We discuss the stability of the higher-dimensional de Sitter (dS) brane solutions with two-dimensional internal space in the Einstein-Maxwel theory. We show that an instability appears in the scalar-type perturbations with respect to the dS spacetime. We derive a differential relation which has the very similar structure to the ordinary laws of thermodynamics as an extension of the work for the six-dimensional model [20]. In this relation, the area of dS horizon (integrated over the two internal dimensions) exactly behaves as the thermodynamical entropy. The dynamically unstable solutions are in the thermodynamically unstable branch. An unstable dS compactification either evolves toward a stable configuration or two-dimensional internal space is decompactified. These dS brane solutions are equivalent to the accelerating cosmological solutions in the six-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory via dimensional reduction. Thus, if the seed higher-dimensional solution is unstable, the corresponding six-dimensional solution is also unstable. From the effective four-dimensional point of view, a cosmological evolution from an unstable cosmological solution in higher dimensions may be seen as a process of the transition from the initial cosmological inflation to the current dark energy dominated Universe.
We describe a concise general scheme for constructing solutions of Einstein-Maxwell-Kalb-Ramond gravity-matter system in bulk space-time interacting self-consistently with one or more (widely separated) codimension-one electrically charged lightlike branes. The lightlike brane dynamics is explicitly given by manifestly reparametrization invariant world-volume actions. We present several explicit classes of solutions with different physical interpretation as wormhole-like space-times with one, two or more "throats", singularity-free black holes, brane worlds and space-times undergoing a sequenc…
The aim of the present paper is two-fold. First we describe the Lagrangian dynamics of a recently proposed new class of lightlike p-branes and their interactions with bulk space-time gravity and electromagnetism in a self-consistent manner. Next, we discuss the role of lightlike branes as natural candidates for wormhole "throats" and exemplify the latter by presenting an explicit construction of a new type of asymmetric wormhole solution where the lightlike brane connects a "right" universe with Reissner-Nordstroem geometry to a "left" Bertotti-Robinson universe with two compactified space dim…
We consider Einstein-Maxwell-Kalb-Ramond gravity-matter system in bulk space-time interacting self-consistently with two (widely separated) codimension-one electrically charged lightlike branes. The lightlike brane dynamics is explicitly given by manifestly reparametrization invariant world-volume actions in two equivalent dual to each other formulations (Polyakov-type and Nambu-Goto-type ones) proposed in our previous work. We find an explicit solution of the pertinent Einstein-Maxwell-Kalb-Ramond-lightlike-brane equations of motion describing a "two-throat" wormhole-like space-time consistin…
In four-dimensional F-theory compactifications with N=1 supersymmetry the fields describing the dynamics of space-time filling 7-branes are part of the complex structure moduli space of the internal Calabi-Yau fourfold. We explicitly compute the flux superpotential in F-theory depending on all complex structure moduli, including the 7-brane deformations and the field corresponding to the dilaton-axion. Since fluxes on the 7-branes induce 5-brane charge, a local limit allows to effectively match the F-theory results to a D5-brane in a non-compact Calabi-Yau threefold with threeform fluxes. We a…
We determine the scalar potential for a D3-brane in a warped conifold background subject to general ultraviolet perturbations. Incorporating the effects of imaginary anti-self-dual (IASD) fluxes and four-dimensional curvature at the nonlinear level, we compute the leading terms in the D3-brane potential. We then provide strong cross-checks of our results by reproducing them in the dual gauge theory. Finally, we observe that the D3-brane potential induced by nonperturbative effects on D7-branes can be represented by a ten-dimensional supergravity solution containing suitable IASD fluxes. Our me…
The standard extremal p-brane solutions in supergravity are known to allow for a generalisation which consists of adding a linear dependence on the world-volume coordinates to the usual harmonic function. In this note we demonstrate that remarkably this generalisation goes through in exactly the same way for p-branes with fluxes added to it that correspond to fractional p-branes. We relate this to warped orientifold compactifications by trading the Dp-branes for Op-planes that solve the RR tadpole condition. This allows us to interpret the worldvolume dependence as due to lower-dimensional sca…
