We consider string theory compactifications of the form AdS4 x M6 with orientifold six-planes, where M6 is a six-dimensional compact space that is either a nilmanifold or a coset. For all known solutions of this type we obtain the four-dimensional N=1 low energy effective theory by computing the superpotential, the Kaehler potential and the mass spectrum for the light moduli. For the nilmanifold examples we perform a cross-check on the result for the mass spectrum by calculating it alternatively from a direct Kaluza-Klein reduction and find perfect agreement. We show that in all but one of the coset models all moduli are stabilized at the classical level. As an application we show that all but one of the coset models can potentially be used to bypass a recent no-go theorem against inflation in type IIA theory.
This is a summary of arXiv:0806.3458, where the low energy effective theory of type IIA AdS_4 N=1 flux compactifications on nilmanifolds and cosets has been analyzed. We compute the superpotential, the Kähler potential and the mass spectrum for the light moduli. For the nilmanifold examples we perform a cross-check on the result for the mass spectrum by calculating it from a direct Kaluza-Klein reduction.
We present a classification of a large class of type IIA N=1 supersymmetric compactifications to AdS4, based on left-invariant SU(3)-structures on coset spaces. In the absence of sources the parameter spaces of all cosets leading to a solution contain regions corresponding to nearly-Kaehler structure. I.e. all these cosets can be viewed as deformations of nearly-Kaehler manifolds. Allowing for (smeared) six-brane/orientifold sources we obtain more possibilities. In the second part of the paper, we use a simple ansatz, which can be applied to all six-dimensional coset manifolds considered here,…
We study compactifications of type IIA supergravity on cosets exhibiting SU(3) structure. We establish the consistency of the truncation based on left-invariance, providing a justification for the choice of expansion forms which yields gauged N=2 supergravity in 4 dimensions. We explore N=1 solutions of these theories, emphasizing the requirements of flux quantization, as well as their non-supersymmetric companions. In particular, we obtain a no-go result for de Sitter solutions at string tree level, and, exploiting the enhanced leverage of the N=2 setup, provide a preliminary analysis of the …
We study static, spherically symmetric black hole solutions in four-dimensional N=2 gauged supergravity with one vector multiplet and one hyper-tensor multiplet. This is derived from massive type IIA theory compactified on the nearly-Kahler coset space G2/SU(3). It is well-known that the Romans' mass parameter yields the Stuckelberg-type deformation of the gauge field strengths in the four-dimensional system. This deformation requires that all the (covariant) derivatives of the scalar fields must vanish and the two-form field is closed. It turns out that charged solutions are forbidden. This i…
According to the recent proposal by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena the N=6 supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory in three dimensions has a 't Hooft limit whose holographic dual is described by type IIA superstings on AdS_4 x CP^3 background. We argue that the Green-Schwarz action for type IIA string theory on AdS_4 x CP^3 with kappa-symmetry partially fixed can be understood as a coset sigma-model on the same space supplied with a proper Wess-Zumino term. We construct the corresponding sigma-model Lagrangian and show that it is invariant under a local fermionic symmetry which for generi…
In this paper we investigate in detail the correspondence between E10 and Romans' massive deformation of type IIA supergravity. We analyse the dynamics of a non-linear sigma model for a spinning particle on the coset space E10/K(E10) and show that it reproduces the dynamics of the bosonic as well as the fermionic sector of the massive IIA theory, within the standard truncation. The mass deformation parameter corresponds to a generator of E10 outside the realm of the generators entering the usual D=11 analysis, and is naturally included without any deformation of the coset model for E10/K(E10).…
We construct new families of non-supersymmetric sourceless type IIA AdS4 vacua on those coset manifolds that also admit supersymmetric solutions. We investigate the spectrum of left-invariant modes and find that most, but not all, of the vacua are stable under these fluctuations. Generically, there are also no massless moduli.
We present the Green-Schwarz action for Type IIA strings on $AdS_4\times CP^3$. The action is based on a $\Zop_4$ automorphism of the coset $OSp(4|6)/(SO(1,3)\times SU(3)\times U(1))$. The equations of motion admit a representation in terms of a Lax connection, showing that the system is classically integrable.
In this talk we investigate the symmetry under E10 of Romans' massive type IIA supergravity. We show that the dynamics of a spinning particle in a non-linear sigma model on the coset space E10/K(E10) reproduces the bosonic and fermionic dynamics of massive IIA supergravity, in the standard truncation. In particular, we identify Romans' mass with a generator of E10 that is beyond the realm of the generators of E10 considered in the eleven-dimensional analysis, but using the same, underformed sigma model. As a consequence, this work provides a dynamical unification of the massless and massive ve…
We investigate the effective theory of type IIA string theory on six-dimensional orientifold backgrounds with SU(2)-structure. We focus on the case of orientifolds with O6-planes, for which we compute the bosonic effective action in the supergravity approximation. For a generic SU(2)-structure background, we find that the low-energy effective theory is a gauged N=2 supergravity where moduli in both vector and hypermultiplets are charged. Since all these supergravities descend from a corresponding N=4 background, their scalar target space is always a quotient of a SU(1,1)/U(1) x SO(6,n)/SO(6)xS…
We consider the compactification of the IIA string to (1+1) dimensions on non-compact 4-folds that are ALE fibrations. Supersymmetry requires that the compactification include 4-form fluxes, and a particular class of these models has been argued by Gukov, Vafa and Witten to give rise to a set of perturbed superconformal coset models that also have a Landau-Ginzburg description. We examine all these ADE models in detail, including the exceptional cosets. We identify which perturbations are induced by the deformation of the singularity, and compute the Landau-Ginzburg potentials exactly. We also…
Studying the reduction of type IIB supergravity from ten to three space-time dimensions we describe the metamorphosis of Dynkin diagram for gravity line "caterpillar" into a type IIB supergravity "dragonfly" that is triggered by inclusion of scalars and antisymmetric tensor fields. The final diagram corresponds to type IIB string theory E8 global symmetry group which is the subgroup of the conjectured E11 hidden symmetry group. Application of the results for getting the type IIA/IIB T-duality rules and for searching for type IIB vacua solutions is considered.
