D6-branes and torsion

The D6-brane spectrum of type IIA vacua based on twisted tori and RR background fluxes is analyzed. In particular, we compute the torsion factors of the (co)homology groups H_n and describe the effect that they have on D6-brane physics. For instance, the fact that H_3 contains Z_N subgroups explains why RR tadpole conditions are affected by geometric fluxes. In addition, the presence of torsional (co)homology shows why some D6-brane moduli are lifted, and it suggests how the D-brane discretum appears in type IIA flux compactifications. Finally, we give a clear, geometrical understanding of the Freed-Witten anomaly in the present type IIA setup, and discuss its consequences for the construction of semi-realistic flux vacua.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure. One reference adde

Effects of training on sand or hard surfaces on sprint and jump performance of team-sport players: a systematic review with meta-analysis

We examined the effectiveness of training on sand and compared the effects of sand and hard surface training programs on the sprint and jump performance of team-sport players. PubMed MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science databases were used in the literature search. A total of 377 records were initially identified and six studies comprising 136 athletes were included in the meta-analysis. Pre- and post-comparisons showed that sand training interventions were effective at improving both jump and sprint capacities. When comparing sand and hard surfaces, no significant differences in favor of any of the interventions were observed. In summary, this review revealed that sand training is an efficient strategy to improve jump and sprint performances in team-sport players. Moreover, sand surfaces produced similar gains to those observed after hard surface training schemes. Strength and conditioning coaches and sport scientists who work with team-sports can use both sand and hard surface training programs as part of their regular training practices, during distinct phases of the season

Heterotic compactifications and nearly-Kahler manifolds

We propose that under certain conditions heterotic string compactifications on half-flat and nearly-Kahler manifolds are equivalent. Based on this correspondence we argue that the moduli space of the nearly-Kahler manifolds under discussion consists only of the Kahler deformations moduli space and there is no correspondent for the complex structure deformations.Comment: 5 pages, references added, typos correcte

On the Taxonomy of Flux Vacua

We investigate several predictions about the properties of IIB flux vacua on Calabi-Yau orientifolds, by constructing and characterizing a very large set of vacua in a specific example, an orientifold of the Calabi-Yau hypersurface in $WP^{4}_{1,1,1,1,4}$. We find support for the prediction of Ashok and Douglas that the density of vacua on moduli space is governed by ${\rm det}(-R - \omega)$ where $R$ and $\omega$ are curvature and K\"ahler forms on the moduli space. The conifold point $\psi=1$ on moduli space therefore serves as an attractor, with a significant fraction of the flux vacua contained in a small neighborhood surrounding $\psi=1$. We also study the functional dependence of the number of flux vacua on the D3 charge in the fluxes, finding simple power law growth.Comment: 22 pages, harvmac; v2 typos corrected, refs added; v3 minor error correcte

Branes on Generalized Calibrated Submanifolds

We extend previous results on generalized calibrations to describe supersymmetric branes in supergravity backgrounds with diverse fields turned on, and provide several new classes of examples. As an important application, we show that supersymmetric D-branes in compactifications with field strength fluxes, and on SU(3)-structure spaces, wrap generalized calibrated submanifolds, defined by simple conditions in terms of the underlying globally defined, but non-closed, 2- and 3-forms. We provide examples where the geometric moduli of D-branes (for instance D7-branes in 3-form flux configurations) are lifted by the generalized calibration condition. In addition, we describe supersymmetric D6-branes on generalized calibrated 3-submanifolds of half-flat manifolds, which provide the mirror of B-type D-branes in IIB CY compactifications with 3-form fluxes. Supersymmetric sets of such D-branes carrying no homology charges are mirror to supersymmetric sets of D-branes which are homologically non-trivial, but trivial in K-theory. As an additional application, we describe models with chiral gauge sectors, realized in terms of generalized calibrated brane box configurations of NS- and D5-branes, which are supersymmetric but carry no charges, so that no orientifold planes are required in the compactification.Comment: 40 pages, 3 figures, references adde

