No Arabic abstract
The fundamental string length, which is an essential part of string theory, explicitly breaks scale invariance. However, in field theory we demonstrated recently that the gravitational constant, which is directly related to the string length, can be promoted to a dynamical field if the standard model coupled to gravity (SM+GR) is lifted to a locally scale (Weyl) invariant theory. The higher gauge symmetry reveals previously unknown field patches whose inclusion turn the classically conformally invariant SM+GR into a geodesically complete theory with new cosmological and possibly further physical consequences. In this paper this concept is extended to string theory by showing how it can be Weyl lifted with a local scale symmetry acting on target space background fields. In this process the string tension (fundamental string length) is promoted to a dynamical field, in agreement with the parallel developments in field theory. We then propose a string theory in a geodesically complete cosmological stringy background which suggests previously unimagined directions in the stringy exploration of the very early universe.
We perform an extensive analysis of the statistics of axion masses and interactions in compactifications of type IIB string theory, and we show that black hole superradiance excludes some regions of Calabi-Yau moduli space. Regardless of the cosmological model, a theory with an axion whose mass falls in a superradiant band can be probed by the measured properties of astrophysical black holes, unless the axion self-interaction is large enough to disrupt formation of a condensate. We study a large ensemble of compactifications on Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces, with $1 leq h^{1,1} leq 491$ closed string axions, and determine whether the superradiance conditions on the masses and self-interactions are fulfilled. The axion mass spectrum is largely determined by the Kahler parameters, for mild assumptions about the contributing instantons, and takes a nearly-universal form when $h^{1,1} gg 1$. When the Kahler moduli are taken at the tip of the stretched Kahler cone, the fraction of geometries excluded initially grows with $h^{1,1}$, to a maximum of $approx 0.5$ at $h^{1,1} approx 160$, and then falls for larger $h^{1,1}$. Further inside the Kahler cone, the superradiance constraints are far weaker, but for $h^{1,1} gg 100$ the decay constants are so small that these geometries may be in tension with astrophysical bounds, depending on the realization of the Standard Model.
In this paper we consider light-cone fluctuations arising as a consequence of the nontrivial topology of the locally flat cosmic string spacetime. By setting the light-cone along the z-direction we are able to develop a full analysis to calculate the renormalized graviton two-point function, as well as the mean square fluctuation in the geodesic interval function and the time delay (or advance) in the propagation of a light-pulse. We found that all these expressions depend upon the parameter characterizing the conical topology of the cosmic string spacetime and vanish in the absence of it. We also point out that at large distances from the cosmic string the mean square fluctuation in the geodesic interval function is extremely small while in the opposite limit it logarithmically increases, improving the signal and thus, making possible the detection of such quantity.
Motivated by recent theoretical arguments that expanding strings can be regarded as having a temperature that is inversely proportional to the proper time, tau, we investigate the consequences of adding a term proportional to 1/tau to the string tension in the Lund string-hadronization model. The lattice value for the tension, kappa0 ~ 0.18 GeV^2 ~ 0.9 GeV/fm, is then interpreted as the late-time/equilibrium limit. A generic prediction of this type of model is that early string breaks should be associated with higher strangeness (and baryon) fractions and higher fragmentation <pT> values. It should be possible to use archival ee data sets to provide model-independent constraints on this type of scenario, and we propose a few simple key measurements to do so.
In this paper, we analyze the inflationary cosmology using string field theory. This is done by using the zero level contribution from string field theory, which is a non-local tachyonic action. We will use the non-local Friedmann equations for this model based on string field theory, and calculate the slow-roll parameters for this model. We will then explicitly obtain the scalar and tensorial power spectrum, their related indices, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio for this model. Finally, we use cosmological data from Planck 2013 to 2018 to constrain the free parameters in this model and find that string field theory is compatible with them.
This paper contains some personal reflections on several computational contributions to what is now known as the String Theory Landscape. It consists of two parts. The first part concerns the origin of big numbers, and especially the number $10^{1500}$ that appeared in work on the covariant lattice construction (with W. Lerche and D. Luest). This part contains some new results. I correct a huge but inconsequential error, discuss some more accurate estimates, and compare with the counting for free fermion constructions. In particular I prove that the latter only provide an exponentially small fraction of all even self-dual lattices for large lattice dimensions. The second part of the paper concerns dealing with big numbers, and contains some lessons learned from various vacuum scanning projects.