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We analyze the moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau threefolds and their associated conformally invariant nonlinear sigma-models and show that they are described by an unexpectedly rich geometrical structure. Specifically, the Kahler sector of the…
Motivated by possible implications on the problem of moduli stabilization and other phenomenological aspects, we study D-brane instanton effects in flux compactifications. We focus on a local model and compute non-perturbative interactions…
We study the large rank limit of the moduli spaces of framed bundles on the projective plane and the blown-up projective plane. These moduli spaces are identified with various instanton moduli spaces on the 4-sphere and $\cpbar $, the…
Non-perturbative D-brane instanton effects in 4d N = 1 string compactifications can be geometrized in terms of a backreacted generalized geometry. We extend earlier results to setups in which the D-brane instanton is charged under the 4d…
Supersymmetric configurations of type II D-branes with nonzero gauge field strengths in general supersymmetric backgrounds with nonzero B fields are analyzed using the kappa-symmetric worldvolume action. It is found in dimension four or…
We revisit the duality between heterotic string theory compactified on K3 x T^2 and type IIA compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold X in the hypermultiplet sector. We derive an explicit map between the field variables of the respective…
In this review article we study type IIB superstring compactifications in the presence of space-time filling D-branes while preserving N=1 supersymmetry in the effective four-dimensional theory. This amount of unbroken supersymmetry and the…
We consider Z2, freely acting orbifolds of the type IIB string with 16 parallel D5-branes. When the string is compactified on T2 X T4 and the D5-branes are wrapped on T2, these systems possess N=2 supersymmetry, originating from the…
Recent work on four dimensional effective descriptions of the heterotic string has identified the moduli of such systems as being given by kernels of maps between ordinary Dolbeault cohomology groups. The maps involved are defined by the…
We consider the compactification of the E8xE8 heterotic string on a K3 surface with "the spin connection embedded in the gauge group" and the dual picture in the type IIA string (or F-theory) on a Calabi-Yau threefold X. It turns out that…
We construct a linear sigma model for open-strings ending on special Lagrangian cycles of a Calabi-Yau manifold. We illustrate the construction for the cases considered by Aganagic and Vafa in hep-th/0012041. This leads naturally to…
We study F-theory duals of heterotic line bundle models on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds. These models necessarily contain NS5-branes which are geometrised in the dual F-theory compactifications. We initiate a systematic study…
We present a new class of dualities relating non-geometric Calabi-Yau compactifications of type II string theory to T-fold compactifications of the heterotic string, both preserving four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry. The…
We study local mirror symmetry on non-compact Calabi-Yau manifolds (conifold type of singularities) in the presence of D3 brane probes. Using an intermediate brane setup of NS 5-branes `probed' by D4 resp. D5 branes, we can explicitly…
These are notes based on lectures given at TASI99. We review the geometry of the moduli space of N=2 theories in four dimensions from the point of view of superstring compactification. The cases of a type IIA or type IIB string compactified…
We discuss the T-duality between the solutions of type IIA versus IIB superstrings compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds. Within the context of the N=2, D=4 supergravity effective Lagrangian, the T-duality transformation is equivalently…
We introduce a new class of non-compact backgrounds of Type IIB string theory preserving eight supercharges by combining S-folds and non-perturbative 7-branes wrapping orbifolds, and study the four-dimensional superconformal field theories…
We compute the gravitational coupling $F_1$ for IIA string theory on $K3 \times T^2$ and use string-string duality to deduce the corresponding term for heterotic string on $T^6$. The latter is an infinite sum of gravitational instanton…
We attempt to find a rigorous formulation for the massive type IIA orientifold compactifications of string theory introduced in hep-th/0505160. An approximate double T-duality converts this background into IIA string theory on a twisted…
The study of the geometry of Calabi-Yau fourfolds is relevant for compactifications of string theory, M-theory, and F-theory to various dimensions. In the first part of this thesis, we study the action of mirror symmetry on two-dimensional…