Fluxes, moduli fixing and MSSM-like vacua in a simple IIA orientifold

We study the effects of adding RR, NS and metric fluxes on a T^6/(\Omega (-1)^{F_L} I_3) Type IIA orientifold. By using the effective flux-induced superpotential we obtain Minkowski or AdS vacua with broken or unbroken supersymmetry. In the Minkowski case some combinations of real moduli remain undetermined, whereas all can be stabilized in the AdS solutions. Many flux parameters are available which are unconstrained by RR tadpole cancellation conditions allowing to locate the minima at large volume and small dilaton. We also find that in AdS supersymmetric vacua with metric fluxes, the overall flux contribution to RR tadpoles can vanish or have opposite sign to that of D6-branes, allowing for new model-building possibilities. In particular, we construct the first N=1 supersymmetric intersecting D6-brane models with MSSM-like spectrum and with all closed string moduli stabilized. Some axion-like fields remain undetermined but they are precisely required to give St\"uckelberg masses to (potentially anomalous) U(1) brane fields. We show that the cancellation of the Freed-Witten anomaly guarantees that the axions with flux-induced masses are orthogonal to those giving masses to the U(1)'s. Cancellation of such anomalies also guarantees that the D6-branes in our N=1 supersymmetric AdS vacua are calibrated so that they are forced to preserve one unbroken supersymmetry.Comment: 61 pages, Latex, v2: added references, v3: minor correction

Building MSSM Flux Vacua

We construct N=1 and N=0 chiral four-dimensional vacua of flux compactification in Type IIB string theory. These vacua have the common features that they are free of tadpole instabilities (both NSNS and RR) even for models with N=0 supersymmetry. In addition, the dilaton/complex structure moduli are stabilised and the supergravity background metric is warped. We present an example in which the low energy spectrum contains the MSSM spectrum with three generations of chiral matter. In the N=0 models, the background fluxes which stabilise the moduli also induce soft supersymmetry breaking terms in the gauge and chiral sectors of the theory, while satisfying the equation of motion. We also discuss some phenomenological features of these three generation MSSM flux vacua. Our techniques apply to other closed string backgrounds as well and, in fact, also allow to find new N=1 D-brane models which were believed not to exist. Finally, we discuss in detail the consistency conditions of these flux compactifications. Cancellation of K-theory charges puts additional constraints on the consistency of the models, which render some chiral D-brane models in the literature inconsistent.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figure. Minor correction

Holographic dual of the Standard Model on the throat

We apply recent techniques to construct geometries, based on local Calabi-Yau manifolds, leading to warped throats with 3-form fluxes in string theory, with interesting structure at their bottom. We provide their holographic dual description in terms of RG flows for gauge theories with almost conformal duality cascades and infrared confinement. We describe a model of a throat with D-branes at its bottom, realizing a 3-family Standard Model like chiral sector. We provide the explicit holographic dual gauge theory RG flow, and describe the appearance of the SM degrees of freedom after confinement. As a second application, we describe throats within throats, namely warped throats with discontinuous warp factor in different regions of the radial coordinate, and discuss possible model building applications.Comment: 46 pages, 21 figures, reference adde

D3 Brane Action and Fermion Zero Modes in Presence of Background Flux

We derive the fermion bilinear terms in the world volume action for a D3 brane in the presence of background flux. In six-dimensional compactifications non-perturbative corrections to the superpotential can arise from an Euclidean D3-brane instanton wrapping a divisor in the internal space. The bilinear terms give rise to fermion masses and are important in determining these corrections. We find that the three-form flux generically breaks a U(1) subgroup of the structure group of the normal bundle of the divisor. In an example of compactification on T^6/Z_2, six of the sixteen zero modes originally present are lifted by the flux.Comment: Important factor of ``i'' was overlooked in Euclidean continuation of WZ term. This changes the count of zero-modes in the T^6/Z_2 example. Main result stays unchanged. We thank Bergshoeff, Kallosh, Kashani-Poor, Sorokin and Tomasiello for pointing this ou

The heat kernel of the compactified D=11 supermembrane with non-trivial winding

We study the quantization of the regularized hamiltonian, $H$, of the compactified D=11 supermembrane with non-trivial winding. By showing that $H$ is a relatively small perturbation of the bosonic hamiltonian, we construct a Dyson series for the heat kernel of $H$ and prove its convergence in the topology of the von Neumann-Schatten classes so that $e^{-Ht}$ is ensured to be of finite trace. The results provided have a natural interpretation in terms of the quantum mechanical model associated to regularizations of compactified supermembranes. In this direction, we discuss the validity of the Feynman path integral description of the heat kernel for D=11 supermembranes and obtain a matrix Feynman-Kac formula.Comment: 19 pages. AMS LaTeX. A whole new section was added and some other minor changes in style where mad