43 research outputs found
Fractional two-branes, toric orbifolds and the quantum McKay correspondence
We systematically study and obtain the large-volume analogues of fractional
two-branes on resolutions of orbifolds C^3/Z_n. We study a generalisation of
the McKay correspondence proposed in hep-th/0504164 called the quantum McKay
correspondence by constructing duals to the fractional two-branes. Details are
explicitly worked out for two examples -- the crepant resolutions of C^3/Z_3
and C^3/Z_5.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX (JHEP3 style); (v2) typos corrected; (v3)
sec 3 reorganise
A quantum McKay correspondence for fractional 2p-branes on LG orbifolds
We study fractional 2p-branes and their intersection numbers in non-compact
orbifolds as well the continuation of these objects in Kahler moduli space to
coherent sheaves in the corresponding smooth non-compact Calabi-Yau manifolds.
We show that the restriction of these objects to compact Calabi-Yau
hypersurfaces gives the new fractional branes in LG orbifolds constructed by
Ashok et. al. in hep-th/0401135. We thus demonstrate the equivalence of the
B-type branes corresponding to linear boundary conditions in LG orbifolds,
originally constructed in hep-th/9907131, to a subset of those constructed in
LG orbifolds using boundary fermions and matrix factorization of the
world-sheet superpotential. The relationship between the coherent sheaves
corresponding to the fractional two-branes leads to a generalization of the
McKay correspondence that we call the quantum McKay correspondence due to a
close parallel with the construction of branes on non-supersymmetric orbifolds.
We also provide evidence that the boundary states associated to these branes in
a conformal field theory description corresponds to a sub-class of the boundary
states associated to the permutation branes in the Gepner model associated with
the LG orbifold.Comment: LaTeX2e, 1+39 pages, 3 figures (v2) refs added, typos and report no.
correcte
de Sitter Vacua in String Theory
We outline the construction of metastable de Sitter vacua of type IIB string
theory. Our starting point is highly warped IIB compactifications with
nontrivial NS and RR three-form fluxes. By incorporating known corrections to
the superpotential from Euclidean D-brane instantons or gaugino condensation,
one can make models with all moduli fixed, yielding a supersymmetric AdS
vacuum. Inclusion of a small number of anti-D3 branes in the resulting warped
geometry allows one to uplift the AdS minimum and make it a metastable de
Sitter ground state. The lifetime of our metastable de Sitter vacua is much
greater than the cosmological timescale of 10^10 years. We also prove, under
certain conditions, that the lifetime of dS space in string theory will always
be shorter than the recurrence time.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figs, added comments on the thin wall approximation to
tunnelin
Orientifolds of K3 and Calabi-Yau Manifolds with Intersecting D-branes
We investigate orientifolds of type II string theory on K3 and Calabi-Yau
3-folds with intersecting D-branes wrapping special Lagrangian cycles. We
determine quite generically the chiral massless spectrum in terms of
topological invariants and discuss both orbifold examples and algebraic
realizations in detail. Intriguingly, the developed techniques provide an
elegant way to figure out the chiral sector of orientifold models without
computing any explicit string partition function. As a new example we derive a
non-supersymmetric Standard-like Model from an orientifold of type IIA on the
quintic Calabi-Yau 3-fold with wrapped D6-branes. In the case of supersymmetric
intersecting brane models on Calabi-Yau manifolds we discuss the D-term and
F-term potentials, the effective gauge couplings and the Green-Schwarz
mechanism. The mirror symmetric formulation of this construction is provided
within type IIB theory. We finally include a short discussion about the lift of
these models from type IIB on K3 to F-theory and from type IIA on Calabi-Yau
3-folds to M-theory on G_2 manifolds.Comment: 82 pages, harvmac, 5 figures. v2: references added. v3: T^6
orientifold corrected, JHEP versio
Moduli Stabilization from Fluxes in a Simple IIB Orientifold
We study novel type IIB compactifications on the T^6/Z_2 orientifold. This
geometry arises in the T-dual description of Type I theory on T^6, and one
normally introduces 16 space-filling D3-branes to cancel the RR tadpoles. Here,
we cancel the RR tadpoles either partially or fully by turning on three-form
flux in the compact geometry. The resulting (super)potential for moduli is
calculable. We demonstrate that one can find many examples of N=1
supersymmetric vacua with greatly reduced numbers of moduli in this system. A
few examples with N>1 supersymmetry or complete supersymmetry breaking are also
discussed.Comment: 49 pages, harvmac big; v2, corrected some typo
Counting BPS states on the Enriques Calabi-Yau
We study topological string amplitudes for the FHSV model using various
techniques. This model has a type II realization involving a Calabi-Yau
threefold with Enriques fibres, which we call the Enriques Calabi-Yau. By
applying heterotic/type IIA duality, we compute the topological amplitudes in
the fibre to all genera. It turns out that there are two different ways to do
the computation that lead to topological couplings with different BPS content.
