Related papers: K3 surfaces, modular forms, and non-geometric hete…

We construct various modular compactifications of the space of elliptic K3 surfaces using tools from the minimal model program, and explicitly describe the surfaces parametrized by their boundaries. The coarse spaces of our constructed…

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 consider compactifications of type IIA superstring theory on mirror-folds obtained as K3 fibrations over two-tori with non-geometric monodromies involving mirror symmetries. At special points in the moduli space these are asymmetric…

We consider real forms of relatively minimal rational surfaces F_m. Connected components of moduli of real non-singular curves in |-2K_{F_m}| had been classified recently for m=0, 1, 4 in math.AG/0312396. Applying similar methods, here we…

We show that the duality between F-theory and the CHL string in seven dimensions defines algebraic correspondences between K3 surfaces polarized by the rank-ten lattices $H \oplus N$ and $H\oplus E_8(-2)$. In the special case when the…

Inspired by the ideas of the minimal model program, Shepherd-Barron, Koll\'ar, and Alexeev have constructed a geometric compactification for the moduli space of surfaces of log general type. In this paper, we discuss one of the simplest…

We review our present understanding of heterotic compactifications on non-Kahler complex manifolds with torsion. Most of these manifolds can be obtained by duality chasing a consistent F-theory compactification in the presence of fluxes. We…

We study ${\cal N}=2$ compactifications of heterotic string theory on the CHL orbifold $(K3\times T^2)/\mathbb{Z}_N$ with $N= 2, 3, 5, 7$. $\mathbb{Z}_N$ acts as an involution on $K3$ together with a shift of $1/N$ along one of the circles…

We study compactifications of Type IIB string theory on a K3 \times T^2/Z_2 orientifold in the presence of RR and NS flux. We find the most general supersymmetry preserving, Poincare invariant, vacua in this model. All the complex structure…

We analyze M-theory compactified on K3xK3 with fluxes preserving half the supersymmetry and its F-theory limit, which is dual to an orientifold of the type IIB string on $K3\times T^2/Z_2$. The geometry of attractive K3 surfaces plays a…

We present evidence that the CHL string in eight dimensions is dual to F-theory compactified on an elliptic K3 with a $\Gamma_{0}(2)$ monodromy group. The monodromy group $\Gamma_{0}(2)$ allows one to turn on the flux of an antisymmetric…

In this paper, we study the moduli space of quasi-polarized complex K3 surfaces of degree 6 and 8 via geometric invariant theory. The general members in such moduli spaces are complete intersections in projective spaces and we have natural…

This thesis contributes with a number of topics to the subject of string compactifications. In the first half of the work, I discuss the Hodge plot of Calabi-Yau threefolds realised as hypersurfaces in toric varieties. The intricate…

We study F-theory duals of singular heterotic K3 models that correspond to abelian toroidal orbifolds $T^4/Z_N$. While our focus is on the standard embedding, we also comment on models with Wilson lines and more general gauge embeddings. In…

The goal of the present paper is two-fold. First, we present a classification of algebraic K3 surfaces polarized by the lattice H+E_8+E_7. Key ingredients for this classification are: a normal form for these lattice polarized K3 surfaces, a…

We determine explicit generators for the ring of modular forms associated with the moduli spaces of K3 surfaces with automorphism group $(\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})^2$ and of Picard rank 13 and higher. The K3 surfaces in question carry a…

We study lattice polarizations of five exceptional pairs of families of K3 surfaces obtained via compactifications of strange dual pairs of bimodal singularities. We show that the polarizations induced by embedding these paired families in…

We report on a search for $N=2$ heterotic strings that are dual candidates of type II compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds described as $K3$ fibrations. We find many new heterotic duals by using standard orbifold techniques. The…

The geometric objects of study in this paper are K3 surfaces which admit a polarization by the unique even unimodular lattice of signature (1,17). A standard Hodge-theoretic observation about this special class of K3 surfaces is that their…

We continue our study of compactifications of F-theory on Calabi--Yau threefolds. We gain more insight into F-theory duals of heterotic strings and provide a recipe for building F-theory duals for arbitrary heterotic compactifications on…