SOME GLOBAL ASPECTS OF DUALITY IN STRING THEORY

We explore some of the global aspects of duality transformations in String Theory and Field Theory. We analyze in some detail the equivalence of dual models corresponding to different topologies at the level of the partition function and in terms of the operator correspondence for abelian duality. We analyze the behavior of the cosmological constant under these transformations. We also explore several examples of non-abelian duality where the classical background interpretation can be maintained for the original and the dual theory. In particular, we construct a non-abelian dual of SL(2, R) which turns out to be a three-dimensional black hole.