Description
I will discuss recent progress in understanding non-supersymmetric string backgrounds through anomaly cancellation. Worldsheet anomaly cancellation imposes restrictions on the two-dimensional theory describing string propagation and, in turn, constrains the allowed target-space backgrounds. I will explain how these worldsheet anomaly-cancellation conditions can be used to identify and establish the viability of certain non-supersymmetric backgrounds in type II string theory. Based on upcoming work with L. Eberhardt and M. Tomasevic.
