We define the open string version of the nonlinear sigma model on doubled geometry introduced by Hull and Reid-Edwards, and derive its boundary conditions. These conditions include the restriction of D-branes to maximally isotropic submanifolds as well as a compatibility condition with the Lie algebra structure on the doubled space. We demonstrate a systematic method to derive and classify D-branes from the boundary conditions, in terms of embeddings both in the doubled geometry and in the physical target space. We apply it to the doubled three-torus with constant H-flux and find D0-, D1-, and D2-branes, which we verify transform consistently under T-dualities mapping the system to f-, Q- and R-flux backgrounds.
The Kaluza-Klein monopole has been recognized as a string background with significant non-geometric features: it must appear "localized" to winding strings to match the NS5-brane's localization on the T-dual circle. In this work, we explicitly construct this T-dual system in the doubled geometry formalism, which proves to successfully describe the duality despite a broken isometry on one side of the duality pair. We further suggest an extension of the doubled formalism to the gauged linear sigma models describing this system (both bosonic and supersymmetric) and show that previous calculations…
We study two-dimensional ${\cal N}=(2,2)$ gauge theory and its dualized system in terms of complex (linear) superfields and their alternatives. Although this technique itself is not new, we can obtain a new model, the so-called "semi-doubled" GLSM. Similar to doubled sigma model, this involves both the original and dual degrees of freedom simultaneously, whilst the latter only contribute to the system via topological interactions. Applying this to the ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ GLSM for H-monopoles, i.e., smeared NS5-branes, we obtain its T-dualized systems in quite an easy way. As a bonus, we also obta…
We probe doubled geometry with dual fundamental branes, i.e. solitons. Restricting ourselves first to solitonic branes with more than two transverse directions we find that the doubled geometry requires an effective wrapping rule for the solitonic branes which is dual to the wrapping rule for fundamental branes. This dual wrapping rule can be understood by the presence of Kaluza-Klein monopoles. Extending our analysis to supersymmetric solitonic branes with less than or equal to two transverse directions we show that such solitons are precisely obtained by applying the same dual wrapping rule …
A class of special holonomy spaces arise as nilmanifolds fibred over a line interval and are dual to intersecting brane solutions of string theory. Further dualities relate these to T-folds, exotic branes, essentially doubled spaces and spaces with R-flux. We develop the doubled geometry of these spaces, with the various duals arising as different slices of the doubled space.
In double field theory, the physical space has been understood as a subspace of the doubled space. Recently, the doubled space is defined as the para-Hermitian manifold and the physical space is realized as a leaf of a foliation of the doubled space. This construction naturally introduces the fundamental 2-form, which plays an important role in a reformulation of string theory known as the Born sigma model. In this paper, we present the Born sigma model for $p$-branes in M-theory and type IIB theory by extending the fundamental 2-form into U-duality-covariant $(p+1)$-forms.
We establish a double dualization in two-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory. We construct a gauged linear sigma model (GLSM) which contains a complex twisted linear superfield coupled to two sets of Abelian vector superfields. In the IR regime, the GLSM provides a string sigma model whose target spaces are a defect NS5-brane, a Kaluza-Klein vortex and an exotic $5^2_2$-brane. All of them are five-branes of codimension two and are related by T-duality. This model is a natural extension of the GLSM proposed by Tong which gives a sigma model for an H-monopole, i.e., a smeared NS5-brane of co…
String compactifications with T-duality twists are revisited and the gauge algebra of the dimensionally reduced theories calculated. These reductions can be viewed as string theory on T-fold backgrounds, and can be formulated in a `doubled space' in which each circle is supplemented by a T-dual circle to construct a geometry which is a doubled torus bundle over a circle. We discuss a conjectured extension to include T-duality on the base circle, and propose the introduction of a dual base coordinate, to give a doubled space which is locally the group manifold of the gauge group. Special cases …
We consider Hull's doubled formalism for open strings on D-branes in flat space and construct the corresponding effective double field theory. We show that the worldsheet boundary conditions of the doubled formalism describe in a unified way a T-dual pair of D-branes, which we call double D-branes. We evaluate the one-loop beta function for the boundary gauge coupling and then obtain the effective field theory for the double D-branes. The effective field theory is described by a DBI action of double fields. The T-duality covariant form of this DBI action is thus a kind of "master" action, whic…
