We consider the Hermitian-Yang-Mills (HYM) equations for gauge potentials on a complex vector bundle E over an almost complex manifold X^6 which is the twistor space of an oriented Riemannian manifold M^4. Each solution of the HYM equations on such X^6 defines a pseudo-holomorphic structure on the bundle E. It is shown that the pull-back to X^6 of any anti-self-dual gauge field on M^4 is a solution of the HYM equations on X^6. This correspondence allows us to introduce new twistor actions for bosonic and supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. As examples of X^6 we consider homogeneous nearly Kaehler and nearly Calabi-Yau manifolds which are twistor spaces of S^4, CP^2 and B_4, CB_2 (real 4-ball and complex 2-ball), respectively. Various explicit examples of solutions to the HYM equations on these spaces are provided. Applications in flux compactifications of heterotic strings are briefly discussed.
Compactifications of heterotic string theory on Generalized Calabi-Yau manifolds have been expected to give the same type of flexibility that type IIB compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds have. In this note we generalize the work done on half-flat manifolds by other authors, to show how flux quantization occurs in the general case, by starting with a basis of harmonic forms and then extending it. However it turns out that only the axions associated with the non-harmonic directions in the space of Kaehler moduli, can be stabilized by the geometric (torsion) terms. Also we argue that the…
We describe the geometry of the leading singularity locus of the traintrack integral family directly in momentum twistor space. For the two-loop case, known as the elliptic double box, the leading singularity locus is a genus one curve, which we obtain as an intersection of two quadrics in $\mathbb{P}^{3}$. At three loops, we obtain a K3 surface which arises as a branched surface over two genus-one curves in $\mathbb{P}^{1} \times \mathbb{P}^{1}$. We present an analysis of its properties. We also discuss the geometry at higher loops and the supersymmetrization of the construction.
We interpret the A and B model topological strings on CP^{3|4} as equivalent to open N=2 string theory on spacetime with signature (2,2), when covariantized with respect to SO(2,2) and supersymmetrized a la Siegel. We propose that instantons ending on Lagrangian branes wrapping RP^{3|4} deform the self-dual N=4 Yang-Mills sector to ordinary Yang-Mills by generating a `t Hooft like expansion. We conjecture that the A and B versions are S-dual to each other. We also conjecture that mirror symmetry may explain the recent observations of Witten that twistor transformed N=4 Yang-Mills amplitudes li…
We study the behaviour of the string loop corrections to the N=1 4D supergravity Kaehler potential that occur in flux compactifications of IIB string theory on general Calabi-Yau three-folds. We give a low energy interpretation for the conjecture of Berg, Haack and Pajer for the form of the loop corrections to the Kaehler potential. We check the consistency of this interpretation in several examples. We show that for arbitrary Calabi-Yaus, the leading contribution of these corrections to the scalar potential is always vanishing, giving an "extended no-scale structure". This result holds as lon…
Four-dimensional Kerr-Schild geometry contains two stringy structures. The first one is the closed string formed by the Kerr singular ring, and the second one is an open complex string with was obtained in the complex structure of the Kerr-Schild geometry. The real and complex Kerr strings form together a membrane source of the over-rotating Kerr-Newman solution without horizon, $a =J/m >> m .$ It has also been obtained recently that the principal null congruence of the Kerr geometry, induced by the complex Kerr string, is determined by the Kerr theorem as a quartic in the projective twistor s…
Quaternion-Kaehler four-manifolds, or equivalently anti-self-dual Einstein manifolds, are locally determined by one scalar function subject to Przanowski's equation. Using twistorial methods we construct a Lax Pair for Przanowski's equation, confirming its integrability. The Lee form of a compatible local complex structure, which one can always find, gives rise to a conformally invariant differential operator acting on sections of a line bundle. Special cases of the associated generalised Laplace operator are the conformal Laplacian and the linearised Przanowski operator. We provide recursion …
We find a new family of AdS_4 vacua in IIA string theory. The internal space is topologically either the complex projective space CP^3 or the "flag manifold" SU(3)/(U(1)xU(1)), but the metric is in general neither Einstein nor Kaehler. All known moduli are stabilized by fluxes, without using quantum effects or orientifold planes. The analysis is completely ten--dimensional and does not rely on assumptions about Kaluza--Klein reduction.
