Warped Strings: Self-dual Flux and Contemporary Compactifications

I review type IIB string compactifications in which the three-form field strengths satisfy a self-duality condition on the internal manifold. I begin with an overview of the models, giving preliminary formulae and several points of view from which they can be understood. Then I describe windows into the small radius behavior of the compactifications, which is more complicated than compactifications without fluxes. I discuss details of the flux-generated potential and nonperturbative corrections to it. These nonperturbative corrections allow a discussion of the cosmological constant and possible mechanisms for the universe to decay from one energy state to another. I conclude with comments on related topics and interesting directions for future study. As this review is a PhD dissertation, I will indicate my own contributions to the subject. However, it is my hope that this document will be a useful and relatively comprehensive review, especially to graduate students. In particular, the early part of the document is almost entirely a literature review.