A note on three numerical procedures to solve Volterra integro-differential equations in structural analysis

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New string vacua from twistor spaces

We find a new family of AdS_4 vacua in IIA string theory. The internal space is topologically either the complex projective space CP^3 or the "flag manifold" SU(3)/(U(1)xU(1)), but the metric is in general neither Einstein nor Kaehler. All known moduli are stabilized by fluxes, without using quantum effects or orientifold planes. The analysis is completely ten--dimensional and does not rely on assumptions about Kaluza--Klein reduction.Comment: 19 pages. v3: published version, further minor correction

Perturbing gauge/gravity duals by a Romans mass

We show how to produce algorithmically gravity solutions in massive IIA (as infinitesimal first order perturbations in the Romans mass parameter) dual to assigned conformal field theories. We illustrate the procedure on a family of Chern--Simons--matter conformal field theories that we recently obtained from the N=6 theory by waiving the condition that the levels sum up to zero.Comment: 30 page

Kaluza-Klein bundles and manifolds of exceptional holonomy

We show how in the presence of RR two-form field strength the conditions for preserving supersymmetry on six- and seven-dimensional manifolds lead to certain generalizations of monopole equations. For six dimensions the string frame metric is Kaehler with the complex structure that descends from the octonions if in addition we assume F^{(1,1)}=0. The susy generator is a gauge covariantly constant spinor. For seven dimensions the string frame metric is conformal to a G_2 metric if in addition we assume the field strength to obey a selfduality constraint. Solutions to these equations lift to geometries of G_2 and Spin(7) holonomy respectively.Comment: LaTeX, 13 page

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

The gauge dual of Romans mass

We deform the recently proposed holographic duality between the ABJM N=6 Chern-Simons-matter theory and type IIA string theory in AdS4xCP3. We add a non-zero Romans mass F_0, whose dual we identify as the sum of the Chern-Simons levels for the two gauge groups. One can naturally identify four different theories, with different amounts of supersymmetry and of flavor symmetry.Comment: 26 pages. v4: Corrected the sign for the probe brane potentia

Counting fermionic zero modes on M5 with fluxes

We study the Dirac equation on an M5 brane wrapped on a divisor in a Calabi--Yau fourfold in the presence of background flux. We reduce the computation of the normal bundle U(1) anomaly to counting the solutions of a finite--dimensional linear system on cohomology. This system depends on the choice of flux. In an example, we find that the presence of flux changes the anomaly and allows instanton corrections to the superpotential which would otherwise be absent.Comment: 14 pages. v2: reference added, typos corrected, few change

Massive type IIA string theory cannot be strongly coupled

Understanding the strong coupling limit of massive type IIA string theory is a longstanding problem. We argue that perhaps this problem does not exist; namely, there may be no strongly coupled solutions of the massive theory. We show explicitly that massive type IIA string theory can never be strongly coupled in a weakly curved region of space-time. We illustrate our general claim with two classes of massive solutions in AdS4xCP3: one, previously known, with N = 1 supersymmetry, and a new one with N = 2 supersymmetry. Both solutions are dual to d = 3 Chern-Simons-matter theories. In both these massive examples, as the rank N of the gauge group is increased, the dilaton initially increases in the same way as in the corresponding massless case; before it can reach the M-theory regime, however, it enters a second regime, in which the dilaton decreases even as N increases. In the N = 2 case, we find supersymmetry-preserving gauge-invariant monopole operators whose mass is independent of N. This predicts the existence of branes which stay light even when the dilaton decreases. We show that, on the gravity side, these states originate from D2-D0 bound states wrapping the vanishing two-cycle of a conifold singularity that develops at large N.Comment: 43 pages, 5 figures. v2: added reference