One of them leads to the standard D0-D2 counting amplitudes, and from the other
one we obtain information about bound states of D0-D4-D2 branes on the Enriques
fibre. We also study the model using mirror symmetry and the holomorphic
anomaly equations. We verify in this way the heterotic results for the D0-D2
generating functional for low genera and find closed expressions for the
topological amplitudes on the total space in terms of modular forms, and up to
genus four. This model turns out to be much simpler than the generic B-model
and might be exactly solvable.Comment: 62 pages, v3: some results at genus 3 corrected, more typos correcte
Taxonomic surrogacy in biodiversity assessments, and the meaning of Linnaean ranks
Copyright © 2006 The Natural History MuseumThe majority of biodiversity assessments use species as the base unit. Recently, a series of studies have suggested replacing numbers of species with higher ranked taxa (genera, families, etc.); a method known as taxonomic surrogacy that has an important potential to save time and resources in assesments of biological diversity. We examine the relationships between taxa and ranks, and suggest that species/higher taxon exchanges are founded on misconceptions about the properties of Linnaean classification. Rank allocations in current classifications constitute a heterogeneous mixture of various historical and contemporary views. Even if all taxa were monophyletic, those referred to the same rank would simply denote separate clades without further equivalence. We conclude that they are no more comparable than any other, non-nested taxa, such as, for example, the genus Rattus and the phylum Arthropoda, and that taxonomic surrogacy lacks justification. These problems are also illustrated with data of polychaetous annelid worms from a broad-scale study of benthic biodiversity and species distributions in the Irish Sea. A recent consensus phylogeny for polychaetes is used to provide three different family-level classifications of polychaetes. We use families as a surrogate for species, and present ShannonâWiener diversity indices for the different sites and the three different classifications, showing how the diversity measures rely on subjective rank allocations.Y. Bertrand, F. Pleijel and G. W. Rous
Topological String Amplitudes, Complete Intersection Calabi-Yau Spaces and Threshold Corrections
We present the most complete list of mirror pairs of Calabi-Yau complete
intersections in toric ambient varieties and develop the methods to solve the
topological string and to calculate higher genus amplitudes on these compact
Calabi-Yau spaces. These symplectic invariants are used to remove redundancies
in examples. The construction of the B-model propagators leads to compatibility
conditions, which constrain multi-parameter mirror maps. For K3 fibered
Calabi-Yau spaces without reducible fibers we find closed formulas for all
genus contributions in the fiber direction from the geometry of the fibration.
If the heterotic dual to this geometry is known, the higher genus invariants
can be identified with the degeneracies of BPS states contributing to
gravitational threshold corrections and all genus checks on string duality in
the perturbative regime are accomplished. We find, however, that the BPS
degeneracies do not uniquely fix the non-perturbative completion of the
heterotic string. For these geometries we can write the topological partition
function in terms of the Donaldson-Thomas invariants and we perform a
non-trivial check of S-duality in topological strings. We further investigate
transitions via collapsing D5 del Pezzo surfaces and the occurrence of free Z2
quotients that lead to a new class of heterotic duals.Comment: 117 pages, 1 Postscript figur
Pelvis morphology suggests that early Mesozoic birds were too heavy to contact incubate their egg
Numerous new fossils have driven an interest in reproduction of early birds, but direct evidence remains elusive. No Mesozoic avian eggs can be unambiguously assigned to a species, which hampers our understanding of the evolution of contact incubation, which is a defining feature of extant birds. Compared to living species, eggs of Mesozoic birds are relatively small, but whether the eggs of Mesozoic birds could actually have borne the weight of a breeding adult has not yet been investigated. We estimated maximal egg breadth for a range of Mesozoic avian taxa from the width of the pelvic canal defined by the pubic symphysis. Known elongation ratios of Mesozoic bird eggs allowed us to predict egg mass and hence the load mass an egg could endure before cracking. These values were compared to the predicted
body masses of the adult birds based on skeletal remains. Based on 21 fossil species, we show that for nonornithothoracine birds body mass was 187% of the load mass of the eggs. For Enantiornithes, body mass was 127%
greater than the egg load mass, but some early Cretaceous ornithuromorphs were 179% heavier than their eggs could support. Our indirect approach provides the best evidence yet that early birds could not have sat on their eggs without running the risk of causing damage. We suggest that contact incubation evolved comparatively late in birds
The 2018 European heatwave led to stem dehydration but not to consistent growth reductions in forests
Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Heatwaves exert disproportionately strong and sometimes irreversible impacts on forest ecosystems. These impacts remain poorly understood at the tree and species level and across large spatial scales. Here, we investigate the effects of the record-breaking 2018 European heatwave on tree growth and tree water status using a collection of high-temporal resolution dendrometer data from 21 species across 53 sites. Relative to the two preceding years, annual stem growth was not consistently reduced by the 2018 heatwave but stems experienced twice the temporary shrinkage due to depletion of water reserves. Conifer species were less capable of rehydrating overnight than broadleaves across gradients of soil and atmospheric drought, suggesting less resilience toward transient stress. In particular, Norway spruce and Scots pine experienced extensive stem dehydration. Our high-resolution dendrometer network was suitable to disentangle the effects of a severe heatwave on tree growth and desiccation at large-spatial scales in situ, and provided insights on which species may be more vulnerable to climate extremes.Peer reviewe