StringyGeometry · Stringy geometry: quantum corrections and the fate of string compactifications from spacetime and the worldsheet

Stringy geometry: quantum corrections and the fate of string compactifications from spacetime and the worldsheet

This Marie Skłodowska Curie Action (MSCA) titled "Stringy geometry: quantum corrections and the fate of string compactifications from spacetime and the worldsheet" used and developed new geometric and mathematical structures to understand quantum corrections in string theory. The MSCA was a Global Fellowship, with the outgoing phase at the University of Chicago in the USA and the return phase at Sorbonne Université in France. The project tackled a fundamental shortcoming in our understanding: whether supergravity solutions used as starting points in phenomenology or AdS/CFT can be extended to full string theory solutions. The Fellow developed new techniques for a range of important problems in theoretical and mathematical physics, including: the removal of extra long-range forces, understanding complicated "non-Kähler" geometries, formal aspects of string phenomenology and particle physics, and the existence of solutions in string theory that look like our own expanding universe. These topics are important for society as string theory remains the leading contender for a "theory of everything". The project made significant progress in understanding whether string theory can describe our expanding universe by developing new mathematical tools to analyze quantum corrections in string theory solutions. The tools developed during this MSCA have found wide-ranging applications in physics and mathematics, continuing the European tradition of mathematical physics. The overall objectives include developing new kinds of mathematics to describe the shapes and spaces that naturally appear in string theory; understanding when solutions to simpler theories can be lifted to full solutions of string theory; and incorporating quantum effects into the remarkable geometries that string theory gives us. Key achievements included: proving the existence of new supergravity solutions with corrections using geometric flows, developing generalised geometry techniques for massive IIA supergravity, establishing novel connections between stringy corrections and mathematical tools like Ricci flow, and creating new methods to analyze the spectrum of worldsheet conformal field theories. The project's results have important implications for understanding fundamental aspects of string theory and its ability to describe our universe, while also advancing mathematical techniques that have applications beyond theoretical physics.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз