Related papers: Orbifolds versus smooth heterotic compactification…
This paper extends and builds upon the results of an earlier paper, in which we described how to use the tools of geometrical engineering to deform geometrically-engineered grand unified models into ones with lower symmetry. This top-down…
We consider heterotic Calabi-Yau compactifications with S(U(4)xU(1)) background gauge fields. These models lead to gauge groups with an additional U(1) factor which, under certain conditions, can combine with hypercharge to a B-L symmetry.…
We study the process of compactification as a topology change. It is shown how the mediating spacetime topology, or cobordism, may be simplified through surgery. Within the causal Lorentzian approach to quantum gravity, it is shown that any…
We give an alternative argument for the classification of real bundle pairs over smooth symmetric surfaces and extend this classification to nodal symmetric surfaces. We also classify the homotopy classes of automorphisms of real bundle…
We consider six dimensional brane world models with a compact and a warped extra dimension with five dimensional branes. We find that such scenarios have many interesting features arising from both ADD and Randall-Sundrum -models. In…
We review the six dimensional universal extra dimension models compactified on the sphere $S^2$, the orbifold $S^2/Z_2$, and the projective sphere, which are based on the spontaneous compactification mechanism on the sphere. In particular,…
In five- and six-dimensional $U(N)$ and $SU(N)$ gauge theories compactified on $S^1/Z_2$ and $T^2/Z_3$ orbifolds, we propose a new method to classify the equivalence classes (ECs) of boundary conditions (BCs) wihtout depending on the…
In this paper we show a general method to compactify certain open varieties by adding normal crossing divisors. This is done by proving that {\it blowing up along an arrangement of subvarieties} can be carried out. Important examples such…
We present special classes of orientifold models involving supersymmetry breaking via branes at angles. Type II superstring theories are compactified on a two torus times a four-dimensional orbifold. Combining worldsheet parity with a…
A 7-manifold with G_2 holonomy can be constructed as a R^3 bundle over a quaternionic space. We consider a quaternionic base space which is singular and its metric depends on three parameters, where one of them corresponds to an…
We study certain compactifications of the type I string on K3. The three topologically distinct choices of gauge bundle for the type I theory are shown to be equivalent to type IIB orientifolds with different choices of background…
Maximally supersymmetric SO(10) and SU(6) unified theories are constructed on the orbifold T^2/(Z_2 x Z'_2), with one length scale R_5 taken much larger than the other, R_6. The effective theory below 1/R_6 is found to be the highly…
We describe off-shell $\mathcal{N}=1$ M-theory compactifications down to four dimensions in terms of eight-dimensional manifolds equipped with a topological $Spin(7)$-structure. Motivated by the exceptionally generalized geometry…
In the framework of heterotic compactifications, we consider the one-loop corrections to the gauge couplings, which were shown to be free of any infra-red ambiguity. For a class of N=2 models, namely those that are obtained by toroidal…
Compactifications with fluxes and branes motivate us to study various enumerative invariants of Calabi-Yau manifolds. In this paper, we study non-perturbative corrections depending on both open and closed string moduli for a class of…
The possibility of neutral, brane-like solutions in a higher dimensional setting is discussed. In particular, we describe a supersymmetric solution in six dimensions which can be interpreted as a "three-brane" with a non-compact transverse…
We analyze topological mass terms of BF type arising in supersymmetric M-theory compactifications to $AdS_5$. These describe spontaneously broken higher-form gauge symmetries in the bulk. Different choices of boundary conditions for the BF…
The exceptional holonomy groups are G2 in 7 dimensions, and Spin(7) in 8 dimensions. In a previous paper (Invent. math. 123 (1996), 507-552) the author constructed the first examples of compact 8-manifolds with holonomy Spin(7), by…
In this article we review some recent developments in heterotic compactifications. In particular we review an ``inherently toric'' description of certain sheaves, called equivariant sheaves, that has recently been discussed in the physics…
We investigate the high-energy behavior of the scattering amplitudes in the extra dimensional gauge theory where the gauge symmetry is broken by the boundary condition. We study, in particular, the 5-dimensional SU(5) grand unified theory…