A simple procedure is given to construct curved, non-self-dual (complexified) Kaehler metrics on space-time in terms of deformations of holomorphic quadric surfaces in flat twistor space. Imposing Lorentzian reality conditions, the Schwarzschild, Kerr, and Plebanski-Demianski space-times (among others) are derived as examples of the construction.
N=(2,2), d=2 supersymmetric non-linear sigma-models provide a physical realization of Hitchin's and Gualtieri's generalized Kaehler geometry. A large subclass of such models are comprised by WZW-models on even-dimensional reductive group manifolds. In the present paper we analyze the complex structures, type changing, the superfield content and the affine isometries compatible with the extra supersymmetry. The results are illustrated by an exhaustive discussion of the N=(2,2) WZW-models on S3xS1 and S3xS3 where various aspects of generalized Kaehler and Calabi-Yau geometry are verified and cla…
We confirm the leading $α'^3$ correction to the 4d, $\mathcal N = 1$ Kähler potential of type IIB orientifold compactifications, proportional to the Euler characteristic of the Calabi-Yau threefold (BBHL correction). We present the explicit solution for the $α'^3$-modified internal background metric in terms of the non-harmonic part of the third Chern form of the leading order Calabi-Yau manifold. The corrected internal manifold is almost Calabi-Yau and admits an $SU(3)$ structure with non-vanishing torsion. We also find that the full ten-dimensional Einstein frame background metric is multipl…
By generalizing and extending some of the earlier results derived by Manin and Merkulov, a twistor description is given of four-dimensional N-extended (gauged) self-dual supergravity with and without cosmological constant. Starting from the category of (4|4N)-dimensional complex superconformal supermanifolds, the categories of (4|2N)-dimensional complex quaternionic, quaternionic Kaehler and hyper-Kaehler right-chiral supermanifolds are introduced and discussed. We then present a detailed twistor description of these types of supermanifolds. In particular, we construct supertwistor spaces asso…
We study a kaehler potential K in the large radius region of a Calabi-Yau d-fold M embedded in CP^{d+1}. It has a kaehler parameter t that describes a deformation of the A-model moduli. Also the metric, curvature and hermitian two-point functions in the large volume region are analyzed. We use a result of our previous paper in the B-model of the mirror. We perform an analytic continuation of a parameter to the large complex structure region. By translating the result in the A-model side of M, we determine the K. The method is not restricted to this specific model and we apply the recipe to com…
We observe that the new attractor mechanism describing IIB flux vacua for Calabi-Yau compactifications has a possible extension to the landscape of non-Kaehler vacua that emerge in heterotic compactifications with fluxes. We focus on the effective theories coming from compactifications on generalized half-flat manifolds, showing that the Minkowski "attractor points'' for 3-form fluxes are special-hermitian manifolds.
We consider cosmological solutions to type II supergravity theories where the spacetime is split into a FRW universe and a Kähler space, which may be taken to be Calabi-Yau. The various 2-forms present in the theories are taken to be proportional to the Kähler form associated to the Kähler space.
We consider the dimensional reduction of supersymmetric Yang-Mills on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold. We show by construction how the resulting cohomological theory is related to the balanced field theory of the Kaehler Yang-Mills equations introduced by Donaldson and Uhlenbeck-Yau.
Using the twistor approach to hypermultiplet moduli spaces, we derive the worldsheet, D(-1), and D1-instanton contributions to the generalized mirror map, relating Type IIA and Type IIB string theory compactified on generic mirror Calabi-Yau threefolds. For this purpose, we provide a novel description of the twistor space underlying the Type IIB hypermultiplet moduli space where the SL(2,Z)-action is found to be free from quantum corrections. The extent to which instanton effects may resolve the perturbative singularities of the moduli space metric is discussed.
