Aspects of String Dualities--Orientifolds, F-Theory and Super D-Branes & the M5-Brane

Citation

Park, Jaemo (1997) Aspects of String Dualities--Orientifolds, F-Theory and Super D-Branes & the M5-Brane. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/qk53-dg31. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:08082017-142128708

Abstract

We probe string dualities by using the orientifold and F-theory, and by investigating world volume actions of super D-branes and super M-branes.

We first study orientifolds in various dimensions. We construct orientifolds dual to M-theory compactified on the Klein bottle and on the Möbius band, respectively. Six-dimensional orientifolds with N=1 supersymmetry are constructed. They have multiple tensor multiplets, which cannot be obtained by the conventional Calabi-Yau compactifications. We find F-theory duals for some of these models, thereby making manifest the phase transitions involving the tensionless strings these models can have.

We construct orientifold and F-theory duals of the heterotic string models constructed by Chaudhuri, Hockney and Lykken (CHL) and study N=2 supersymmetric F-theory vacua in six dimensions.

Next, we construct the supersymmetric world volume action of the M-theory 5-brane in a flat eleven-dimensional background. Finally, dual D-brane actions are obtained by carrying out a duality transformation of the world volume gauge field of the D-brane and their properties are studied.

Thesis Files