The hamiltonian reduction of the BRST complex and N=2 SUSY

We study the nonunitary representations of N=2 Super Virasoro algebra for the rational central charges c<3. The resolutions for the irreducible representations of N=2 SVir in terms of the "2-d gravity modules" are obtained and their characters are computed. The correspondence between the N=2 nonunitary "minimal" models and the Virasoro minimal models coupled to 2-d gravity is shown at the level of states. We also define the hamiltonian reduction of the BRST complex of sl(N)/sl(N) coset to the BRST complex of the W-gravity coupled to the W matter. The case of sl(2) is considered explicitly. It leads to the presentation of N=2 Super Virasoro algebra by the Lie algebra cohomology. Finally, we reveal the mechanism of the correspondence between sl(2)/sl(2)$ coset and 2-d gravity.Comment: 28 pages, 6 pictures available on request; in the revised version some misprints are correcte

On equivalence of Floer's and quantum cohomology

(In the revised version the relevant aspect of noncompactness of the moduli of instantons is discussed. It is shown nonperturbatively that any BRST trivial deformation of A-model which does not change the ranks of BRST cohomology does not change the topological correlation functions either) We show that the Floer cohomology and quantum cohomology rings of the almost Kahler manifold M, both defined over the Novikov ring of the loop space LM of M, are isomorphic. We do it using a BRST trivial deformation of the topological A-model. As an example we compute the Floer = quantum cohomology of the 3-dimensional flag space Fl_3.Comment: 28 pages, HUTP-93/A02

Generalized Green-Schwarz mechanism in F theory

We derive the anomaly 8-form of 6-dimensional gauge theories arising in F theory compactifications on elliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds. The result allows to determine the matter content of certain such theories in terms of intersection numbers on the base of elliptic fibration. We also discuss gauge theories on 7-branes with double point singularities on the worldvolume. Applications to Type II compactifications on Hirzebruch surfaces and $P^2$ are outlined.Comment: 11 pages, harvmac. Normalization of (tr R^2)^2 term correcte

D-Branes and Topological Field Theories

In the presence of a D-brane a string theory develops a new subsector. We show that for curved D-branes the corresponding sector is a (partially twisted) topological field theory. We use this result to compute the degeneracy of 2-branes wrapped around $K3$ cycles as well as 3-branes wrapped around CY threefold vanishing 3-cycles. In both cases we find the degeneracy is in accord with expectation. The counting of BPS states of a gas of 0-branes in the presence of a 4-brane in $K3$ is considered and it is noted that the effective 0-brane charge is shifted by 1, due to a quantum correction. This is in accord with string duality and the fact that left-moving ground state energy of heterotic string starts at $-1$. We also show that all the three different topological twistings of four dimensional $N=4$ Yang-Mills theory do arise from curved three-branes embedded in different spaces (Calabi-Yau manifolds and manifolds with exceptional holonomy groups).Comment: 22 page

D-Strings on D-Manifolds

We study the mechanism for appearance of massless solitons in type II string compactifications. We find that by combining $T$-duality with strong/weak duality of type IIB in 10 dimensions enhanced gauge symmetries and massless solitonic hypermultiplets encountered in Calabi-Yau compactifications can be studied perturbatively using D-strings (the strong/weak dual to type IIB string) compactified on ``D-manifolds''. In particular the nearly massless solitonic states of the type IIB compactifications correspond to elementary states of D-strings. As examples we consider the D-string description of enhanced gauge symmetries for type IIA string compactification on ALE spaces with $A_n$ singularities and type IIB on a class of singular Calabi-Yau threefolds. The class we study includes as a special case the conifold singularity in which case the perturbative spectrum of the D-string includes the expected massless hypermultiplet with degeneracy one.Comment: 23 pages, with 3 figures. A compact example is adde

Geometric Singularities and Enhanced Gauge Symmetries

Using ``Tate's algorithm,'' we identify loci in the moduli of F-theory compactifications corresponding to enhanced gauge symmetry. We apply this to test the proposed F-theory/heterotic dualities in six dimensions. We recover the perturbative gauge symmetry enhancements of the heterotic side and the physics of small $SO(32)$ instantons, and discover new mixed perturbative/non-perturbative gauge symmetry enhancements. Upon further toroidal compactification to 4 dimensions, we derive the chain of Calabi-Yau threefolds dual to various Coulomb branches of heterotic strings.Comment: 49 pages harvmac big (must print in big mode for tables to appear correctly); Typos and reference correcte

Quantum cohomology of partial flag manifolds

We compute the quantum cohomology rings of the partial flag manifolds F_{n_1\cdots n_k}=U(n)/(U(n_1)\times \cdots \times U(n_k)). The inductive computation uses the idea of Givental and Kim. Also we define a notion of the vertical quantum cohomology ring of the algebraic bundle. For the flag bundle F_{n_1\cdots n_k}(E) associated with the vector bundle E this ring is found.Comment: 33 page

Mapping 6D N = 1 supergravities to F-theory

We develop a systematic framework for realizing general anomaly-free chiral 6D supergravity theories in F-theory. We focus on 6D (1, 0) models with one tensor multiplet whose gauge group is a product of simple factors (modulo a finite abelian group) with matter in arbitrary representations. Such theories can be decomposed into blocks associated with the simple factors in the gauge group; each block depends only on the group factor and the matter charged under it. All 6D chiral supergravity models can be constructed by gluing such blocks together in accordance with constraints from anomalies. Associating a geometric structure to each block gives a dictionary for translating a supergravity model into a set of topological data for an F-theory construction. We construct the dictionary of F-theory divisors explicitly for some simple gauge group factors and associated matter representations. Using these building blocks we analyze a variety of models. We identify some 6D supergravity models which do not map to integral F-theory divisors, possibly indicating quantum inconsistency of these 6D theories.Comment: 37 pages, no figures; v2: references added, minor typos corrected; v3: minor corrections to DOF counting in section