Related papers: Global Gluing and G-flux
Orbifold compactification of heterotic E8 x E8 string theory is a source for promising grand unified model building. It can accommodate the successful aspects of grand unification while avoiding problems like doublet-triplet splitting in…
This paper concerns the relationship between locally homogeneous geometric structures on topological surfaces and the moduli of polystable Higgs bundles on Riemann surfaces, due to Hitchin and Simpson. In particular we discuss the…
We consider realizations of GUT models in F-theory. Adopting a bottom up approach, the assumption that the dynamics of the GUT model can in principle decouple from Planck scale physics leads to a surprisingly predictive framework. An…
M-theory on K3xK3 with non-supersymmetry-breaking G-flux is dual to M-theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold times a 2-torus without flux. This allows for a thorough analysis of the effects of flux without relying on supergravity approximations.…
Singular limits of 6D F-theory compactifications are often captured by T-branes, namely a non-abelian configuration of intersecting 7-branes with a nilpotent matrix of normal deformations. The long distance approximation of such 7-branes is…
We systematically analyze a broad class of dual heterotic and F-theory models that give four-dimensional supergravity theories, and compare the geometric constraints on the two sides of the duality. Specifically, we give a complete…
The recently announced Higgs discovery marks the dawn of the direct probing of the electroweak symmetry breaking sector. Sorting out the dynamics responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking now requires probing the Higgs interactions and…
We study the Hitchin map for $G_{\mathbb{R}}$-Higgs bundles on a smooth curve, where $G_{\mathbb{R}}$ is a quasi-split real form of a complex reductive algebraic group $G$. By looking at the moduli stack of regular $G_{\mathbb{R}}$-Higgs…
We derive the three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ effective theories obtained by compactifying all five ten-dimensional string theories on generic seven-dimensional manifolds with $G_2$ structure. The resulting flux compactifications are…
The data required for heterotic string theory with gauge group G, which for anomaly cancellation reasons must either be E8 x E8 or Spin(32)/Z2, consist of the following: a ten-dimensional space-time X and a principal G-bundle P. The fields…
In the standard model matter fields form complete representations of a grand unified group whereas Higgs fields belong to incomplete `split' multiplets. This remarkable fact is naturally explained by `local grand unification' in…
A recent attempt to extend the geometric Langlands duality to affine Kac-Moody groups, has led Braverman and Finkelberg [arXiv:0711.2083] to conjecture a mathematical relation between the intersection cohomology of the moduli space of…
We explore the cohomological structure for the (possibly singular) moduli of $\mathrm{SL}_n$-Higgs bundles for arbitrary degree on a genus g curve with respect to an effective divisor of degree >2g-2. We prove a support theorem for the…
We present an explicit method for translating between the linear sigma model and the spectral cover description of SU(r) stable bundles over an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau manifold. We use this to investigate the 4-dimensional duality…
For $M$-theory on the $G_2$ holonomy manifold given by the cone on ${\bf S^3}\x {\bf S^3}$ we consider the superpotential generated by membrane instantons and study its transformations properties, especially under monodromy transformations…
In this note we compare the moduli spaces of the heterotic string compactified on a two-torus and F-Theory compactified on an elliptic K3 surface for the case of an unbroken E8 x E8 gauge group. The explicit map relating the deformation…
In this paper we study $G$-Higgs bundles over an elliptic curve when the structure group $G$ is a classical complex reductive Lie group. Modifying the notion of family, we define a new moduli problem for the classification of semistable…
This thesis contains work which appeared in several papers. Additionally to the results in the papers it contains a detailed introduction and some further proofs and remarks. The dissertation gives a description of the topology and…
Boundary conditions on an extra-dimensional interval can be chosen to break bulk gauge symmetries and to reduce the rank of the gauge group. We consider this mechanism in models with gauge trinification. We determine the boundary conditions…
Higgs bundles over a closed orientable surface can be defined for any real reductive Lie group G. In this paper we examine the case G=SO*(2n). We describe a rigidity phenomenon encountered in the case of maximal Toledo invariant. Using this…