arXiv research

There is an interpretation of open string field theory in algebraic topology. An interpretation of closed string field theory can be deduced from this open string theory to obtain as well the interpretation of open and closed string field theory combined.

We derive a recursion relation for hyperbolic string vertices and apply it to string field theory.

Recent years have seen noteworthy progress in the mathematical formulation of quantum field theory and perturbative string theory. We give a brief survey of these developments. It serves as an introduction to the more detailed collection "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Field Theory and Perturbative String Theory".

Cohomotopy charge quantization implies String structure on M5-branes.

Defines new canonical lifts for field theories, analyzing Klein-Gordon, Polyakov string, and Einstein-Cartan gravity.

We construct a cut-off version of nonpertubative closed Bosonic string field theory in the light-cone gauge with imaginary string coupling constant. We show that the partition function is a continuous function of the string coupling constant, and conjecture a relation between the formal power series expansion of this p…

Introduces noncommutative geometry for modeling quantum spacetime.

Motivated by the Moore-Segal axioms for an open-closed topological field theory, we consider planar open string topological field theories. We rigorously define a category 2Thick whose objects and morphisms can be thought of as open strings and diffeomorphism classes of planar open string worldsheets. Just as the categ…

We define string geometry: spaces of superstrings including the interactions, their topologies, charts, and metrics. Trajectories in asymptotic processes on a space of strings reproduce the right moduli space of the super Riemann surfaces in a target manifold. Based on the string geometry, we define Einstein-Hilbert ac…

The most general gauge-invariant marginal deformation of four-dimensional abelian BF-type topological field theory is studied. It is shown that the deformed quantum field theory is topological and that its observables compute, in addition to the usual linking numbers, smooth intersection indices of immersed surfaces wh…

Using probabilistic methods, we first define Liouville quantum field theory on Riemann surfaces of genus $\mathbf{g}\geq 2$ and show that it is a conformal field theory. We use the partition function of Liouville quantum field theory to give a mathematical sense to Polyakov's partition function of noncritical bosonic s…

Extends string-net theory to 3D TQFT via surface graphs and surgery.

The string bracket introduced by Chas and Sullivan [math.GT/9911159] is reinterpreted from the point of view of topological field theories in the Batalin-Vilkovisky or BRST formalisms. Namely, topological action functionals for gauge fields (generalizing Chern-Simons and BF theories) are considered together with genera…

New theory connects string theory to swampland distance conjecture.

Survey of geometric flows from unified string theories.

In the background effective field theory of heterotic string theory, the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism plays a key role. Here we reinterpret it and its magnetic dual version in terms of differential twisted String- and differential twisted Fivebrane-structures that generalize the notion of Spin-structure…

We synthesize and extend the previous ideas about appearance of both noncommutative and Finsler geometry in string theory with nonvanishing B--field and/or anholonomic (super) frame structures \cite{vstring,vstr2,vnonc,vncf}. There are investigated the limits to the Einstein gravity and string generalizations containin…

The actions, anomalies, and quantization conditions allow the M2-brane and the M5-brane to support, in a natural way, structures beyond Spin on their worldvolumes. The main examples are twisted String structures. This also extends to twisted String^c structures, which we introduce and relate to twisted String structure…

The string vertices of closed string field theory are subsets of the moduli spaces of punctured Riemann surfaces that satisfy a geometric version of the Batalin-Vilkovisky master equation. We present a homological proof of existence of string vertices and their uniqueness up to canonical transformations. Using hyperbol…

To formulate the universal constraints of quantum statistics data of generic long-range entangled quantum systems, we introduce the geometric-topology surgery theory on spacetime manifolds where quantum systems reside, cutting and gluing the associated quantum amplitudes, specifically in 2+1 and 3+1 spacetime dimension…

This thesis proposes a global geometric formulation of Extended Field Theories.

String geometry theory uniquely determines classical action with T-symmetry.

A string-net model associates a vector space to a surface in terms of graphs decorated by objects and morphisms of a pivotal fusion category modulo local relations. String-net models are usually considered for spherical fusion categories, and in this case the vector spaces agree with the state spaces of the correspondi…

We argue that the relevant higher gauge group for the non-abelian generalization of the self-dual string equation is the string 2-group. We then derive the corresponding equations of motion and discuss their properties. The underlying geometric picture is a string structure, i.e. a categorified principal bundle with co…

We consider the first order formalism in string theory, providing a new off-shell description of the nontrivial backgrounds around an "infinite metric". The OPE of the vertex operators, corresponding to the background fields in some "twistor representation", and conditions of conformal invariance results in the quadrat…

This is the writeup of a lecture given at the May Wisconsin workshop on mathematical aspects of orbifold string theory. In the first part of this lecture, we review recent work on discrete torsion, and outline how it is currently understood in terms of the B field. In the second part of this lecture, we discuss the rel…

Unified description of string and brane worldvolumes using auto-parallel vector fields.