We provide some evidence that closed string coordinates will become non-commutative turning on H-field flux background in closed string compactifications. This is in analogy to open string non-commutativity on the world volume of D-branes with B- and F-field background. The class of 3-dimensional backgrounds we are studying are twisted tori (fibrations of a 2-torus over a circle) and the their T-dual H-field, 3-form flux backgrounds (T-folds). The spatial non-commutativity arises due to the non-trivial monodromies of the toroidal Kahler resp. complex structure moduli fields, when going around …
Starting from a sigma-model for a doubled target-space geometry, we show that the number of target-space dimensions can be reduced by half through a gauging procedure. We apply this formalism to a class of backgrounds relevant for double field theory, and illustrate how choosing different gaugings leads to string-theory configurations T-dual to each other. We furthermore discuss that given a conformal doubled theory, the reduced theories are conformal as well. As an example we consider the three-dimensional SU(2) WZW model and show that the only possible reduced backgrounds are the cigar and t…
The SU(2) WZW model at large level N can be interpreted semiclassically as string theory on S^3 with N units of Neveu-Schwarz H-flux. While globally geometric, the model nevertheless exhibits an interesting doubled geometry possessing features in common with nongeometric string theory compactifications, for example, nonzero Q-flux. Therefore, it can serve as a fertile testing ground through which to improve our understanding of more exotic compactifications, in a context in which we have a firm understanding of the background from standard techniques. Three frameworks have been used to systema…
String backgrounds with a local torus fibration such as T-folds are naturally formulated in a doubled formalism in which the torus fibres are doubled to include dual coordinates conjugate to winding number. Here we formulate and explore a generalisation of this construction in which all coordinates are doubled, so that the doubled space is a twisted torus, i.e. a compact space constructed from identifying a group manifold under a discrete subgroup. This incorporates reductions with duality twists, T-folds and a class of flux compactifications, together with the non-geometric backgrounds expect…
The doubled formulation of string theory, which is T-duality covariant and enlarges spacetime with extra coordinates conjugate to winding number, is reformulated and its geometric and topological features examined. It is used to formulate string theory in T-fold backgrounds with T-duality transition functions and a quantum implementation of the constraints of the doubled formalism is presented. This establishes the quantum equivalence to the usual sigma-model formalism for world-sheets of arbitrary genus, provided a topological term is added to the action. The quantisation involves a local cho…
We develop doubled-coordinate field theory to determine the α' corrections to the massless sector of oriented bosonic closed string theory. Our key tool is a string current algebra of free left-handed bosons that makes O(D,D) T-duality manifest. While T-dualities are unchanged, diffeomorphisms and b-field gauge transformations receive corrections, with a gauge algebra given by an α'-deformation of the duality-covariantized Courant bracket. The action is cubic in a double metric field, an unconstrained extension of the generalized metric that encodes the gravitational fields. Our approach provi…
In arXiv:0902.4032 [hep-th] an O(D,D)-covariant sigma model describing the embedding of a closed world-sheet into the 2D-dimensional twisted torus was proposed. Such sigma models provide a universal description of string theory with target spaces related by the action of T-duality. In this article a six-dimensional toy example is studied in detail. Different polarisations of the six-dimensional target space give different three-dimensional string backgrounds including a nilmanifold with H-flux, a T-fold with R-flux and a new class of T-folds. Global issues and connections with the doubled toru…
We investigate boundary dynamics of orbifold conformal field theory involving T-duality twists. Such models typically appear in contexts of non-geometric string compactifications that are called monodrofolds or T-folds in recent literature. We use the framework of boundary conformal field theory to analyse the models from a microscopic world-sheet perspective. In these backgrounds there are two kinds of D-branes that are analogous to bulk and fractional branes in standard orbifold models. The bulk D-branes in T-folds allow intuitive geometrical interpretations and are consistent with the class…
In this paper, we first construct a globally well-defined non-geometric background which contains several branes in type II string theory compactified on a 7-torus. One of these branes is called 5^2_2, which is a codimension-2 object and has a non-trivial monodromy given by a T-duality transformation. The geometry near the 5^2_2-brane is shown to approach the non-geometric background constructed in arXiv:1004.2521. We then construct the solution of a fundamental string rotating along a non-trivial cycle in the 5^2_2 background. Although the background is not axisymmetric in the usual sense, we…
We propose a boundary action to complement the recently developed duality manifest actions in string and M-theory using generalized geometry. This boundary action combines the Gibbons-Hawking term with boundary pieces that were previously neglected in the construction of these actions. The combination may be written in terms of the metric of generalized geometry. The result is to produce an action that is duality invariant including boundary terms.