We construct charged black branes in type IIA flux compactifications that are dual to (2+1)-dimensional field theories at finite density. The internal space is a general Calabi-Yau manifold with fluxes, with internal dimensions much smaller than the AdS radius. Gauge fields descend from the 3-form RR potential evaluated on harmonic forms of the Calabi-Yau, and Kaluza-Klein modes decouple. Black branes are described by a four-dimensional effective field theory that includes only a few light fields and is valid over a parametrically large range of scales. This effective theory determines the low…
We study in detail certain brane solutions with compact extra dimensions M^4 x K in the IKKT matrix model, with K being a two-dimensional rotating torus embedded in R^6. We focus on the compactification moduli and the fluctuations of K \subset R^6 and their physical significance. Mediated by the Poisson tensor, they contribute to the effective 4-dimensional metric on the brane, and thereby become gravitational degrees of freedom. We show that the zero modes corresponding to the global symmetries of the model lead to Ricci-flat 4-dimensional metric perturbations, wherever the energy-momentum te…
We study the Gregory-Laflamme instability of a large uniform black brane wrapping a two-sphere compactification manifold. This paper extends the work arXiv:hep-th/0604015, where the compactifications on p-torus were considered. The new features of the spherical case are the non-zero curvature of the compactification manifold and the absence of the rescaling symmetry due to a built-in stabilization mechanism. We calculate the order of the phase transition in dependence on the number d of extended dimensions using the Landau-Ginzburg approach. It is found that for d > 11 a uniform spherical blac…
In the six-dimensional Kaluza-Klein model with the multidimensional cosmological constant $Λ_6$, we obtain the black brane with spherical compactification of the internal space. The matter source for this exact solution consists of two parts. First, it is a fine-tuned homogeneous perfect fluid which provides spherical compactification of the internal space. Second, it is a gravitating massive body with the dustlike equation of state in the external space and tension $\hat p_1=-(1/2)\hat\varepsilon$ in the internal space. This solution exists both in the presence and absence of $Λ_6$. In the we…
We consider the circle and torus compactification of a certain subclass of 6d $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ SCFTs which are Higgsable to the higher rank E-string theories. Using the T-duality between Type I' and Type IIB, we found that the $S^1$ compactification of the theories can be realized by 5-brane webs describing the 5d uplifting of a specified class S theory, generalizing the result by Benini, Benvenuti and Tachikawa. We checked the above result by calculating conformal and flavor central charges of the 4d torus compactified theory both from the tensor branch structure of the 6d theory and from …
In this review article we present an analysis of several aspects of four-dimensional, non-perturbative N=1 compactifications of string theory. Our study focuses on brane dynamics and their effective physics as encoded in the holomorphic couplings of the low-energy N=1 effective action, most prominently the superpotential W. This article is divided into three parts. In part one we derive the effective action of a spacetime-filling D5-brane in generic Type IIB Calabi-Yau orientifold compactifications. In the second part we invoke tools from string dualities, namely from F-theory, heterotic/F-the…
We revisit the effective low-energy dynamics of the volume modulus in warped flux compactifications with anti-D3-branes in order to analyze the prospects for meta-stable de Sitter vacua and brane inflation along the lines of KKLT/KKLMMT. At the level of the 10d supergravity solution, anti-branes in flux backgrounds with opposite charge are known to source singular terms in the energy densities of the bulk fluxes, which led to a debate on the consistency of such constructions in string theory. A straightforward yet non-trivial check of the singular solution is to verify that its dimensional red…
We construct families of supersymmetric AdS$_3\times Y_7$ and AdS$_3\times Y_8$ solutions to type IIB string theory and M-theory, respectively. Here $Y_7$ is an $S^5$ fibration over $Σ$, while $Y_8$ is an $S^4$ fibration over $Σ_g\times Σ$, where $Σ_g$ is a Riemann surface of genus $g>1$ and $Σ$ is a two-dimensional orbifold known as a spindle. We interpret the solutions as near-horizon limits of $N$ D3-branes wrapped on $Σ$ and $N$ M5-branes wrapped on $Σ_g\times Σ$, respectively. These are holographically dual to $d=2$, $(0,2)$ SCFTs, and we show that the central charge and superconformal R-…
We discuss effects of the brane-localized mass terms on the fixed points of the toroidal orbifold $T^2/Z_2$ under the presence of background magnetic fluxes, where multiple lowest and higher-level Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes are realized before introducing the localized masses in general. Through the knowledge of linear algebra, we find that, in each KK level, one of or more than one of the degenerate KK modes are almost inevitably perturbed, when single or multiple brane-localized mass terms are introduced. When the typical scale of the compactification is far above the electroweak scale or the T…
