Double Field Theory: a Pedagogial Review

GERARDO ALDAZABAL; DIEGO MARQUES; CARMEN NUNEZ

CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM GRAVITY

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013 vol. 30 p. 1 - 1

0264-9381

Double Field Theory (DFT) is a proposal to incorporate T-duality, a distinctive symmetry of string theory, as a symmetry of a field theory defined on a double configuration space. The aim of this review is to provide a pedagogical presentation of DFT and its applications. We first introduce some basic ideas on T-duality and supergravity in order to proceed to the construction of generalized diffeomorphisms and an invariant action on the double space. Steps towards the construction of a geometry on the double space are discussed. We then address generalized Scherk-Schwarz compactifications of DFT and their connection to gauged supergravity and flux compactifications. We also discuss U-duality extensions, and present a brief parcours on world-sheet approaches to DFT. Finally, we provide a summary of other developments and applications that are not discussed in detail in the review.