Related papers: Anomaly constraints and string/F-theory geometry i…
The dominance of string theory in the research landscape of quantum gravity physics (despite any direct experimental evidence) can, I think, be justified in a variety of ways. Here I focus on an argument from mathematical fertility, broadly…
If there is a single underlying "theory of everything" which in some limits of its "moduli space" reduces to the five weakly coupled string theories in 10D, and 11D SUGRA, then it is possible that all six of them have some common domain of…
The constraints arising from anomaly cancellation are particular strong for chiral theories in six dimensions. We make progress towards a complete classification of 6D supergravities with minimal supersymmetry and non-abelian gauge group.…
We study string theory in supersymmetric time-dependent backgrounds. In the framework of general relativity, supersymmetry for spacetimes without flux implies the existence of a covariantly constant null vector, and a relatively simple form…
We describe how Lie groupoids are used in singular analysis, index theory and non-commutative geometry and give a brief overview of the theory. We also expose groupoid proofs of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem and discuss the Baum-Connes…
We propose an upper bound on the Atiyah-Singer index in the effective action of string theory. For $E_8 \times E_8^\prime$ and $SO(32)$ heterotic string theories on smooth Calabi-Yau threefolds with line bundles, we find that the tadpole…
Dictated by Symmetry Principle, string theory predicts not General Relativity but its own gravity which assumes the entire closed string massless sector to be geometric and thus gravitational. In terms of $R/(MG)$, i.e. the dimensionless…
Supersymmetric states in M-theory are mapped after compactification to perturbatively non-supersymmetric states in type IIA string theory, with the supersymmetric parts being encoded in the non-perturbative section of the string theory. An…
We study 5d supersymmetric black holes which descend from strings of generic $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ supergravity in 6d. These strings have an F-theory realization in 6d as D3 branes wrapping smooth genus $g$ curves in the base of elliptic…
We show the existence of global gauge anomalies in six dimensions for gauge groups SU(2),SU(3) and G_2 coupled to matter, characterized by an element of Z_{12},Z_6 and Z_3 respectively. Consideration of this anomaly rules out some of the…
We test various conjectures about quantum gravity for six-dimensional string compactifications in the framework of F-theory. Starting with a gauge theory coupled to gravity, we analyze the limit in K\"ahler moduli space where the gauge…
It is widely believed that consistent theories of quantum gravity satisfy two basic kinematic constraints: they are free from any global symmetry, and they contain a complete spectrum of gauge charges. For compact, abelian gauge groups,…
We discuss aspects of global and gauged symmetries in quantum field theory and quantum gravity, focusing on discrete gauge symmetries. An effective Lagrangian description of $\Z_p$ gauge theories shows that they are associated with an…
String theory and supersymmetry are theoretical ideas that go beyond the standard model of particle physics and show promise for unifying all forces. After a brief introduction to supersymmetry, we discuss the prospects for its experimental…
Generalized global symmetries are a common feature of many quantum field theories decoupled from gravity. By contrast, in quantum gravity / the Swampland program, it is widely expected that all global symmetries are either gauged or broken,…
A family of new twistor string theories is constructed and shown to be free from world-sheet anomalies. The spectra in space-time are calculated and shown to give Einstein supergravities with second order field equations instead of the…
Ambitwistor strings are chiral (holomorphic) strings whose target is the space of complex null geodesics, ambitwistor space. We introduce twistor representations of ambitwistor space in 6 and 5 dimensions. In 6d the twistor representation…
We classify the allowed structures of the discrete 1-form gauge sector in six-dimensional supergravity theories realized as F-theory compactifications. This provides upper bounds on the 1-form gauge factors $\mathbb{Z}_m$ and in particular…
The Atiyah-Singer index theorem on a closed manifold is well understood and appreciated in physics. On the other hand, the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index, which is an extension to a manifold with boundary, is physicist-unfriendly, in that it is…
We present a unified topological description of anomalies that generalizes the Chern-Simons formulation of Yang-Mills anomalies to encompass all 4-dimensional superconformal anomalies. The key innovation is our characterization of anomalies…