924 research outputs found
Towards reduction of type II theories on SU(3) structure manifolds
We revisit the reduction of type II supergravity on SU(3) structure
manifolds, conjectured to lead to gauged N=2 supergravity in 4 dimensions. The
reduction proceeds by expanding the invariant 2- and 3-forms of the SU(3)
structure as well as the gauge potentials of the type II theory in the same set
of forms, the analogues of harmonic forms in the case of Calabi-Yau reductions.
By focussing on the metric sector, we arrive at a list of constraints these
expansion forms should satisfy to yield a base point independent reduction.
Identifying these constraints is a first step towards a first-principles
reduction of type II on SU(3) structure manifolds.Comment: 20 pages; v2: condition (2.13old) on expansion forms weakened,
replaced by (2.13new), (2.14new
Bundles over Nearly-Kahler Homogeneous Spaces in Heterotic String Theory
We construct heterotic vacua based on six-dimensional nearly-Kahler
homogeneous manifolds and non-trivial vector bundles thereon. Our examples are
based on three specific group coset spaces. It is shown how to construct line
bundles over these spaces, compute their properties and build up vector bundles
consistent with supersymmetry and anomaly cancelation. It turns out that the
most interesting coset is . This space supports a large number of
vector bundles which lead to consistent heterotic vacua, some of them with
three chiral families.Comment: 32 pages, reference adde
Surface Operator, Bubbling Calabi-Yau and AGT Relation
Surface operators in N=2 four-dimensional gauge theories are interesting
half-BPS objects. These operators inherit the connection of gauge theory with
the Liouville conformal field theory, which was discovered by Alday, Gaiotto
and Tachikawa. Moreover it has been proposed that toric branes in the A-model
topological strings lead to surface operators via the geometric engineering. We
analyze the surface operators by making good use of topological string theory.
Starting from this point of view, we propose that the wave-function behavior of
the topological open string amplitudes geometrically engineers the surface
operator partition functions and the Gaiotto curves of corresponding gauge
theories. We then study a peculiar feature that the surface operator
corresponds to the insertion of the degenerate fields in the conformal field
theory side. We show that this aspect can be realized as the geometric
transition in topological string theory, and the insertion of a surface
operator leads to the bubbling of the toric Calabi-Yau geometry.Comment: 36 pages, 14 figures. v2: minor changes and 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
Effective actions and N=1 vacuum conditions from SU(3) x SU(3) compactifications
We consider compactifications of type II string theory on general SU(3) x
SU(3) structure backgrounds allowing for a very large set of fluxes, possibly
nongeometric ones. We study the effective 4d low energy theory which is a
gauged N=2 supergravity, and discuss how its data are obtained from the
formalism of the generalized geometry on T+T*. In particular we relate
Hitchin's special Kaehler metrics on the spaces of even and odd pure spinors to
the metric on the supergravity moduli space of internal metric and B-field
fluctuations. We derive the N=1 vacuum conditions from this N=2 effective
action, as well as from its N=1 truncation. We prove a direct correspondence
between these conditions and an integrated version of the pure spinor equations
characterizing the N=1 backgrounds at the ten dimensional level.Comment: 54 pages. v2, v3: minor change
A matrix model for the topological string II: The spectral curve and mirror geometry
In a previous paper, we presented a matrix model reproducing the topological
string partition function on an arbitrary given toric Calabi-Yau manifold.
Here, we study the spectral curve of our matrix model and thus derive, upon
imposing certain minimality assumptions on the spectral curve, the large volume
limit of the BKMP "remodeling the B-model" conjecture, the claim that
Gromov-Witten invariants of any toric Calabi-Yau 3-fold coincide with the
spectral invariants of its mirror curve.Comment: 1+37 page
No-scale supersymmetry breaking vacua and soft terms with torsion
We analyze the conditions to have no-scale supersymmetry breaking solutions
of type IIA and IIB supergravity compactified on manifolds of SU(3)-structure.
The supersymmetry is spontaneously broken by the intrinsic torsion of the
internal space. For type IIB orientifolds with O9 and O5-planes the mass of the
gravitino is governed by the torsion class W_1, and the breaking is mediated
through F-terms associated to descendants of the original N=2 hypermultiplets.
For type IIA orientifolds with O6-planes we find two families of solutions,
depending on whether the breaking is mediated exclusively by hypermultiplets or
by a mixture of hypermultiplets and vector multiplets, the latter case
corresponding to a class of Scherk-Schwarz compactifications not dual to any
geometric IIB setup. We compute the geometrically induced mu-terms for D5, D6
and D9-branes on twisted tori, and discuss the patterns of soft-terms which
arise for pure moduli mediation in each type of breaking. As for D3 and
D7-branes in presence of 3-form fluxes, the effective scalar potential turns
out to possess interesting phenomenological properties.Comment: 44 pages; several minor corrections and added reference
Towards Minkowski Vacua in Type II String Compactifications
We study the vacuum structure of compactifications of type II string theories
on orientifolds with SU(3)xSU(3) structure. We argue that generalised geometry
enables us to treat these non-geometric compactifications using a supergravity
analysis in a way very similar to geometric compactifications. We find
supersymmetric Minkowski vacua with all the moduli stabilised at weak string
coupling and all the tadpole conditions satisfied. Generically the value of the
moduli fields in the vacuum is parametrically controlled and can be taken to
arbitrarily large values.Comment: 33 pages; v2 minor corrections, references added, version to appear
in JHE
Some No-go Theorems for String Duals of Non-relativistic Lifshitz-like Theories
We study possibilities of string theory embeddings of the gravity duals for
non-relativistic Lifshitz-like theories with anisotropic scale invariance. We
search classical solutions in type IIA and eleven-dimensional supergravities
which are expected to be dual to (2+1)-dimensional Lifshitz-like theories.
Under reasonable ansaetze, we prove that such gravity duals in the
supergravities are not possible. We also discuss a possible physical reason
behind this.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, flux conditions clarified (v2), brief summary of
results added (v3
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