Membranes in AdS4 orientifold vacua and their Weak Gravity Conjecture

We study type IIA orientifold compactifications with fluxes that give rise to perturbatively stable, non-supersymmetric AdS$_4$ vacua with D6-brane gauge sectors. Non-perturbative instabilities can be mediated by D8-branes wrapped on the six internal dimensions $X_6$, if they reduce to 4d membranes with a charge $Q$ larger than its tension $T$. The mismatch $Q \neq T$ arises due to i) curvature corrections and ii) the BIon backreaction of D6-branes wrapping 3-cycles of $X_6$. We give a simple expression for the second effect in toroidal orientifolds, and find that only pairs of 3-cycles at SU(2) angles contribute to it. They either contribute towards $Q>T$ or $Q<T$ depending on the 3-cycles separation, allowing to engineer 4d $\mathcal{N}=0$ vacua in tension with the Weak Gravity Conjecture for membranes.Comment: v2: Minor corrections; v1: 43 pages + appendix, 5 figure

Diversity in the Tail of the Intersecting Brane Landscape

Techniques are developed for exploring the complete space of intersecting brane models on an orientifold. The classification of all solutions for the widely-studied T^6/Z_2 x Z_2 orientifold is made possible by computing all combinations of branes with negative tadpole contributions. This provides the necessary information to systematically and efficiently identify all models in this class with specific characteristics. In particular, all ways in which a desired group G can be realized by a system of intersecting branes can be enumerated in polynomial time. We identify all distinct brane realizations of the gauge groups SU(3) x SU(2) and SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) which can be embedded in any model which is compatible with the tadpole and SUSY constraints. We compute the distribution of the number of generations of "quarks" and find that 3 is neither suppressed nor particularly enhanced compared to other odd generation numbers. The overall distribution of models is found to have a long tail. Despite disproportionate suppression of models in the tail by K-theory constraints, the tail in the distribution contains much of the diversity of low-energy physics structure.Comment: 48 pages, 8 figure

Torsion in cohomology and dimensional reduction

Conventional wisdom dictates that $\mathbb{Z}_N$ factors in the integral cohomology group $H^p(X_n, \mathbb{Z})$ of a compact manifold $X_n$ cannot be computed via smooth $p$-forms. We revisit this lore in light of the dimensional reduction of string theory on $X_n$, endowed with a $G$-structure metric that leads to a supersymmetric EFT. If massive $p$-form eigenmodes of the Laplacian enter the EFT, then torsion cycles coupling to them will have a non-trivial smeared delta form, that is an EFT long-wavelength description of $p$-form currents of the $(n-p)$-cycles of $X_n$. We conjecture that, whenever torsion cycles are calibrated, their linking number can be computed via their smeared delta forms. From the EFT viewpoint, a torsion factor in cohomology corresponds to a $\mathbb{Z}_N$ gauge symmetry realised by a St\"uckelberg-like action, and calibrated torsion cycles to BPS objects that source the massive fields involved in it.Comment: 44 pages + appendice

Yukawa hierarchies at the point of E8E_8 in F-theory

We analyse the structure of Yukawa couplings in local SU(5) F-theory models with $E_8$ enhancement. In this setting the $E_8$ symmetry is broken down to SU(5) by a 7-brane configuration described by T-branes, all the Yukawa couplings are generated in the vicinity of a point and only one family of quarks and leptons is massive at tree-level. The other two families obtain their masses when non-perturbative effects are taken into account, being hierarchically lighter than the third family. However, and contrary to previous results, we find that this hierarchy of fermion masses is not always appropriate to reproduce measured data. We find instead that different T-brane configurations breaking $E_8$ to SU(5) give rise to distinct hierarchical patterns for the holomorphic Yukawa couplings. Only some of these patterns allow to fit the observed fermion masses with reasonable local model parameter values, adding further constraints to the construction of F-theory GUTs. We consider an $E_8$ model where such appropriate hierarchy is realised and compute its physical Yukawas, showing that realistic charged fermions masses can indeed be obtained in this case.Comment: 46 pages + appendices, 5 figures. v2, added references and typos corrected, version accepted on JHEP. v3, typos correcte

Open string wavefunctions in flux compactifications

We consider compactifications of type I supergravity on manifolds with SU(3) structure, in the presence of RR fluxes and magnetized D9-branes, and analyze the generalized Dirac and Laplace-Beltrami operators associated to the D9-brane worldvolume fields. These compactifications are T-dual to standard type IIB toroidal orientifolds with NSNS and RR 3-form fluxes and D3/D7 branes. By using techniques of representation theory and harmonic analysis, the spectrum of open string wavefunctions can be computed for Lie groups and their quotients, as we illustrate with explicit twisted tori examples. We find a correspondence between irreducible unitary representations of the Kaloper-Myers algebra and families of Kaluza-Klein excitations. We perform the computation of 2- and 3-point couplings for matter fields in the above flux compactifications, and compare our results with those of 4d effective supergravity.Comment: 89 pages, 4 figures. v3: more typos corrected, version published in JHE

Intersecting D-Branes on Shift Z2 x Z2 Orientifolds

We investigate Z2 x Z2 orientifolds with group actions involving shifts. A complete classification of possible geometries is presented where also previous work by other authors is included in a unified framework from an intersecting D-brane perspective. In particular, we show that the additional shifts not only determine the topology of the orbifold but also independently the presence of orientifold planes. In the second part, we work out in detail a basis of homological three cycles on shift Z2 x Z2 orientifolds and construct all possible fractional D-branes including rigid ones. A Pati-Salam type model with no open-string moduli in the visible sector is presented.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures, refs. adde