We systematically analyze the local combinations of gauge groups and matter that can arise in 6D F-theory models over a fixed base. We compare the low-energy constraints of anomaly cancellation to explicit F-theory constructions using Weierstrass and Tate forms, and identify some new local structures in the "swampland' of 6D supergravity and SCFT models that appear consistent from low-energy considerations but do not have known F-theory realizations. In particular, we classify and carry out a local analysis of all enhancements of the irreducible gauge and matter contributions from "non-Higgsable clusters," and on isolated curves and pairs of intersecting rational curves of arbitrary self-intersection. Such enhancements correspond physically to unHiggsings, and mathematically to tunings of the Weierstrass model of an elliptic CY threefold. We determine the shift in Hodge numbers of the elliptic threefold associated with each enhancement. We also consider local tunings on curves that have higher genus or intersect multiple other curves, codimension two tunings that give transitions in the F-theory matter content, tunings of abelian factors in the gauge group, and generalizations of the "$E_8$" rule to include tunings and curves of self-intersection zero. These tools can be combined into an algorithm that in principle enables a finite and systematic classification of all elliptic CY threefolds and corresponding 6D F-theory SUGRA models over a given compact base (modulo some technical caveats in various special circumstances), and are also relevant to the classification of 6D SCFT's. To illustrate the utility of these results, we identify some large example classes of known CY threefolds in the Kreuzer-Skarke database as Weierstrass models over complex surface bases with specific simple tunings, and we survey the range of tunings possible over one specific base.
We present a new construction of mirror pairs of Calabi-Yau manifolds by smoothing normal crossing varieties, consisting of two quasi-Fano manifolds. We introduce a notion of mirror pairs of quasi-Fano manifolds with anticanonical Calabi-Yau fibrations using recent conjectures about Landau-Ginzburg models. Utilizing this notion, we give pairs of normal crossing varieties and show that the pairs of smoothed Calabi-Yau manifolds satisfy the Hodge number relations of mirror symmetry. We consider quasi-Fano threefolds that are some blow-ups of Gorenstein toric Fano threefolds and build 6518 mirror…
Any Calabi-Yau threefold X with infinite fundamental group admits an étale Galois covering either by an abelian threefold or by the product of a K3 surface and an elliptic curve. We call X of type A in the former case and of type K in the latter case. In this paper, we provide the full classification of Calabi-Yau threefolds of type K, based on Oguiso and Sakurai's work. Together with a refinement of Oguiso and Sakurai's result on Calabi-Yau threefolds of type A, we finally complete the classification of Calabi-Yau threefolds with infinite fundamental group.
Most of Calabi-Yau manifolds that have been considered by physicists are complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds of toric varieties or some quotients of product types. Purpose of this paper is to introduce a different and rather new kind of construction method of Calabi-Yau manifolds by pasting two non-compact Calabi-Yau manifolds. We will also in some details explain a curious and mysterious similarity with construction of some $G_2$-manifolds (also called Joyce manifolds), which are base spaces for M-theory.
We carry out a systematic analysis of Calabi-Yau threefolds that are elliptically fibered with section ("EFS") and have a large Hodge number h^{2, 1}. EFS Calabi-Yau threefolds live in a single connected space, with regions of moduli space associated with different topologies connected through transitions that can be understood in terms of singular Weierstrass models. We determine the complete set of such threefolds that have h^{2, 1} >= 350 by tuning coefficients in Weierstrass models over Hirzebruch surfaces. The resulting set of Hodge numbers includes those of all known Calabi-Yau threefold…
We review the construction of families of projective varieties, in particular Calabi--Yau threefolds, as quasilinear sections in weighted flag varieties. We also describe a construction of tautological orbi-bundles on these varieties, which may be of interest in heterotic model building.
We construct stable bundle extensions on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds. We show that these bundles can solve the topological anomaly constraint in heterotic string theory without the need of invoking background fivebranes.
This paper studies the action of the Fourier-Mukai transform on moduli spaces of vertical torsion sheaves on elliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds in Weierstrass form. Moduli stacks of semistable one dimensional sheaves on such threefolds are identified with open and closed substacksof moduli stacks of vertical semistable two dimensional sheaves on their Fourier-Mukai duals. In particular, this yields explicit conjectural results for Donaldson-Thomas invariants of vertical two dimensional sheaves on K3-fibered elliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds.
We consider the 8-supercharge 5d su(N) gauge theories from M-theory compactified on elliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds. By matching the triple intersection numbers in the elliptic Calabi-Yau with the 5d Chern-Simons levels, we determine the charged matter contents for these theories. We show that all these 5d theories can be lifted to 6d N = (1, 0) theories while satisfying the anomaly cancellation equations. This suggests that the 5d theories obtained from M-theory compactified on elliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds have a natural 12d description, which as we know is F-theory. Furthermore, we compute …
We find through a systematic analysis that all but 29,223 of the 473.8 million 4D reflexive polytopes found by Kreuzer and Skarke have a 2D reflexive subpolytope. Such a subpolytope is generally associated with the presence of an elliptic or genus one fibration in the corresponding birational equivalence class of Calabi-Yau threefolds. This extends the growing body of evidence that most Calabi-Yau threefolds have an elliptically fibered phase.