E-string theory reveals modular properties of 4-manifold invariants.

We construct a combinatorial invariant of Legendrian knots in standard contact three-space. This invariant, which encodes rational relative Symplectic Field Theory and extends contact homology, counts holomorphic disks with an arbitrary number of positive punctures. The construction uses ideas from string topology.

Paper studies flows of spinor fields with flux for unified theories.

We prove that the modular operad of diffeomorphism classes of Riemann surfaces with both `open' and `closed' boundary components, in the sense of string field theory, is the modular completion of its genus 0 part quotiented by the Cardy condition. We also provide a finitary presentation of a version of this modular two…

Lecture notes from the Concentrated Graduate Course preceding the Workshop on Hodge Theory in String Theory at the Fields Institute in Toronto, November 11--15, 2013.

A family of new twistor string theories is constructed and shown to be free from world-sheet anomalies. The spectra in space-time are calculated and shown to give Einstein supergravities with second order field equations instead of the higher derivative conformal supergravities that arose from earlier twistor strings. …

Decouples moduli groups in heterotic string theory cohomology.

We define a model for the homology of manifolds and use it to describe the intersection product on the homology of compact oriented manifolds and to define homological quantum field theories which generalizes the notions of string topology introduced by Chas and Sullivan and homotopy quantum field theories introduced b…

String theory still remains one of the promising candidates for a unification of the theory of gravity and quantum field theory. One of its essential parts is relativistic description of moving multi-dimensional objects called membranes (or p-branes) in a curved spacetime. On the classical field theory level, they are …

We present a cocycle model for elliptic cohomology with complex coefficients in which methods from 2-dimensional quantum field theory can be used to rigorously construct cocycles. For example, quantizing a theory of vector bundle-valued fermions yields a cocycle representative of the elliptic Thom class. This construct…

Numbers and numerical vectors account for a large portion of data. However, recently the amount of string data generated has increased dramatically. Consequently, classifying string data is a common problem in many fields. The most widely used approach to this problem is to convert strings into numerical vectors using …

We propose an investigation of stability of vacua in string theory by studying their stability with respect to a (suitable) world-sheet renormalization group (RG) flow. We prove geometric stability of (Euclidean) anti-de Sitter (AdS) space (i.e., $\mathbf{H}^n$) with respect to the simplest RG flow in closed string the…

The data required for heterotic string theory with gauge group G, which for anomaly cancellation reasons must either be E8 x E8 or Spin(32)/Z2, consist of the following: a ten-dimensional space-time X and a principal G-bundle P. The fields in the theory consist of: a metric on X, a connection on P and a B-field which i…

We prove the linear stability of Schwarzschild-Tangherlini spacetimes and their Anti-de Sitter counterparts under Ricci flow for a special class of perturbations. This is useful in the choice of suitable initial conditions in numerical Ricci-flow-based algorithms for obtaining new solutions to the Einstein equation whe…

The worldvolume theory of coincident M5-branes is expected to contain a nonabelian 2-form/nonabelian gerbe gauge theory that is a higher analog of self-dual Yang-Mills theory. But the precise details -- in particular the global moduli / instanton / magnetic charge structure -- have remained elusive. Here we deduce from…

Identifies all perturbative vacua in bosonic string theory.

We consider D-branes in string theory and address the issue of how to describe them mathematically as a fundamental object (as opposed to a solitonic object) of string theory in the realm in differential and symplectic geometry. The notion of continuous maps, $k$-times differentiable maps, and smooth maps from an Azuma…

This brief survey aims to set the stage and summarize some of the ideas under discussion at the Workshop on Singular Geometry and Higgs Bundles in String Theory, to be held at the American Institute of Mathematics from October 30th to November 3rd, 2017. One of the most interesting aspects of the duality revolution in …

We develop a new geometric framework suitable for dealing with Hamiltonian field theories with dissipation. To this end we define the notions of $k$-contact structure and $k$-contact Hamiltonian system. This is a generalization of both the contact Hamiltonian systems in mechanics and the $k$-symplectic Hamiltonian syst…

Derives path integrals for perturbative strings on various backgrounds.

Constructs a fusion product on spinor bundle over loop space.