1:30 pm MCP 201
Symmetries and Instabilities of Non-SUSY String Backgrounds.
In many cases, internal global symmetries of string constructed supersymmetric QFTs derive from extra-dimensional topological structures. Holomorphic structures do not enter these considerations, and as such identical methods readily apply, in principle, to the study of non-SUSY string backgrounds which often exhibit instabilities. We verify this expectation for the case of type IIA string theory on the non-supersymmetric orbifold R6/Γ. Here, closed string tachyons in twisted sectors lead to a rolling solution which we characterize by its symmetry data. With this characterization in hand we also consider D3-brane probes of R6/Γ and study the instabilities of this system as a function of the ’t Hooft coupling. These considerations provide evidence for a non-SUSY D3-brane CFT at finite ’t Hooft coupling.