We obtain a detailed classification for a class of non-simply connected Calabi-Yau threefolds which are of potential interest for a wide range of problems in string phenomenology. These threefolds arise as quotients of Schoen's Calabi-Yau threefolds, which are fiber products over P1 of two rational elliptic surfaces. The quotient is by a freely acting finite abelian group preserving the fibrations. Our work involves a classification of restricted finite automorphism groups of rational elliptic surfaces.
We solve Bershadsky-Cecotti-Ooguri-Vafa (BCOV) holomorphic anomaly equation to determine the higher genus Gromov-Witten invariants ($g \leq 5$) of the derived equivalent Calabi-Yau threefolds, which are of the appropriate codimensions in the Grassmannian Gr(2,7) and the Pfaffian Pf(7).
Recently J.C. Rohde constructed families of Calabi-Yau threefolds parametrised by Shimura varieties. The points corresponding to threefolds with CM are dense in the Shimura variety and, moreover, the families do not have boundary points with maximal unipotent monodromy. Both aspects are of interest for Mirror Symmetry. In this paper we discuss one of Rohde's examples in detail and we explicitly give the Picard-Fuchs equation for this one dimensional family.
There are easy "polynomial" deformations of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in toric varieties performed by changing the coefficients of the defining polynomial of the hypersurface. In this paper, we explicitly constructed the ``non-polynomial'' deformations of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces, which arise from deformations of the ambient toric variety.
Kreuzer and Skarke famously produced the largest known database of Calabi-Yau threefolds by providing a complete construction of all 473,800,776 reflexive polyhedra that exist in four dimensions. These polyhedra describe the singular limits of ambient toric varieties in which Calabi-Yau threefolds can exist as hypersurfaces. In this paper, we review how to extract topological and geometric information about Calabi-Yau threefolds using the toric construction, and we provide, in a companion online database (see http://nuweb1.neu.edu/cydatabase), a detailed inventory of these quantities which are…
We study the limit of Calabi-Yau modular forms, and in particular, those resulting in classical modular forms. We then study two parameter families of elliptically fibred Calabi-Yau fourfolds and describe the modular forms arising from the degeneracy loci. In the case of elliptically fibred Calabi-Yau threefolds our approach gives a mathematical proof of many observations about modularity properties of topological string amplitudes starting with the work of Candelas, Font, Katz and Morrison. In the case of Calabi-Yau fourfolds we derive new identities not computed before.
We describe birational models and decide the rationality/unirationality of moduli spaces AA_{d} (and AA^{lev}_{d}) of (1,d)-polarized abelian surfaces (with canonical level structure, respectively) for small values of d. The projective lines identified in the rational/unirational moduli spaces correspond to pencils of abelian surfaces traced on nodal threefolds living naturally in the corresponding ambient projective spaces, and whose small resolutions are new Calabi-Yau threefolds with Euler characteristic zero.
We show that "non-polynomial" deformations of semiample (minimal) nondegenerate Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in complete simplicial toric varieties can be realized as quasismooth complete intersections in higher dimensional simplicial toric varieties.
We prove a case of the conjecture of Douglas, Reinbacher and Yau about the existence of stable vector bundles with prescribed Chern classes on a Calabi-Yau threefold. For this purpose we prove the existence of certain stable vector bundle extensions over elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds.
In this paper we present a construction of stable bundles on Calabi-Yau threefolds using the method of bundle extensions. This construction applies to any given Calabi-Yau threefold with h^{1,1}>1. We give examples of stable bundles of rank 2 and 4 constructed out of pure geometric data of the given Calabi-Yau space. As an application, we find that some of these bundles satisfy the physical constraint imposed by heterotic string anomaly cancellation.
We prove that a given Calabi-Yau threefold with a stable holomorphic vector bundle can be perturbed to a solution of the Strominger system provided that the second Chern class of the vector bundle is equal to the second Chern class of the tangent bundle. If the Calabi-Yau threefold has strict SU(3) holonomy then the equations of motion derived from the heterotic string effective action are also satisfied by the solutions we obtain.
Open topological string partition function on compact Calabi-Yau threefolds satisfies the extended holomorphic anomaly equation. By direct integration, we solve these equations and obtain partition functions for first several genus and boundaries on complete intersection Calabi-Yau threefolds. Complemented by the unoriented worldsheet contribution, the annulus functions encode the genus one BPS invariants.