We give a self-contained survey of some approaches aimed at a global description of the geometry underlying double field theory. After reviewing the geometry of Courant algebroids and their incarnations in the AKSZ construction, we develop the theory of metric algebroids including their graded geometry. We use metric algebroids to give a global description of doubled geometry, incorporating the section constraint, as well as an AKSZ-type construction of topological doubled sigma-models. When these notions are combined with ingredients of para-Hermitian geometry, we demonstrate how they reprodu…
A study of sigma models whose target space is a group G that admits a compatible Poisson structure is presented. The natural action of O(D,D;Z) on the generalised tangent bundle TG+T*G and a generalisation of the Courant bracket that appears are reviewed. This background provides a concrete example where the generalised geometry and doubled geometry descriptions are both well understood. Connections between the two formalisms are discussed and the world-sheet theory from Hamiltonian and Lagrangian perspectives is investigated. The comparisons between the approaches given by generalised geometr…
In the doubled field theory approach to string theory, the T-duality group is promoted to a manifest symmetry at the expense of replacing ordinary Riemannian geometry with generalised geometry on a doubled space. The local symmetries are then given by a generalised Lie derivative and its associated algebra. This paper constructs an analogous structure for M-theory. A crucial by-product of this is the derivation of the physical section condition for M-theory formulated in an extended space.
We show that all fermions of one generation of the Standard Model (SM) can be elegantly described by a single fixed parity (say even) inhomogeneous real-valued differential form in seven dimensions. In this formalism the full kinetic term of the SM fermionic Lagrangian is reproduced as the appropriate dimensional reduction of (Psi, D Psi) where Psi is a general even degree differential form in R^7, the inner product is as described in the main text, and D is essentially an appropriately interpreted exterior derivative operator. The new formalism is based on geometric constructions originating …
The section condition of Double Field Theory has been argued to mean that doubled coordinates are gauged: a gauge orbit represents a single physical point. In this note, we consider a doubled and at the same time gauged particle action, and show that its BRST formulation including Faddeev--Popov ghosts matches with the graded Poisson geometry that has been recently used to describe the symmetries of Double Field Theory. Besides, by requiring target spacetime diffeomorphisms at the quantum level, we derive quantum corrections to the classical action involving dilaton, which might be comparable …
We introduce T-duality invariant versions of D-branes in doubled geometry using a global covariant framework based on para-Hermitian geometry and metric algebroids. We define D-branes as conformal boundary conditions for the open string version of the Born sigma-model, where they are given by maximally isotropic vector bundles which do not generally admit the standard geometric picture in terms of submanifolds. When reduced to the conventional sigma-model description of a physical string background as the leaf space of a foliated para-Hermitian manifold, integrable branes yield D-branes as lea…
We construct an action for double field theory using a metric connection that is compatible with both the generalised metric and the O_{D,D} structure. The connection is simultaneously torsionful and flat. Using this connection one may construct a proper covariant derivative for double field theory. We then write the doubled action in terms of the generalised torsion of this connection. This action then exactly reproduces that required for doubled field theory and gauged supergravity.
