of the conformal blocks and explicitly compute amplitudes involving operators with quantized values of the sum of their spins, i.e., requiring an integer number of screening charges of the first kind. The result is given as a sum over the independent configurations of screening contours yielding a monodromy invariant expansion in powers of the worldsheet moduli. We then examine the factorization limit and show that the leading terms in the sum can be identified, in the semiclassical limit, with products of spectral flow conserving three-point functions. These terms can be rewritten as the m-basis version of the integral expression obtained by J. Teschner from a postulate for the operator product expansion of normalizable states in the H3+-WZNW model. Finally, we determine the equivalence between the factorizations of a particular set of four-point functions into products of two three-point functions either preserving or violating spectral flow number conservation. Based on this analysis we argue that the expression for the amplitude as an integral over the spin of the intermediate operators holds beyond the semiclassical regime, thus corroborating that spectral flow conserving correlators in the AdS3-WZNW model are related by analytic continuation to correlation functions in the H3+-WZNW model.
14227643
Aspects of the free field description of string theory on AdS3
The near boundary limit of string theory in AdS3 is analysed using the Wakimoto free field representation of SL(2,). The theory is considered as a direct product of the SL(2,)/U(1) coset and a free boson. Correlation functions are constructed generalizing to the non-compact case the integral representation of conformal blocks introduced by Dotsenko in the compact SU(2) CFT. Sectors of the theory obtained by spectral flow manifestly appear. The formalism naturally leads to consider scattering processes violating winding number conservation. The consistency of the procedure is verified in the factorization limit.
125323277
String propagation in non-compact backgrounds
In this lecture we review some recent developments in non-rational conformal field theory, which allow a description of strings moving in non-compact backgrounds. In particular, we discuss recent progress in the SL(2,R) WZW model, which describes string propagation in AdS3.
7087576
Coulomb integrals for the SL(2,R) WZW model
We review the Coulomb gas computation of three-point functions in the SL(2,R) WZNW model and obtain explicit expressions for generic states. These amplitudes have been computed in the past by this and other methods but the analytic continuation in the number of screening charges required by the Coulomb gas formalism had only been performed in particular cases. After showing that ghost contributions to the correlators can be generally expressed in terms of Schur polynomials we solve Aomoto integrals in the complex plane, a new set of multiple integrals of Dotsenko-Fateev type. We then make use of monodromy invariance to analytically continue the number of screening operators and prove that this procedure gives results in complete agreement with the amplitudes obtained from the bootstrap approach. We also compute a four-point function involving a spectral flow operator and we verify that it leads to the one unit spectral flow three-point function according to a prescription previously proposed in the literature. In addition, we present an alternative method to obtain spectral flow non-conserving n-point functions through well defined operators and we prove that it reproduces the exact correlators for n=3. Independence of the result on the insertion points of these operators suggests that it is possible to violate winding number conservation modifying the background charge.