85 research outputs found
Metastability in Bubbling AdS Space
We study the dynamics of probe M5 branes with dissolved M2 charge in bubbling
geometries with SO(4) x SO(4) symmetry. These solutions were constructed by
Bena-Warner and Lin-Lunin-Maldacena and correspond to the vacua of the
maximally supersymmetric mass-deformed M2 brane theory. We find that
supersymmetric probe M2 branes polarize into M5 brane shells whose backreaction
creates an additional bubble in the geometry. We explicitly check that the
supersymmetric polarization potential agrees with the one found within the
Polchinski-Strassler approximation. The main result of this paper is that probe
M2 branes whose orientation is opposite to the background flux can polarize
into metastable M5 brane shells. These decay to a supersymmetric configuration
via brane-flux annihilation. Our findings suggest the existence of metastable
states in the mass-deformed M2 brane theory.Comment: 38 pages, 8 figure
On Inflation and de Sitter in Non-Geometric String Backgrounds
We study the problem of obtaining de Sitter and inflationary vacua from
dimensional reduction of double field theory (DFT) on nongeometric string
backgrounds. In this context, we consider a new class of effective potentials
that admit Minkowski and de Sitter minima. We then construct a simple model of
chaotic inflation arising from T-fold backgrounds and we discuss the
possibility of trans-Planckian field range from nongeometric monodromies as
well as the conditions required to get slow roll.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, references added, typos corrected, note adde
The monodromy of T-folds and T-fects
We construct a class of codimension-2 solutions in supergravity that realize
T-folds with arbitrary monodromy and we develop a geometric
point of view in which the monodromy is identified with a product of Dehn
twists of an auxiliary surface fibered on a base . These
defects, that we call T-fects, are identified by the monodromy of the mapping
torus obtained by fibering over the boundary of a small disk
encircling a degeneration. We determine all possible local geometries by
solving the corresponding Cauchy-Riemann equations, that imply the equations of
motion for a semi-flat metric ansatz. We discuss the relation with the
F-theoretic approach and we consider a generalization to the T-duality group of
the heterotic theory with a Wilson line.Comment: 60 pages, 12 figure
Tachyonic Anti-M2 Branes
We study the dynamics of anti-M2 branes in a warped Stenzel solution with M2
charges dissolved in fluxes by taking into account their full backreaction on
the geometry. The resulting supergravity solution has a singular magnetic
four-form flux in the near-brane region. We examine the possible resolution of
this singularity via the polarization of anti-M2 branes into M5 branes, and
compute the corresponding polarization potential for branes smeared on the
finite-size four-sphere at the tip of the Stenzel space. We find that the
potential has no minimum. We then use the potential for smeared branes to
compute the one corresponding to a stack of localized anti-M2 branes, and use
this potential to compute the force between two anti-M2 branes at tip of the
Stenzel space. We find that this force, which is zero in the probe
approximation, is in fact repulsive. This surprising result points to a
tachyonic instability of anti-M2 branes in backgrounds with M2 brane charge
dissolved in flux.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures; v2: typos corrected, references added; v3:
comments adde
Polchinski-Strassler does not uplift Klebanov-Strassler
Anti-D3-branes at the tip of the Klebanov-Strassler solution with D3-charge
dissolved in fluxes give rise, in the probe approximation, to a metastable
state. The fully back-reacted smeared solution has singular three-form fluxes
in the IR, whose presence suggests a stringy resolution by brane polarization a
la Polchinski-Strassler. In this paper we show that there is no polarization
into anti-D5-branes wrapping the of the conifold at a finite radius. The
singularities therefore do not seem to be physical, signaling that antibranes
cannot be used to uplift AdS and obtain a very large landscape of de Sitter
vacua in string theory.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, JHEP style; v2: typos corrected, references
added; v3: comments added and sign typo correcte
Non-geometric heterotic backgrounds and 6D SCFTs/LSTs
We study six-dimensional theories living on defects of
non-geometric backgrounds of the and the
heterotic strings. Such configurations can be
analyzed by dualizing to F-theory on elliptic K3-fibered non-compact Calabi-Yau
threefolds. The majority of the resulting dual threefolds turn out to contain
singularities which do not admit a crepant resolution. When the singularities
can be resolved crepantly, the theories living on the defect are explicitly
determined and reveal a form of duality in which distinct defects are described
by the same IR fixed point. In particular, a subclass of non-geometric defects
corresponds to SCFTs/LSTs arising from small heterotic instantons on ADE
singularities.Comment: Slightly extended version of the proceedings prepared for the
'Workshop on Geometry and Physics,' November 2016, Ringberg Castle, Germany;
16 page
On the BPS sector in AdS_3/CFT_2 Holography
The BPS sector in AdS_3/CFT_2 duality has been fertile ground for the
exploration of gauge/gravity duality, from the match between black hole entropy
and the CFT elliptic genus to the construction of large families of geometrical
microstates and the identification of the corresponding states in the CFT.
Worldsheet methods provide a tool to further explore the relation between
string theory in the bulk and corresponding CFT quantities. We show how to
match individual BPS strings to their counterparts in the symmetric product
orbifold CFT. In the process, we find an exact match between known
constructions of microstate geometries and condensates of BPS supergraviton
strings, and discuss their role in the broader collection of BPS states. In
particular, we explore how microstate geometries develop singularities; and how
string theory resolves these singularities through the appearance of
``tensionless'' string dynamics, which is the continuation of structures found
in the weak-coupling CFT into the strongly coupled regime described by string
theory in the bulk. We argue that such ``tensionless'' strings are responsible
for black hole microstructure in the bulk description.Comment: 47 pages, 5 figure
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