We study a generalization of the Alexandrov-Kontsevich-Schwarz-Zaboronsky (AKSZ) formulation of the A- and B-models which involves a doubling of coordinates, and can be understood as a complexification of the Poisson $σ$-model underlying these. In the flat space limit the construction contains models obtained by twisting an N=2 supersymmetric $σ$-model on Hull's doubled geometry. The curved space generalization involves a product of two diffeomorphic Calabi-Yau manifolds, and the $O(d,d)$ metric can be understood as a complexification of the CY metric. In addition, we consider solutions that c…
The Principal Chiral Model (PCM) defined on the group manifold of SU(2) is here investigated with the aim of getting a further deepening of its relation with Generalized and Doubled Geometry. A one-parameter family of equivalent Hamiltonian descriptions is introduced, and cast into the form of Born geometries. Then O(3,3) duality transformations of the target phase space are performed and we show that the resulting dual models are defined on the group SB(2,C) which is the Poisson-Lie dual of SU(2) in the Iwasawa decomposition of the Drinfel'd double SL(2, C). Moreover, starting from the Lagran…
The integration problem of a C-bracket and a Vaisman (metric, pre-DFT) algebroid which are geometric structures of double field theory (DFT) is analyzed. We introduce a notion of a pre-rackoid as a global group-like object for an infinitesimal algebroid structure. We propose that several realizations of pre-rackoid structures. One realization is that elements of a pre-rackoid are defined by cotangent paths along doubled foliations in a para-Hermitian manifold. Another realization is proposed as a formal exponential map of the algebroid of DFT. We show that the pre-rackoid reduces to a rackoid …
We study worldsheet instanton corrections to the exotic 522-brane geometry in type II string theory. The BPS vortices in the N=(4,4) gauged linear sigma model modify the geometry of the 522-brane. We find that the modification of the geometry is understood by the localization in the T-dualized winding direction.
We study non-supersymmetric orbifold singularities from the point of view of D-brane probes. We present a description of the decay of such singularities from considerations of the toric geometry of the probe branes.
In this paper, we give a map from matrices to a commutative geometry from a bound state of a D2-brane and N D0-branes. For this, tachyons in auxiliary unstable D-brane system describing the bound state play crucial roles. We found the map obtained in this way coincides with the recent proposals. We also consider the map from the geometry to matrices in a large N limit and argue that the map is a matrix regularization of geometry.
We use toric geometry to investigate the recently proposed relation between a set of D3 branes at a generalized conifold singularity and type IIA configurations of D4 branes stretched between a number of relatively rotated NS5 branes. In particular we investigate how various resolutions of the singularity corresponds to moving the NS branes and how Seiberg's duality is realized when two relatively rotated NS-branes are interchanged.
We show that toric geometry can be used rather effectively to translate a brane configuration to geometry. Roughly speaking the skeletons of toric space are identified with the brane configurations. The cases where the local geometry involves hypersurfaces in toric varieties (such as P^2 blown up at more than 3 points) presents a challenge for the brane picture. We also find a simple physical explanation of Batyrev's construction of mirror pairs of Calabi-Yau manifolds using T-duality.
Coset models and their symmetry preserving branes are studied from a representation theoretic perspective, relating e.g. the horizontal branching spaces to a truncation of the space of bulk fields, and accounting for field identification. This allows us to describe the fuzzy geometry of the branes at finite level.
We discuss the nonabelian world-volume action which governs the dynamics of N coincident Dp-branes. In this theory, the branes' transverse displacements are described by matrix-valued scalar fields, and so this is a natural physical framework for the appearance of noncommutative geometry. One example is the dielectric effect by which Dp-branes may be polarized into a noncommutative geometry by external fields. Another example is the appearance of noncommutative geometries in the description of intersecting D-branes of differing dimensions, such as D-strings ending on a D3- or D5-brane. We also…
A D3 brane in the background of NS5 branes is studied semi-classically. The conditions for preserved supersymmetry are derived, leading to a differential equation for the shape of the D3 brane. The solutions of this equation are analyzed. For a D3 brane intersecting the NS5 branes, the angle of approach is known to be restricted to discrete values. Four different ways to obtain this quantization are described. In particular, it is shown that, assuming the D3 brane avoids intersecting a {\em single} NS5 brane, the above discrete values correspond to the different possible positions of the D3 br…
Starting from the usual bosonic membrane action, we develop the geometry suitable for the description of $p$-brane backgrounds. Using the tools of generalized geometry we derive the generalization of string open-closed relations. Nambu-Poisson structures are used to generalize the concept of semiclassical noncommutativity of $D$-branes governed by Poisson tensor. We naturally describe the correspondence of recently proposed commutative and noncommutative versions of an effective action for $p$-branes ending on a $p'$-brane. We calculate the power series expansion of the action in background in…
In this note we analyze the geometry of maximally symmetric boundary conditions in Lie supergroup Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten models. We find that generically the worldvolume of a brane is a twisted superconjugacy class, very much like in the Lie group case. Whenever the brane is not completely delocalized in the fermionic directions a new atypical class of branes arises. We give an example of these new branes and show for type I supergroups and trivial gluing conditions that they can be naturally associated with atypical representations of the affine Lie superalgebra.