We present the evidence for two conjectures related to the twistor string. The first conjecture states that two super-Calabi Yaus -- the supertwistor space and the superambitwistor space -- form a mirror pair. The second conjecture is that the B-model on the twistor space can be seen as describing a 4-dimensional gravitational theory, whose partition function should involve a sum over ''space-time foams'' related to D1 branes in the topological string.
We review a progress in obtaining the complete non-perturbative effective action of type II string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold. This problem is equivalent to understanding quantum corrections to the metric on the hypermultiplet moduli space. We show how all these corrections, which include D-brane and NS5-brane instantons, are incorporated in the framework of the twistor approach, which provides a powerful mathematical description of hyperkahler and quaternion-Kahler manifolds. We also present new insights on S-duality, quantum mirror symmetry, connections to integrable models…
The sphere partition function of Calabi-Yau gauged linear sigma models (GLSMs) has been shown to compute the exact Kaehler potential of the Kaehler moduli space of a Calabi-Yau. We propose a universal expression for the sphere partition function evaluated in hybrid phases of Calabi-Yau GLSMs that are fibrations of Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds over some base manifold. Special cases include Calabi-Yau complete intersections in toric ambient spaces and Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds. The key ingredients that enter the expression are Givental's I/J-functions, the Gamma class and further data associated to…
We study the orientifold truncation that arises when compactifying type II string theory on Calabi-Yau orientifolds with O3/O7-planes, in the context of supergravity. We look at the N=2 to N=1 reduction of the hypermultiplet sector of N=2 supergravity under the truncation, for the case of very special quaternionic-Kaehler target space geometry. We explicitly verify the Kaehler structure of the truncated spaces, and we study the truncated isometry algebra. For symmetric special quaternionic spaces, we give a complete overview of the spaces one finds after truncation. We also find new examples o…
We provide the last missing piece of the complete non-perturbative description of the low energy effective action emerging from Calabi-Yau compactifications of type II string theory --- NS5-brane instanton corrections to the hypermultiplet moduli space $M_H$. We find them using S-duality symmetry of the type IIB formulation. The result is encoded in a set of holomorphic functions on the twistor space of $M_H$ and includes all orders of the instanton expansion.
We consider issues of moduli stabilization and "area codes" for type II flux compactifications, and the "Inverse Problem" and "Fake Superpotentials" for extremal (non)supersymmetric black holes in type II compactifications on (orientifold of) a compact two-parameter Calabi-Yau expressed as a degree-18 hypersurface in WCP^4[1,1,1,6,9] which has multiple singular loci in its moduli space. We argue the existence of extended "area codes" [1] wherein for the same set of large NS-NS and RR fluxes, one can stabilize all the complex structure moduli and the axion-dilaton modulus (to different sets of …
We present some results on instanton corrections to the hypermultiplet moduli space in Calabi-Yau compactifications of Type II string theories. Previously, using twistor methods, only a class of D-instantons (D2-instantons wrapping A-cycles) was incorporated exactly and the rest was treated only linearly. We go beyond the linear approximation and give a set of holomorphic functions which, through a known procedure, capture the effect of D-instantons at all orders. Moreover, we show that for a sector where all instanton charges have vanishing symplectic invariant scalar product, the hypermultip…
Heterotic string theory compactified on a K3 surface times T^2 is believed to be equivalent to type II string theory on a suitable Calabi-Yau threefold. In particular, it must share the same hypermultiplet moduli space. Building on the known twistorial description on the type II side, and on recent progress on the map between type II and heterotic moduli in the `double scaling' limit (where both the type II and heterotic strings become classical), we provide a new twistorial construction of the hypermultiplet moduli space in this limit which is adapted to the symmetries of the heterotic string…
We discuss the four-dimensional N=1 effective actions of single space-time filling Dp-branes in general Type IIA and Type IIB Calabi-Yau orientifold compactifications. The effective actions depend on an infinite number of normal deformations and gauge connection modes. For D6-branes the N=1 Kaehler potential, the gauge-coupling function, the superpotential and the D-terms are determined as functions of these fields. They can be expressed as integrals over chains which end on the D-brane cycle and a reference cycle. The infinite deformation space will reduce to a finite-dimensional moduli space…
We show that for all very special quaternionic manifolds a different N=1 reduction exists, defining a Kaehler Geometry which is ``dual'' to the original very special Kaehler geometry with metric G_{a\bar{b}}= - \partial_a \partial_b \ln V (V={1/6}d_{abc}λ^a λ^b λ^c). The dual metric g^{ab}=V^{-2} (G^{-1})^{ab} is Kaehler and it also defines a flat potential as the original metric. Such geometries and some of their extensions find applications in Type IIB compactifications on Calabi--Yau orientifolds.
