[en] Compactifying a higher-dimensional theory defined in R^1,3+n on an n-dimensional manifold M results in a spectrum of four-dimensional (bosonic) fields with masses m²_i = λ_i, where - λ_i are the eigenvalues of the Laplacian on the compact manifold. The question we address in this paper is the inverse: given the masses of the Kaluza-Klein fields in four dimensions, what can we say about the size and shape (i.e. the topology and the metric) of the compact manifold? We present some examples of isospectral manifolds (i.e., different manifolds which give rise to the same Kaluza-Klein mass spectrum). Some of these examples are Ricci-flat, complex and Kaehler and so they are isospectral backgrounds for string theory. Utilizing results from finite spectral geometry, we also discuss the accuracy of reconstructing the properties of the compact manifold (e.g., its dimension, volume, and curvature etc) from measuring the masses of only a finite number of Kaluza-Klein modes. (author)

[en] We discuss compact four-dimensional Z_N x Z_M type IIB orientifolds. We take a systematic approach to classify the possible models and construct them explicitly. The supersymmetric orientifolds of this type have already been constructed some time ago. We find that there exist several consistent orientifolds for each of the discrete groups Z₂ x Z₂, Z₂ x Z₄, Z₄ x Z₄, Z₂ x Z₆, Z₂ x Z₆' and Z₆ x Z₆ if anti-D5-branes are introduced. Supersymmetry is broken by the open strings ending on antibranes. The rank of the gauge group is reduced by a factor two if the underlying orbifold space has discrete torsion. (author)

[en] We show how discrete torsion can be implemented in D=4, N=1 type IIB orientifolds. Some consistency conditions are found from the closed string and open string spectrum and from tadpole cancellation. Only real values of the discrete torsion parameter are allowed, i.e. epsilon=+-1. Orientifold models are related to real projective representations. In a similar way as complex projective representations are classified by H²(Γ,C*)=H²(Γ,U(1)), real projective representations are characterized by H²(Γ,R*)=H²(Γ,Z₂). Four different types of orientifold constructions are possible. We classify these models and give the spectrum and the tadpole cancellation conditions explicitly. (author)

[en] We analyse some physical consequences when supersymmetry is broken by a set of D-branes and/or orientifold planes in type II string theories. Generically, there are global dilaton tadpoles at the disk level when the transverse space is compact. By taking the toy model of a set of electric charges in a compact space, we discuss two different effects appearing when global tadpoles are not cancelled. On the compact directions a constant term appears that allows to solve the equations of motion. On the non-compact directions Poincare invariance is broken. We analyse some examples where the Poincare invariance is broken along the time direction (cosmological models). After that, we discuss how to obtain a finite interaction among D-branes and orientifold planes in the compact space at the supergravity level. (author)

[en] Recently, the PVLAS Collaboration reported an anomalously large rotation of the polarization of light in the presence of a magnetic field in vacuum. As a possible explanation, they consider the existence of a light spin-zero particle coupled to two photons. We propose here a method of independently testing this result using a high-energy photon regeneration experiment (the x-ray analogue of 'invisible light shining through walls') using the synchrotron x rays from a free-electron laser. With such an experiment the region of parameter space implied by PVLAS could be probed in a matter of minutes

[en] Finite entropy thermal systems undergo Poincare recurrences. In the context of field theory, this implies that at finite temperature, timelike two-point functions will be quasi-periodic. In this note we attempt to reproduce this behavior using the AdS/CFT correspondence by studying the correlator of a massive scalar field in the bulk. We evaluate the correlator by summing over all the SL(2,Z) images of the BTZ spacetime. We show that all the terms in this sum receive large corrections after at certain critical time, and that the result, even if convergent, is not quasi-periodic. We present several arguments indicating that the periodicity will be very difficult to recover without an exact re-summation, and discuss several toy models which illustrate this. Finally, we consider the consequences for the information paradox. (author)

[en] We discuss two types of instabilities which may arise in string theory compactified to asymptotically AdS spaces: perturbative, due to discrete modes in the spectrum of the laplacian, and non-perturbative, due to brane nucleation. In the case of three dimensional Einstein manifolds, we completely characterize the presence of these instabilities, and in higher dimensions we provide a partial classification. The analysis may be viewed as an extension of the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. One interesting result is that, apart from a very special class of exceptions, all euclidean asymptotically AdS spaces with more than one conformal boundary component are unstable, if the compactification admits BPS branes or scalars saturating the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. As examples, we analyze quotients of AdS in any dimension and AdS Taub-NUT spaces, and show a space which was previously discussed in the context of AdS/CFT is unstable both perturbatively and non-perturbatively

[en] We study the bound states of brane/antibrane systems by examining the motion of a probe antibrane moving in the background fields of N source branes. The classical system resembles the point-particle central force problem, and the orbits can be solved by quadrature. Generically the antibrane has orbits which are not closed on themselves. An important special case occurs for some Dp-branes moving in three transverse dimensions, in which case the orbits may be obtained in closed form, giving the standard conic sections but with a nonstandard time evolution along the orbit. Somewhat surprisingly, in this case the resulting elliptical orbits are exact solutions, and do not simply apply in the limit of asymptotically-large separation or non-relativistic velocities. The orbits eventually decay through the radiation of massless modes into the bulk and onto the branes, and we estimate this decay time. Applications of these orbits to cosmology are discussed in a companion paper. (author)

[en] After orientifold projection, the conifold singularity in hypermultiplet moduli space of Calabi-Yau compactifications cannot be avoided by geometric deformations. We study the non-perturbative fate of this singularity in a local model involving O6-planes and D6-branes wrapping the deformed conifold in type-IIA string theory. We classify possible A-type orientifolds of the deformed conifold and find that they cannot all be continued to the small resolution. When passing through the singularity on the deformed side, the O-plane charge generally jumps by the class of the vanishing cycle. To decide which classical configurations are dynamically connected, we construct the quantum moduli space by lifting the orientifold to M-theory as well as by looking at the superpotential. We find a rich pattern of smooth and phase transitions depending on the total sixbrane charge. Non-BPS states from branes wrapped on non-supersymmetric bolts are responsible for a phase transition. We also clarify the nature of a Z₂ valued D0-brane charge in the 6-brane background. Along the way, we obtain a new metric of G₂ holonomy corresponding to an O6-plane on the three sphere of the deformed conifold