We introduce a Nambu-Poisson bracket in the geometrical description of the D=11 M5-brane. This procedure allows us, under some assumptions, to eliminate the local degrees of freedom of the antisymmetric field in the M5-brane Hamiltonian and to express it as a D=11 p-brane theory invariant under symplectomorphisms. A regularization of the M5-brane in terms of a multi D1-brane theory invariant under the $SU(N)\times SU(N)$ group in the limit when $N\to\infty$ is proposed. Also, a regularization for the D=10 D4-brane in terms of a multi D0-brane theory is suggested.
In this short paper, we will review the proposal of a correspondence between the doubled geometry of Double Field Theory and the higher geometry of bundle gerbes. Double Field Theory is T-duality covariant formulation of the supergravity limit of String Theory, which generalises Kaluza-Klein theory by unifying metric and Kalb-Ramond field on a doubled-dimensional space. In light of the proposed correspondence, this doubled geometry is interpreted as an atlas description of the higher geometry of bundle gerbes. In this sense, Double Field Theory can be interpreted as a field theory living on th…
For supersymmetric solutions of D3(M2) branes with AdS3(AdS2) factor, it is known that the internal space is expressible as U(1) fibration over Kähler space which satisfies a specific partial differential equation involving the Ricci tensor. In this paper we study the wrapped brane solutions of D3 and M2-branes which were originally constructed using gauged supergravity and uplifted to D=10 and D=11. We rewrite the solutions in canonical form, identify the backreacted Kähler geometry, and present a class of solutions which satisfy the Killing spinor equation.
The disk partition function of the open topological string computes the spacetime superpotential for D-branes wrapping cycles of a compact Calabi-Yau threefold. We use string duality to show that when appropriately formulated, the problem admits a natural geometrization in terms of a non-compact Calabi-Yau fourfold without D-branes. The duality relates the D-brane superpotential to a flux superpotential on the fourfold. This sheds light on several features of superpotential computations appearing in the literature, in particular on the observation that Calabi-Yau fourfold geometry enters the p…
Our motivation is to find the relationship between the commutator of coordinates and uncertainty relation involving only the coordinates. The boundary condition with constant background field is connected with the rotation of D-brane at general angle. And the mode expansions of D-brane we found is more reasonable than those appeared in literature. The partition functions and scattering amplitudes are also discussed.
The characterization of the DBI action of a Dp-brane using the generalized geometry is discussed. It is shown that the DBI action is invariant under the diffeomorphism and B-transformation of the generalized tangent bundle of the target space. The symmetry is realized non-linearly on the fluctuation of the D-brane.
In this article, we study how the Grothendieck group of coherent sheaves can be used to describe D-branes. We show how global bound state construction in topological $K$-theory can be adapted to our context, showing that D-branes wrapping a subvariety are holomorphically classified by a relative $K$-group. By taking the duality between the relative $K$-groups and the $K$-homologies, we show that D-brane charge of type IIB superstrings is properly classified by the $K$-homology.
We consider string theory on the Lorentzian Melvin geometry, which is obtained by analytically continuing the two-parameter Euclidean Melvin background. Because this model provides a solvable conformal field theory that describes time-dependent twisted string dynamics, we study the string one-loop partition function and the D-brane spectrum. We found that both the wrapping D2-brane and the codimension-one D-string emit winding strings, and this behavior can be traced to the modified open string Hamiltonian on these probe D-branes.