We enumerate massless E6 singlets for (0,2)-compactifications of the heterotic string on a Calabi-Yau threefold with the "standard embedding" in three distinct ways. In the large radius limit of the threefold, these singlets count deformations of the Calabi-Yau together with its tangent bundle. In the "small-radius" limit we apply Landau-Ginzburg methods. In the orbifold limit we use a combination of geometry and free field methods. In general these counts differ. We show how to identify states between these phases and how certain states vanish from the massless spectrum as one deforms the com…
We consider Newman's representation of the Kerr geometry as a complex retarded-time construction generated by a source propagating along a complex world-line. We notice that the complex world-line forms really an open complex string, endpoints of which should have independent dynamics by the string excitations. The adjoined to complex Kerr string twistorial structure is determined by the Kerr theorem, and we obtain that the resulting Kerr's equation describes a quartic in projective twistor $CP^3 ,$ which is known as Calabi-Yau twofold of superstring theory. Along with other remarkable similar…
We study a kaehler potential K of a one parameter family of Calabi-Yau d-fold embedded in CP^{d+1}. By comparing results of the topological B-model and the data of the CFT calculation at Gepner point, the K is determined unambiguously. It has a moduli parameter psi that describes a deformation of the CFT by a marginal operator. Also the metric, curvature and hermitian two-point functions in the neighborhood of the Gepner point are analyzed. We use a recipe of tt^{*} fusion and develop a method to determine the K from the point of view of topological sigma model. It is not restricted to this sp…
In type IIB string compactifications on a Calabi-Yau threefold, the hypermultiplet moduli space $M_H$ must carry an isometric action of the modular group SL(2,Z), inherited from the S-duality symmetry of type IIB string theory in ten dimensions. We investigate how this modular symmetry is realized at the level of the twistor space of $M_H$, and construct a general class of SL(2,Z)-invariant quaternion-Kahler metrics with two commuting isometries, parametrized by a suitably covariant family of holomorphic transition functions. This family should include $M_H$ corrected by D3-D1-D(-1)-instantons…
Finding the exact, quantum corrected metric on the hypermultiplet moduli space in Type II string compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds is an outstanding open problem. We address this issue by relating the quaternionic-Kahler metric on the hypermultiplet moduli space to the complex contact geometry on its twistor space. In this framework, Euclidean D-brane instantons are captured by contact transformations between different patches. We derive those by recasting the previously known A-type D2-instanton corrections in the language of contact geometry, covariantizing the result under electro-…
We show how a Kahler spacetime foam in four dimensional conformal (super)gravity may be mapped to twistor spaces carrying the D1 brane charge of the B model topological string theory. The spacetime foam is obtained by blowing up an arbitrary number of points in $\C^2$ and can be interpreted as a sum over gravitational instantons. Some twistor spaces for blowups of $\C^2$ are known explicitly. In these cases we write down a meromorphic volume form and suggest a relation to a holomorphic superform on a corresponding super Calabi-Yau manifold.
