String Dualities and the Geroch Group

Abstract

We examine the properties and symmetries of the lowest order effective theory of 4-dim string backgrounds with axion and dilaton fields and zero cosmological constant. The dimensional reduction yields an O(2,2) current group of transformations in the presence of two commuting Killing symmetries. Special emphasis is placed on the identification of the T and S string duality symmetries, and their intertwining relations. (Contributed to the Proceedings of the Satellite Colloquium "Topology, Strings and Integrable Models" to the XIth International Congress of Mathematical Physics, Paris, 25--28 July 1994; Diderot Editeur.)