Non-perturbative String Theory from Water Waves

Understand

We use a combination of a 't Hooft limit and numerical methods to find non-perturbative solutions of exactly solvable string theories, showing that perturbative solutions in different asymptotic regimes are connected by smooth interpolating functions.

• Our earlier perturbative work showed that a large class of minimal string theories arise as special limits of a Painleve IV hierarchy of string equations that can be derived by a similarity reduction of the dispersive water wave hierarchy of differential equations.
• The hierarchy of string equations contains new perturbative solutions, some of which were conjectured to be the type IIA and IIB string theories coupled to (4,4k-2) superconformal minimal models of type (A,D).
• Our present paper shows that these new theories have smooth non-perturbative extensions.