We address the open question of performing an explicit stabilisation of all closed string moduli (including dilaton, complex structure and Kaehler moduli) in fluxed type IIB Calabi-Yau compactifications with chiral matter. Using toric geometry we construct Calabi-Yau manifolds with del Pezzo singularities. D-branes located at such singularities can support the Standard Model gauge group and matter content. In order to control complex structure moduli stabilisation we consider Calabi-Yau manifolds which exhibit a discrete symmetry that reduces the effective number of complex structure moduli. W…
We derive sufficient conditions for the vanishing of plurigenera, $p_m(J), m>0$, on compact (l|k)-strong, $ω^l\wedge \partial\bar\partial ω^k=0$, Kaehler manifolds with torsion. In particular, we show that the plurigenera of compact (l|k)-strong manifolds, k<n-1, for which the holonomy of the unique Hermitian connection with skew-symmetric torsion is contained in SU(n) vanish. As a consequence all generalized k-Gauduchon manifolds with holonomy of the Hermitian connection with skew-symmetric torsion contained in SU(n) do not admit holomorphic (n,0) forms. Furthermore we show that all conformal…
Perturbative scattering amplitudes in Yang-Mills theory have many unexpected properties, such as holomorphy of the maximally helicity violating amplitudes. To interpret these results, we Fourier transform the scattering amplitudes from momentum space to twistor space, and argue that the transformed amplitudes are supported on certain holomorphic curves. This in turn is apparently a consequence of an equivalence between the perturbative expansion of ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory and the $D$-instanton expansion of a certain string theory, namely the topological $B$ model whose target spac…
For a given complex n-fold M we present an explicit construction of all complex (n+1)-folds which are principal holomorphic T2-fibrations over M. For physical applications we consider the case of M being a Calabi-Yau 2-fold. We show that for such M, there is a subclass of the 3-folds that we construct, which has natural families of non-Kaehler SU(3)-structures satisfying the conditions for N = 1 supersymmetry in the heterotic string theory compactified on the 3-folds. We present examples in the aforementioned subclass with M being a K3-surface and a 4-torus.
We propose a construction of Kähler and non-Kähler Calabi-Yau manifolds by branched double covers of twistor spaces. In this construction we use the twistor spaces of four-manifolds with self-dual conformal structures, with the examples of connected sum of $n$ $\mathbb{P}^{2}$s. We also construct $K3$-fibered Calabi-Yau manifolds from the branched double covers of the blow-ups of the twistor spaces. These manifolds can be used in heterotic string compactifications to four dimensions. We also construct stable and polystable vector bundles. Some classes of these vector bundles can give rise to s…
We study the topological zero mode sector of type II strings on a Kähler manifold $X$ in the presence of boundaries. We construct two finite bases, in a sense bosonic and fermionic, that generate the topological sector of the Hilbert space with boundaries. The fermionic basis localizes on compact submanifolds in $X$. A variation of the FI terms interpolates between the description of these ground states in terms of the ring of chiral fields at the boundary at small volume and helices of exceptional sheaves at large volume, respectively. The identification of the bosonic/fermionic basis with th…
We identify a set of "energy" functionals on the space of metrics in a given Kaehler class on a Calabi-Yau manifold, which are bounded below and minimized uniquely on the Ricci-flat metric in that class. Using these functionals, we recast the problem of numerically solving the Einstein equation as an optimization problem. We apply this strategy, using the "algebraic" metrics (metrics for which the Kaehler potential is given in terms of a polynomial in the projective coordinates), to the Fermat quartic and to a one-parameter family of quintics that includes the Fermat and conifold quintics. We …
We develop techniques for obtaining the mirror of Calabi-Yau supermanifolds as super-Landau-Ginzburg theories. In some cases the dual can be equivalent to a geometry. We apply this to some examples. In particular we show that the mirror of the twistorial Calabi-Yau CP^{3|4} becomes equivalent to a quadric in CP^{3|3} x CP^{3|3} as had been recently conjectured (in the limit where the Kähler parameter of CP^{3|4} t -> \pm \infty). Moreover, we show using these techniques that there is a non-trivial Z_2 symmetry for the Kähler parameter, t -> -t, which exchanges the opposite helicity states. As …
The string coupling of N=2 supersymmetric compactifications of type II string theory on a Calabi-Yau manifold belongs to the so-called universal dilaton hypermultiplet, that has four real scalars living on a quaternion-Kaehler manifold. Requiring Heisenberg symmetry, which is a maximal subgroup of perturbative isometries, reduces the possible manifolds to a one-parameter family that describes the tree-level effective action deformed by the only possible perturbative correction arising at one-loop level. A similar argument can be made at the level of global supersymmetry where the scalar manifo…
This is the first in a series of papers in which we develop a twistor-based method of constructing hyperkaehler metrics from holomorphic functions and elliptic curves. As an application, we revisit the Atiyah-Hitchin manifold and derive in an explicit holomorphic coordinate basis closed-form formulas for, among other things, the metric, the holomorphic symplectic form and all three Kaehler potentials.
