Special geometry, black holes and Euclidean supersymmetry

We review recent developments in special geometry and explain its role in the theory of supersymmetric black holes. To make this article self-contained, a short introduction to black holes is given, with emphasis on the laws of black hole mechanics and black hole entropy. We also summarize the existing results on the para-complex version of special geometry, which occurs in Euclidean supersymmetry. The role of real coordinates in special geometry is illustrated, and we briefly indicate how Euclidean supersymmetry can be used to study stationary black hole solutions via dimensional reduction over time. This article is an updated and substantially extended version of the previous review article `New developments in special geometry', hep-th/0602171.Comment: 39 pages, Contribution to the Handbook on Pseudo-Riemannian Geometry and Supersymmtry, ed. V. Corte

The degree of the eigenvalues of generalized Moore geometries

AbstractUsing elementary methods it is proved that the eigenvalues of generalized Moore geometries of type GMm(s, t, c) are of degree at most 3 with respect to the field of rational numbers, if st > 1

Supersymmetric AdS Backgrounds in String and M-theory

We first present a short review of general supersymmetric compactifications in string and M-theory using the language of G-structures and intrinsic torsion. We then summarize recent work on the generic conditions for supersymmetric AdS_5 backgrounds in M-theory and the construction of classes of new solutions. Turning to AdS_5 compactifications in type IIB, we summarize the construction of an infinite class of new Sasaki-Einstein manifolds in dimension 2k+3 given a positive curvature Kahler-Einstein base manifold in dimension 2k. For k=1 these describe new supergravity duals for N=1 superconformal field theories with both rational and irrational R-charges and central charge. We also present a generalization of this construction, that has not appeared elsewhere in the literature, to the case where the base is a product of Kahler-Einstein manifolds.Comment: LaTeX, 35 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the 73rd Meeting between Physicists and Mathematicians "(A)dS/CFT correspondence", Strasbourg, September 11-13, 200

A Farey Tail for Attractor Black Holes

The microstates of 4d BPS black holes in IIA string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold are counted by a (generalized) elliptic genus of a (0,4) conformal field theory. By exploiting a spectral flow that relates states with different charges, and using the Rademacher formula, we find that the elliptic genus has an exact asymptotic expansion in terms of semi-classical saddle-points of the dual supergravity theory. This generalizes the known "Black Hole Farey Tail" of [1] to the case of attractor black holes.Comment: 36 pages, 3 figures, note adde

New developments in special geometry

We review recent developments in special geometry, emphasizing the role of real coordinates. In the first part we discuss the para-complex geometry of vector and hypermultiplets in rigid Euclidean N=2 supersymmetry. In the second part we study the variational principle governing the near horizon limit of BPS black holes in matter-coupled N=2 supergravity and observe that the black hole entropy is the Legendre transform of the Hesse potential encoding the geometry of the scalar fields.Comment: 27 pages, contributed to the Handbook on Pseudo-Riemannian Geometry and Supersymmetr

IIB supergravity on manifolds with SU(4) structure and generalized geometry

We consider N=(2,0) backgrounds of IIB supergravity on eight-manifolds M_8 with strict SU(4) structure. We give the explicit solution to the Killing spinor equations as a set of algebraic relations between irreducible su(4) modules of the fluxes and the torsion classes of M_8. One consequence of supersymmetry is that M_8 must be complex. We show that the conjecture of arxiv:1010.5789 concerning the correspondence between background supersymmetry equations in terms of generalized pure spinors and generalized calibrations for admissible static, magnetic D-branes, does not capture the full set of supersymmetry equations. We identify the missing constraints and express them in the form of a single pure-spinor equation which is well defined for generic SU(4)\times SU(4) backgrounds. This additional equation is given in terms of a certain analytic continuation of the generalized calibration form for codimension-2 static, magnetic D-branes.Comment: 23 pages. V2: added references, including to spinorial geometr

Blowup Equations for Refined Topological Strings

G\"{o}ttsche-Nakajima-Yoshioka K-theoretic blowup equations characterize the Nekrasov partition function of five dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge theories compactified on a circle, which via geometric engineering correspond to the refined topological string theory on $SU(N)$ geometries. In this paper, we study the K-theoretic blowup equations for general local Calabi-Yau threefolds. We find that both vanishing and unity blowup equations exist for the partition function of refined topological string, and the crucial ingredients are the $\bf r$ fields introduced in our previous paper. These blowup equations are in fact the functional equations for the partition function and each of them results in infinite identities among the refined free energies. Evidences show that they can be used to determine the full refined BPS invariants of local Calabi-Yau threefolds. This serves an independent and sometimes more powerful way to compute the partition function other than the refined topological vertex in the A-model and the refined holomorphic anomaly equations in the B-model. We study the modular properties of the blowup equations and provide a procedure to determine all the vanishing and unity $\bf r$ fields from the polynomial part of refined topological string at large radius point. We also find that certain form of blowup equations exist at generic loci of the moduli space.Comment: 85 pages. v2: Journal versio

Geometric Aspects of Mirror Symmetry (with SYZ for Rigid CY manifolds)

In this article we discuss the geometry of moduli spaces of (1) flat bundles over special Lagrangian submanifolds and (2) deformed Hermitian-Yang-Mills bundles over complex submanifolds in Calabi-Yau manifolds. These moduli spaces reflect the geometry of the Calabi-Yau itself like a mirror. Strominger, Yau and Zaslow conjecture that the mirror Calabi-Yau manifold is such a moduli space and they argue that the mirror symmetry duality is a Fourier-Mukai transformation. We review various aspects of the mirror symmetry conjecture and discuss a geometric approach in proving it. The existence of rigid Calabi-Yau manifolds poses a serious challenge to the conjecture. The proposed mirror partners for them are higher dimensional generalized Calabi-Yau manifolds. For example, the mirror partner for a certain K3 surface is a cubic fourfold and its Fano variety of lines is birational to the Hilbert scheme of two points on the K3. This hyperkahler manifold can be interpreted as the SYZ mirror of the K3 by considering singular special Lagrangian tori. We also compare the geometries between a CY and its associated generalized CY. In particular we present a new construction of Lagrangian submanifolds.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians 2001, 47 page