In this study, we introduce a new class of rational elliptic 3-folds, which we refer to as "1/2 Calabi-Yau 3-folds". We construct elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau 3-folds by utilizing these rational elliptic 3-folds. The construction yields a novel approach to build elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau 3-folds of various Mordell-Weil ranks. Our construction of Calabi-Yau 3-folds can be considered as a three-dimensional generalization of the operation of gluing pairs of 1/2 K3 surfaces to yield elliptic K3 surfaces. From one to seven $U(1)$s form in six-dimensional $N=1$ F-theory on the constructed C…
We discuss some aspects of F-theory in four dimensions on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds which are Calabi-Yau threefold fibrations. A particularly simple class of such manifolds emerges for fourfolds in which the generic Calabi-Yau threefold fiber is itself an elliptic fibration and is K3 fibered. Duality between F-theory compactified on Calabi-Yau fourfolds and heterotic strings on Calabi-Yau threefolds puts constraints on the cohomology of the fourfold. By computing the Hodge diamond of Calabi-Yau fourfolds we provide first numerical evidence for F-theory dualities in four dimensi…
We compute the microscopic entropy of certain 4 and 5 dimensional extermal black holes which arise for compactification of M-theory and type IIA on Calabi-Yau 3-folds. The results agree with macroscopic predictions, including some subleading terms. The macroscopic entropy in the 5 dimensional case predicts a surprising growth in the cohomology of moduli space of holomorphic curves in Calabi-Yau threefolds which we verify in the case of elliptic threefolds.
The integrable systems associated with Seiberg-Witten geometry are considered both from the Hitchin-Donagi-Witten gauge model and in terms of intermediate Jacobians of Calabi-Yau threefolds. Dual pairs and enhancement of gauge symmetries are discussed on the basis of a map from the Donagi-Witten ``moduli'' into the moduli of complex structures of the Calabi-Yau threefold.
Using y-deformed algebraic geometric techniques the y-deformed Mukay vector of RR-charges of the y-deformed BPS Dp-branes localized on a surface in a Calabi-Yau threefold. The formulas that are obtained here are generalizations of the formulas of the fourth section of the preprint hep-th/0007243 .
Calabi-Yau threefolds with h^11(X)=h^21(X)=1 are constructed as free quotients of a hypersurface in the ambient toric variety defined by the 24-cell. Their fundamental groups are SL(2,3), a semidirect product of Z_3 and Z_8, and Z_3 x Q_8.
In this study, four-dimensional $N=1$ F-theory models with multiple U(1) gauge group factors are constructed. A class of rational elliptic 4-folds, which we call as "$\frac{1}{2}$Calabi-Yau 4-folds," is introduced, and we construct the elliptically fibered 4-folds by utilizing them. This yields a novel approach for building families of elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau 4-folds with positive Mordell-Weil ranks. The introduced $\frac{1}{2}$Calabi-Yau 4-folds possess the characteristic property wherein the sum of the ranks of the singularity type and the Mordell-Weil group is always equal to six. T…
In this paper, we study the open topological string amplitudes on Calabi-Yau threefolds by the extended holomorphic anomaly equation. The disk two-point function determined by the domainwall tension, together with the Yukawa couplings, solves the amplitudes with high genus and boundaries recursively. The BPS invariants encoded in the amplitudes are extracted by mirror symmetry.
We study compactifications of type IIB supergravity on Calabi-Yau threefolds. The resulting low energy effective Lagrangian is displayed in the large volume limit and its symmetry properties - with specific emphasis on the SL(2,Z) - are discussed. The explicit map to type IIA string theory compactified on a mirror Calabi-Yau is derived. We argue that strong coupling effects on the worldsheet break the SL(2,Z).
We study quantum Kahler moduli space of Calabi-Yau fourfolds. Our analysis is based on the recent work by Jockers et al. which gives a novel method to compute the Kahler potential on the quantum Kahler moduli space of Calabi-Yau manifold. In contrast to Calabi-Yau threefold, the quantum nature of higher dimensional Calabi-Yau manifold is yet to be fully elucidated. In this paper we focus on the Calabi-Yau fourfold. In particular, we conjecture the explicit form of the quantum-corrected Kahler potential. We also compute the genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants and test our conjecture by comparin…
We carry out the explicit computations that are used to write down the integrable hierarchy associated with the quintic Calabi-Yau threefold. We also do the calculations for the geometric structures emerging in the Gromov-Witten theory of the quintic, such as the Frobenius manifold structure and the special Kähler structure.
We construct balanced metrics on the family of non-Kähler Calabi-Yau threefolds that are obtained by smoothing after contracting $(-1,-1)$-rational curves on Kähler Calabi-Yau threefold. As an application, we construct balanced metrics on complex manifolds diffeomorphic to connected sum of $k\geq 2$ copies of $S^3\times S^3$.
We study Calabi-Yau compactifications of non relativistic string theory and show that it can be derived from the corresponding relativistic Calabi-Yau compactifications by taking the non relativistic limit of the resulting 4D theory without changing the internal part.