Mirror symmetry relates type IIB string theory on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold to type IIA on the mirror CY manifold, whose complex structure and Kaehler moduli spaces are exchanged. We show that the mirror map is a particular case of a more general quantum equivalence, fractional mirror symmetry, between Calabi-Yau compactifications and non-CY ones. As was done by Greene and Plesser for mirror symmetry, we obtain these new dualities by considering orbifolds of Gepner models, of asymmetric nature, leading to superconformal field theories isomorphic to the original ones, but with a different target-spac…
We introduce a simple and very fast algorithm that computes Weil-Petersson metrics on moduli spaces of polarized Calabi-Yau manifolds. Also, by using Donaldson's quantization link between the infinite and finite dimensional G.I.T quotients that describe moduli spaces of varieties, we define a natural sequence of Kaehler metrics. We prove that the sequence converges to the Weil-Petersson metric. We also develop an algorithm that numerically approximates such metrics, and hence the Weil-Petersson metric itself. Explicit examples are provided on a family of Calabi-Yau Quintic hypersurfaces in CP^…
Four-dimensional quaternion-Kahler metrics, or equivalently self-dual Einstein spaces M, are known to be encoded locally into one real function h subject to Przanowski's Heavenly equation. We elucidate the relation between this description and the usual twistor description for quaternion-Kahler spaces. In particular, we show that the same space M can be described by infinitely many different solutions h, associated to different complex (local) submanifolds on the twistor space, and therefore to different (local) integrable complex structures on M. We also study quaternion-Kahler deformations o…
The third del Pezzo surface admits a unique Kaehler-Einstein metric, which is not known in closed form. The manifold's toric structure reduces the Einstein equation to a single Monge-Ampere equation in two real dimensions. We numerically solve this nonlinear PDE using three different algorithms, and describe the resulting metric. The first two algorithms involve simulation of Ricci flow, in complex and symplectic coordinates respectively. The third algorithm involves turning the PDE into an optimization problem on a certain space of metrics, which are symplectic analogues of the "algebraic" me…
The entanglement entropy for interfaces and junctions of two-dimensional CFTs is evaluated on holographically dual half-BPS solutions to six-dimensional Type 4b supergravity with m anti-symmetric tensor supermultiplets. It is shown that the moduli space for an N-junction solution projects to N points in the Kaehler manifold SO(2,m)/( SO(2) x SO(m)). For N=2 the interface entropy is expressed in terms of the central charge and Calabi's diastasis function on SO(2,m)/(SO(2) x SO(m)), thereby lending support from holography to a proposal of Bachas, Brunner, Douglas, and Rastelli. For N=3, the enta…
We construct black hole attractor solutions for a wide class of N=2 compactifications. The analysis is carried out in ten dimensions and makes crucial use of pure spinor techniques. This formalism can accommodate non-Kaehler manifolds as well as compactifications with flux, in addition to the usual Calabi-Yau case. At the attractor point, the charges fix the moduli according to sum_k f_k = Im(C Phi), where Phi is a pure spinor of odd (even) chirality in IIB (A). For IIB on a Calabi-Yau, Phi=Omega and the equation reduces to the usual one. Methods in generalized complex geometry can be used to …
We construct D=11 supergravity solutions dual to the twisted field theories arising when M-theory fivebranes wrap supersymmetric cycles. The cases considered are M-fivebranes wrapped on (i) a complex Lagrangian four-cycle in a D=8 hyper-Kaehler manifold corresponding to a D=2 field theory with (2,1) supersymmetry (ii) a product of two holomorphic two-cycles in a product of two Calabi-Yau two-folds corresponding to a D=2 field theory with (2,2) supersymmetry and (iii) a product of a holomorphic two-cycle and a SLAG three-cycle in a product of a Calabi-Yau two-fold and a Calabi-Yau three-fold co…
The aim of this work is to analyze Kaehler moduli space monodromies of string compactifications. This is achieved by investigating the monodromy action upon D-brane probes, which we model in the Landau-Ginzburg phase in terms of matrix factorizations. The two-dimensional cubic torus and the quintic Calabi-Yau hypersurface serve as our two prime examples.