We apply noncommutative geometry to a system of N parallel D-branes, which is interpreted as a quantum space. The Dirac operator defining the quantum differential calculus is identified to be the supercharge for strings connecting D-branes. As a result of the calculus, Connes' Yang-Mills action functional on the quantum space reproduces the dimensionally reduced U(N) super Yang-Mills action as the low energy effective action for D-brane dynamics. Several features that may look ad hoc in a noncommutative geometric construction are shown to have very natural physical or geometric origin in the D…
Using properties of the DBI action we find D-branes on $S^3$ of the radius $Q_5$ corresponding to the conjugacy classes of SU(2). The branes are stable due to nonzero 2-form NSNS background. In the limit of large $Q_5$ the dynamics of branes is governed by the non-commutative Yang-Mills theory. The results partially overlap with those obtained in the recent paper hep-th/0003037.
We find explicit solutions of Type IIB string theory on R^4/Z_2 corresponding to the classical geometry of fractional D1-branes. From the supergravity solution obtained, we capture perturbative information about the running of the coupling constant and the metric on the moduli space of N=4, D=2 Super Yang Mills.
We show how non-compact (quantum 2d AdS) space-time emerges for specific ratios of the square of the boundary cosmological constant to the cosmological constant in 2d Euclidean quantum gravity.
Basic idea of Randall-Sundrum brane world model I and II is reviewed with detailed calculation. After introducing the brane world metric with exponential warp factor, metrics of Randall-Sundrum models are constructed. We explain how Randall-Sundrum model I with two branes makes the gauge hierarchy problem much milder, and then derive Newtonian gravity in Randall-Sundrum model II with a single brane by considering small fluctuations.
We characterize the geometry produced by M5-branes wrapping a Special Lagrangian 3-cycle in a Calabi-Yau 3-fold. The presence of the brane replaces the the Calabi-Yau by a real manifold with an almost complex structure. We show that, in this classification, a distinguished (1,1) form as well as a globally defined (3,0) form play an important role. The requirements of supersymmetry preservation impose constraints on these structures which can be used to classify the background.
We report on the gauged supergravity analysis of Type IIB vacua on K3x T2/Z2 orientifold in the presence of D3-D7-branes and fluxes. We discuss supersymmetric critical points correspond to Minkowski vacua and the related fixing of moduli, finding agreement with previous analysis. An important role is played by the choice of the symplectic holomorphic sections of special geometry which enter the computation of the scalar potential. The related period matrix N is explicitly given. The relation between the special geometry and the Born--Infeld action for the brane moduli is elucidated.
By looking at fractional Dp-branes of type IIA on T_4/Z_2 as wrapped branes and by using boundary state techniques we construct the effective low-energy action for the fields generated by fractional branes, build their world-volume action and find the corresponding classical geometry. The explicit form of the classical background is consistent only outside an enhancon sphere of radius r_e, which encloses a naked singularity of repulson-type. The perturbative running of the gauge coupling constant, dictated by the NS-NS twisted field that keeps its one-loop expression at any distance, also fail…
We compute the four-dimensional gaugino mass for a Dp-brane extended in spacetime and wrapping a cycle on the internal geometry in a warped compactification with fluxes. Motivated by the backreaction of gaugino bilinear VEVs, we use Generalized Complex Geometry to characterize the internal geometry as well as the cycle wrapped by the brane. We find that the RR fluxes and the non-closure of the generalized complex structures combine in the gaugino mass terms in the same form as they do in the bulk superpotential, while for the NSNS fluxes there is a crucial minus sign in the component normal to…
We investigate the open string modes, describing the world-volume of a D p-brane, for its cyclic symmetry in presence of a magnetic field. It is argued that the constant coordinate modes receive non-perturbative correction. We show that they introduce the notion of noncommutativity on the D p-brane world-volume and make it UV-renormalizable. An analogy between cyclic symmetry ($\a'$-corrections) and the noncommutative geometry ($Θ_A$-corrections) is presented to explain some of the unusual IR phenomena often noticed in a noncommutative theory.
Branes in non-trivial backgrounds are expected to exhibit interesting dynamical properties. We use the boundary conformal field theory approach to study branes in a curved background with non-vanishing Neveu-Schwarz 3-form field strength. For branes on an $S^3$, the low-energy effective action is computed to leading order in the string tension. It turns out to be a field theory on a non-commutative `fuzzy 2-sphere' which consists of a Yang-Mills and a Chern-Simons term. We find a certain set of classical solutions that have no analogue for flat branes in Euclidean space. These solutions show, …