We study cosmological properties of type IIA compactifications on orientifolds of SU(3)-structure manifolds with non-vanishing geometric flux. These compactifications give rise to effective 4D N=1 supergravity theories that do not fall under some recently-proven no-go theorems against de Sitter vacua and slow-roll inflation. Focusing on a well-understood class of models based on coset spaces, however, we can use a refined no-go theorem that rules out de Sitter vacua and slow-roll inflation in all but one case. The refined no-go theorem uses the dilaton and a specific linear combination of the …
The usual T-duality that relates the type IIA and IIB theories compactified on circles of inversely-related radii does not operate if the dimensional reduction is performed on the time direction rather than a spatial one. This observation led to the recent proposal that there might exist two further ten-dimensional theories, namely type IIA^* and type IIB^*, related to type IIB and type IIA respectively by a timelike dimensional reduction. In this paper we explore such dimensional reductions in cases where time is the coordinate of a non-trivial U(1) fibre bundle. We focus in particular on sit…
We review the geometry of K3 surfaces and then describe this geometry from the point of view of an approximate metric of Gibbons-Hawking form. This metric arises from the M-theory lift of the tree-level supergravity description of type IIA string theory on the T^3/Z_2 orientifold, the D6/O6 orientifold T-dual to type I on T^3. At large base, it provides a good approximation to the exact K3 metric everywhere except in regions that can be made arbitrarily small. The metric is hyperkähler, and we give explicit expressions for the hyperkähler forms as well as harmonic representatives of all cohomo…
We lift the bosonic AdS_4 x CP^3 solution of type IIA supergravity preserving 24 supersymmetries to a D=10 superspace which has 32 Grassmann-odd directions. The type IIA superspace is obtained from D=11 via dimensional reduction of the coset superspace OSp(8|4)/SO(7) x SO(1,3) by realizing the latter as a Hopf fibration over the former. This construction generalizes to superspace the Hopf fibration of S^7 as a U(1) bundle over CP^3, and is suitable for writing the explicit form of Green-Schwarz-type actions encoding the dynamics of the type IIA string and branes in the AdS_4 x CP^3 superbackgr…
All bound states of fundamental strings, D-branes and NS-branes of string theory, both type-IIA and type-IIB, which may be described by a null geodesic motion on the coset G/K(G) where G is a group of type A, D or E embedded within E(11) are presented.
Dimensional reduction of theories involving (super-)gravity gives rise to sigma models on coset spaces of the form G/H, with G a non-compact group, and H its maximal compact subgroup. The reverse process, called oxidation, is the reconstruction of the possible higher dimensional theories, given the lower dimensional theory. In 3 dimensions, all degrees of freedom can be dualized to scalars. Given the group G for a 3 dimensional sigma model on the coset G/H, we demonstrate an efficient method for recovering the higher dimensional theories, essentially by decomposition into subgroups. The equati…
We analyze the hypermultiplet moduli space describing the universal sector of type IIA theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold. The classical moduli space is described in terms of the coset $SU(2,1)/U(2)$. The flux quantization condition of the antisymmetric tensor field of M-theory implies discrete identifications for the scalar fields describing this four- dimensional quaternionic geometry. Non-perturbative corrections of the classical theory are described in terms of a membrane- fivebrane instanton action which we construct herein.
We discuss fermionic reductions of type IIA superstrings on AdS4 x CP3 in relation to the conjectured AdS4/CFT3 duality. The superstring theory is described by means of a coset model construction, which is classically integrable. We discuss the global light-cone symmetries of the action and related kappa-symmetry gauge choices, and also present the complete quartic action in covariant form with respect to these. Further, we study integrable (fermionic) reductions, in particular, a reduction yielding a quadratic action of two complex fermions on the string world-sheet. Interestingly, this model…
We present AdS black hole solutions in four-dimensional N=2 gauged supergravity with the universal hypermultiplet. Here the axion field in this multiplet is dualized to a two-form field. This system is derived from ten-dimensional massive type IIA theory compactified on nearly-Kahler manifold in the presence of geometric fluxes and RR-fluxes. In this work we focus on the simplest coset space G_2/SU(3). Imposing the covariantly constant condition on all scalar fields, we obtain AdS black hole solutions with vanishing electromagnetic charges and arbitrary mass parameter.
We review the prospect of obtaining tree-level de Sitter (dS) vacua and slow-roll inflation models in string compactifications. Restricting ourselves to the closed string sector and assuming the absence of NSNS-sources, we classify the minimal classical ingredients that evade the simplest no-go theorems against dS vacua and inflation. Spaces with negative integrated curvature together with certain combinations of low-dimensional orientifold planes and low-rank RR-fluxes emerge as the most promising setups of this analysis. We focus on two well-controlled classes that lead to an effective 4D, N…