A scenario for stabilization of axionic moduli fields in the context of type IIB Calabi-Yau flux compactifications is discussed in detail. We consider the case of a Calabi-Yau orientifold with h^{1,1}_- \neq 0 which allows for the presence of B_2 and C_2-moduli. In an attempt to generalize the KKLT and the Large Volume Scenario, we show that these axions can also be stabilized - some already at tree level, and others when we include perturbative α'-corrections to the Kaehler potential K and nonperturbative D3-instanton contributions to the superpotential W. At last, we comment on the possible …
We combine moduli stabilisation and (chiral) model building in a fully consistent global set-up in Type IIB/F-theory. We consider compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds which admit an explicit description in terms of toric geometry. We build globally consistent compactifications with tadpole and Freed-Witten anomaly cancellation by choosing appropriate brane set-ups and world-volume fluxes which also give rise to SU(5)- or MSSM-like chiral models. We fix all the Kaehler moduli within the Kaehler cone and the regime of validity of the 4D effective field theory. This is achieved in a way c…
The D-instanton corrected hypermultiplet moduli space of type II string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold is known in the type IIA picture to be determined in terms of the generalized Donaldson-Thomas invariants, through a twistorial construction. At the same time, in the mirror type IIB picture, and in the limit where only D3-D1-D(-1)-instanton corrections are retained, it should carry an isometric action of the S-duality group SL(2,Z). We prove that this is the case in the one-instanton approximation, by constructing a holomorphic action of SL(2,Z) on the linearized twistor space…
In this paper we show how Einstein metrics are naturally described using the quantization of the algebra of functions on a Kahler manifold M. In this setup one interprets M as the phase space itself, equipped with the Poisson brackets inherited from the Kahler 2-form. We compare the geometric quantization framework with several deformation quantization approaches. We find that the balanced metrics appear naturally as a result of setting the vacuum energy to be the constant function on the moduli space of semiclassical vacua. In the classical limit these metrics become Kahler-Einstein (when M a…
Superstring theories are the most promising theories for unified description of all fundamental interactions including gravity. However, these theories are formulated consistently only in 10 spacetime dimensions. Therefore, to connect to the observable world, it is required to compactify 6 out of those 10 dimensions in a suitable fashion. In this thesis, we mainly consider compactifications of type II string theories on Calabi-Yau threefolds. As a consequence, the resulting four dimensional theories preserve $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry. In these cases the metrics on the moduli spaces of the …
We consider gauged sigma-models from a Riemann surface into a Kaehler and hamiltonian G-manifold X. The supersymmetric N=2 theory can always be twisted to produce a gauged A-model. This model localizes to the moduli space of solutions of the vortex equations and computes the Hamiltonian Gromov-Witten invariants. When the target is equivariantly Calabi-Yau, i.e. when its first G-equivariant Chern class vanishes, the supersymmetric theory can also be twisted into a gauged B-model. This model localizes to the Kaehler quotient X//G.
Using the prescription of [1] for defining period integrals in the Landau-Ginsburg theory for compact Calabi-Yau's, we obtain the Picard-Fuchs equation and the Meijer basis of solutions for the compact Calabi-Yau CY_3(3,243) expressed as a degree-24 Fermat hypersurface AFTER resolution of the orbifold singularities. This is similar in spirit to the method of obtaining Meijer basis of solutions in [2] for the case wherein one is away from the orbifold singularities, and one is considering the large-base limit of the Calabi-Yau. The importance of the method lies in the ease with which one can co…
