Related papers: M-theory Compactifications to Three Dimensions wit…
We discuss the reduction of the eleven-dimensional M-theory effective Lagrangian, considering first compactification from eleven to five dimensions on a Calabi-Yau manifold, followed by reduction to four dimensions on an S_1/Z_2 line…
We study the dimensional reduction of M5-branes wrapping special Lagrangian 3-cycles of a Calabi-Yau manifold and show explicitly that they result in 2-branes coupled to the hypermultiplets of ungauged N=2 D=5 supergravity theory. In…
We study the relation between discrete gauge symmetries in F-theory compactifications and torsion homology on the associated Calabi-Yau manifold. Focusing on the simplest example of a $\mathbb Z_2$ symmetry, we show that there are two…
We initiate the study of Brane Gas Cosmology (BGC) on manifolds with non-trivial holonomy. Such compactifications are required within the context of superstring theory in order to make connections with realistic particle physics. We study…
In the framework of heterotic M-theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold 'times' an interval, the relation between geometry and four-flux is derived {\it beyond first order}. Besides the case with general flux which cannot be described…
The disk partition function of the open topological string computes the spacetime superpotential for D-branes wrapping cycles of a compact Calabi-Yau threefold. We use string duality to show that when appropriately formulated, the problem…
At the leading order, M-theory admits minimal supersymmetric compactifications if the internal manifold has exceptional holonomy. The inclusion of non-vanishing fluxes in M-theory and string theory compactifications induce a superpotential…
We investigate the dynamics of space-time filling five-branes wrapped on curves in heterotic and orientifold Calabi-Yau compactifications. We first study the leading N=1 scalar potential on the infinite deformation space of the brane-curve…
We study supersymmetric indices of the 6d $(2,0)$ theory of $N$ M5-branes on toric Sasaki-Einstein five-manifolds. Embedding the background into a local toric Calabi-Yau four-fold and equivariantly integrating the anomaly polynomial yields…
A number of N=2 gauge theories can be realized by brane configurations in Type IIA string theory. One way of solving them involves lifting the brane configuration to M-theory. In this paper we present an alternative way of analyzing a…
Configurations of two or more branes wrapping different homology cycles of space-time are considered and the amount of supersymmetry preserved is analysed, generalising the analysis of multiple branes in flat space. For K3…
In this paper we study M-theory compactifications on seven-dimensional manifolds with SU(3) structure. As such manifolds naturally pick out a specific direction, the resulting effective theory can be cast into a form which is similar to…
In this thesis, we explore two approaches to string phenomenology. In the first half of the work, we investigate M-theory compactifications on spaces with co-dimension four, orbifold singularities. We construct M-theory on C^2/Z_N by…
We consider compactifications of M-theory on 7-manifolds in the presence of 4-form fluxes, which leave at least four supercharges unbroken. We focus especially on the case, where the 7-manifold supports two spinors which are SU(3) singlets…
We study four-dimensional superconformal field theories living on the worldvolume of $D3$ branes probing minimally-supersymmetric F-theory backgrounds, focusing on the case of orbi-orientifold setups with and without 7-branes. We observe…
A while ago, examples of N=1 vacua in D=6 were constructed as orientifolds of Type IIB string theory compactified on the K3 surface. Among the interesting features of those models was the presence of D5-branes behaving like small…
We review an approach for computing non-perturbative, exact superpotentials for Type II strings compactified on Calabi-Yau manifolds, with extra fluxes and D-branes on top. The method is based on an open string generalization of mirror…
We characterize compact eight-manifolds M which arise as internal spaces in N=1 flux compactifications of M-theory down to AdS3 using the theory of foliations, for the case when the internal part of the supersymmetry generator is everywhere…
We study compactifications of string theory and M-theory to six dimensions with background fluxes. The nonzero fluxes lead to additional mass parameters. We derive the S- and T-duality rules for the corresponding (massive) supergravity…
We reconsider the study of the geometric transitions and brane/flux dualities in various dimensions. We first give toric interpretations of the topology changing transitions in the Calabi-Yau conifold and the $Spin(7)$ manifold. The latter,…