Supersymmetry changing bubbles in string theory

Abstract

We give examples of string compactifications to 4d Minkowski space with different amounts of supersymmetry that can be connected by spherical domain walls. The tension of these domain walls is tunably lower than the 4d Planck scale. The "stringy" description of these walls is known in terms of certain configurations of wrapped Dirichlet and NS branes. This construction allows us to connect a variety of vacua with 4d N = 4,3,2,1 supersymmetry. © SISSA/ISAS 2003.