Related papers: F-theory compactifications on manifolds with SU(3)…
M-theory suggests the study of 11-dimensional space-times compactified on some 7-manifolds. From its intimate relation to superstrings, one possible class of such 7-manifolds are those that have Calabi-Yau threefolds as boundary. In this…
A realistic SU(3)_C x SU(3)_W unified theory is constructed with a TeV sized extra dimension compactified on the orbifold S_1/Z_2, leaving only the standard model gauge group SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y unbroken in the low energy 4D theory.…
We consider Minkowski compactifications of M-theory on generic seven-dimensional manifolds. After analyzing the conditions on the four-form flux, we establish a set of relations between the components of the intrinsic torsion of the…
F-theory compactified on singular, elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau five-folds gives rise to two-dimensional gauge theories preserving N=(0,2) supersymmetry. In this paper we initiate the study of such compactifications and determine the…
We give a general review of extended supergravities and their gauging using the duality-covariant embedding tensor formalism. Although the focus is on four-dimensional theories, an overview of the gauging procedure and the related tensor…
We demonstrate the emergence of the U-duality group in compactification of Matrix theory on a 4-torus. The discussion involves non-trivial effects in strongly coupled 4+1 dimensional gauge theory, and highlights some interesting phenomena…
We study the fate of discrete gauge groups and discrete charges of gravitational theories under twisted circle compactification. We then apply our results to six-dimensional F-theory vacua with discrete gauge symmetries and relate them to…
We construct models with U(1) gauge group and matter with charges up to 6, in the context of type IIB compactifications. We show explicitly that models with charges up to 4 can be derived from corresponding models in F-theory by applying…
We consider non perturbative effects in M-theory compactifications on a seven-manifold of G_2 holonomy arising from membranes wrapped on supersymmetric three-cycles. When membranes are wrapped on associative submanifolds they induce a…
In this thesis, we consider heterotic string vacua based on a warped product of a four-dimensional domain wall and a six-dimensional internal manifold preserving only two supercharges. Thus, they correspond to half-BPS states of heterotic…
We construct M-theory curves associated with brane configurations of SU(N), SO(N) and $Sp(2N)$ 5d supersymmetric gauge theories compactified on a circle. From the curves we can account for all the existing different SU(N) field theories…
This diploma thesis has three major objectives. Firstly, we give an elementary introduction to M-theory compactifications, which are obtained from an analysis of its low-energy effective theory, eleven-dimensional supergravity. In…
In this note, we use results of Aspinwall and Morrison to discuss the F-theory duals of certain $T^4/\bbZ_N$ orbifold compactifications of Ho\v{r}ava--Witten theory. In the M-theory limit an interesting set of rules, based on anomaly…
We study the physics of F-theory compactifications on genus-one fibrations without section by using an M-theory dual description. The five-dimensional action obtained by considering M-theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold is compared with a…
We describe new four-dimensional type II compactifications with N=2 supersymmetry, based on asymmetric Gepner models for K3 x T^2. In more than half of these models, all the K3 moduli are lifted, giving at low energies N=2 supergravity with…
We consider a 6-dimensional supersymmetric SU(6) gauge theory and compactify two extra-dimensions on a multiply-connected manifold with non-trivial topology. The SU(6) is broken down to the Standard Model gauge groups in two steps by an…
We consider the torus compactifications with flux of a class of $6d$ $(1,0)$ SCFTs that can be engineered as the low-energy theories on M$5$-branes near an M$9$-plane on a $C^2/Z_2$ singularity. Specifically, we concentrate on the two SCFTs…
We find new supersymmetric backgrounds of ${\cal N} = 8$ gauged supergravity in four Euclidean dimensions that are dual to deformations of ABJM theory on $S^3$. The deformations encode the most general choice of $U(1)_R$ symmetry used to…
We study the gauging of maximal $d=8$ supergravity using the embedding tensor formalism. We focus on SO$(3)$ gaugings, study all the possible choices of gauge fields and construct explicitly the bosonic actions (including the complicated…
F-theory is the theory proposed to incorporate superstring theory in a way such that STU dualities are manifest. A useful description uses a current superalgebra on a higher-dimensional worldvolume, following from an action for a selfdual…