Related papers: Scalar geometry and masses in Calabi-Yau string mo…
We review the gauge symmetry breaking mechanism due to orbifold projections in orbifold model building. We explicitly show the existence of a scale of breaking if such a symmetry breaking is due to freely-acting orbifold operators only,…
When N= D=11 supergravity is compactified on CY threefold to N=2 D=5 supergravity the action of the last is given in terms of the geometery of the CY manifold space, namely, in terms of the hypermultiplets. There are $z^i(i=1,...,h^{2,1})$…
Two results regarding K\"ahler supermanifolds with potential $K=A+C\theta\bar\theta$ are shown. First, if the supermanifold is K\"ahler-Einstein, then its base (the supermanifold of one lower fermionic dimension and with K\"ahler potential…
In this paper, we make progress on understanding the collapsing behavior of Calabi-Yau metrics on a degenerating family of polarized Calabi-Yau manifolds. In the case of a family of smooth Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in projective space…
We present a method to obtain a scalar potential at tree level from a pure gauge theory on nilmanifolds, a class of negatively-curved compact spaces, and discuss the spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism induced in the residual Minkowski…
In this paper we study string compactifications on Deligne-Mumford stacks. The basic idea is that all such stacks have presentations to which one can associate gauged sigma models, where the group gauged need be neither finite nor…
We investigate orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string, addressing in detail their construction, classification and phenomenological potential. We present a strategy to search for models resembling the minimal supersymmetric…
We approach string phenomenology from the perspective of computational algebraic geometry, by providing new and efficient techniques for proving stability and calculating particle spectra in heterotic compactifications. This is done in the…
We study parity symmetries and boundary conditions in the framework of gauged linear sigma models. This allows us to investigate the Kaehler moduli dependence of the physics of D-branes as well as orientifolds in a Calabi-Yau…
We propose that under certain conditions heterotic string compactifications on half-flat and nearly-Kahler manifolds are equivalent. Based on this correspondence we argue that the moduli space of the nearly-Kahler manifolds under discussion…
The ${\cal R}^2$ scale invariant gravity theory coupled to conformally invariant matter is investigated. We show that in the non-supersymmetric case the conformally coupled scalars belong to an $SO(1, 1+n)/SO(1+n)$ manifold, while in the…
The string coupling of N=2 supersymmetric compactifications of type II string theory on a Calabi-Yau manifold belongs to the so-called universal dilaton hypermultiplet, that has four real scalars living on a quaternion-Kaehler manifold.…
We prove that Calabi-Yau metrics on compact Calabi-Yau manifolds whose Kahler classes shrink the fibers of a holomorphic fibration have a priori estimates of all orders away from the singular fibers. To this end we prove an asymptotic…
In this article we review four-dimensional string vacua with N=2 space-time supersymmetry. In particular, we will discuss several aspects of the string-string duality between the heterotic string, compactified on $K3\times T^2$, and the…
This is the author's PhD thesis. Two main sections address various aspects of mirror symmetry for compact Calabi-Yau threefolds and the roles that classically modular varieties play in string theory compactifications. The main results…
In this paper we study compactifications of heterotic string theory on manifolds satisfying the ddbar-lemma. We consider the Strominger system description of the low energy supergravity to first order in alpha' and show that the moduli of…
It is widely believed that global symmetries must be broken in Quantum Gravity. This includes higher-form symmetries, which are commonplace in supergravity coupled to vector multiplets. Recently, a quantitative criterion for the breaking of…
A holomorphic vector bundle on a Calabi-Yau threefold, X, with h^{1,1}(X)>1 can have regions of its Kahler cone where it is slope-stable, that is, where the four-dimensional theory is N=1 supersymmetric, bounded by "walls of stability". On…
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,…
In this paper we define the analogue of Calabi--Yau geometry for generic $D=4$, $\mathcal{N}=2$ flux backgrounds in type II supergravity and M-theory. We show that solutions of the Killing spinor equations are in one-to-one correspondence…