Related papers: The caloron correspondence and higher string class…

We study the topology of the tropical moduli space parametrizing stable tropical curves of genus g with n marked points in which the bounded edges have total length 1, and prove that it is highly connected. Using the identification of this…

Representing the data of a string compactified on a circle in the background of H-flux in terms of the geometric data of a principal loop group bundle, we show that T-duality in type II string theory can be understood as the interchange of…

The moduli space of stable bundles of rank 2 and degree 1 on a Riemann surface has rational cohomology generated by the so-called universal classes. The work of Baranovsky, King-Newstead, Siebert-Tian and Zagier provided a complete set of…

Using basic homotopy constructions, we show that isomorphism classes of string structures on spin bundles are naturally given by certain degree 3 cohomology classes, which we call string classes, on the total space of the bundle. Using a…

For a complex manifold $\Sigma $ with $\mathbb{C}^{\ast }$-action, we define the $m$-th $\mathbb{C}^{\ast }$ Fourier-Dolbeault cohomology group and consider the $m$-index on $\Sigma $. By applying the method of transversal heat kernel…

Let $g$ be a non-negative integer, $\Sigma _g$ a closed orientable surface of genus $g$, and $\mathcal{M}_g$ its mapping class group. We classify all the group homomorphisms $\pi _1(\Sigma _g)\to G$ up to the action of $\mathcal{M}_g$ on…

Lifting supersymmetric quantum mechanics to loop space yields the superstring. A particle charged under a fiber bundle thereby turns into a string charged under a 2-bundle, or gerbe. This stringification is nothing but categorification. We…

The generalized Miller-Morita-Mumford classes of a manifold bundle with fiber $M$ depend only on the underlying $\tau_M$-fibration, meaning the family of vector bundles formed by the tangent bundles of the fibers. This motivates a closer…

Let $S$ denote the graded polynomial ring $\C[x_1,...,x_m]$. We interpret a chain complex of free $S$-modules having finite length homology modules as an $S^1$-equivariant map $\C^m\sm\{0\} \to X$, where $X$ is a moduli space of exact…

In this paper we work out some basic results concerning heterotic string compactifications on stacks and, in particular, gerbes. A heterotic string compactification on a gerbe can be understood as, simultaneously, both a compactification on…

Let $R$ be a graded ring. We introduce a class of graded $R$-modules called Gr\"obner-coherent modules. Roughly, these are graded $R$-modules that are coherent as ungraded modules because they admit an adequate theory of Gr\"obner bases.…

We investigate a conjecture due to Haefliger and Thurston in the context of foliated manifold bundles. In this context, Haefliger-Thurston's conjecture predicts that every $M$-bundle over a manifold $B$ where $\text{dim}(B)\leq…

A formula for the first Chern class of the Verlinde bundle over the moduli space of smooth genus g curves is given. A finite-dimensional argument is presented in rank 2 using geometric symmetries obtained from strange duality, relative…

We use the Matrix formalism to investigate what happens to strings above the Hagedorn temperaure. We show that it is not a limiting temperature but a temperature at which the continuum string picture breaks down. We study a collection of…

We study closed string tachyon condensation on general non-supersymmetric orbifolds of C^2. Extending previous analyses on Abelian cases, we present the classification of quotients by discrete finite subgroups of GL(2; C) as well as the…

We prove that the category of abelian gerbes with connection over a smooth manifold is equivalent to a certain category of principal bundles over the free loop space. These bundles are equipped with a connection and with a "fusion" product…

We introduce twisted topological correspondences, which generalize both Katsura's topological correspondences as well as the twisted topological graphs introduced by Li. We show that, up to isomorphism, they are in bijection with certain…

This is a revised version of the author's PhD thesis, including the corrections by the examiners. It also includes a few additional small corrections. In this thesis the objects of study are classifying spaces of groups with stabilisers in…

Given a topological modular functor $\mathcal{V}$ in the sense of Walker \cite{Walker}, we construct vector bundles over $\bar{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$, whose Chern classes define semi-simple cohomological field theories. This construction…

One of the simplest time-dependent solutions of M theory consists of nine-dimensional Euclidean space times 1+1-dimensional compactified Milne space-time. With a further modding out by Z_2, the space-time represents two orbifold planes…