Related papers: Recent Developments in Topological String Theory
Genus one amplitude for topological strings on Calabi-Yau 3-folds can be computed using mirror symmetry: The partition function at genus one gets mapped to a holomorphic version of Ray-Singer torsion on the mirror Calabi-Yau. On the other…
We construct a matrix model that reproduces the topological string partition function on arbitrary toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds. This demonstrates, in accord with the BKMP "remodeling the B-model" conjecture, that Gromov-Witten invariants of…
We study a class of extremal transitions between topological distinct Calabi--Yau manifolds which have an interpretation in terms of the special massless states of a type II string compactification. In those cases where a dual heterotic…
We study the resurgent structure of Walcher's real topological string on general Calabi-Yau manifolds. We find trans-series solutions to the corresponding holomorphic anomaly equations, at all orders in the string coupling constant, by…
We show that B-model topological strings on local Calabi-Yau threefolds are large N duals of matrix models, which in the planar limit naturally give rise to special geometry. These matrix models directly compute F-terms in an associated N=1…
This article is devoted to an overview of superstring perturbation theory from the point of view of super Riemann surfaces. We aim to elucidate some of the subtleties of superstring perturbation that caused difficulty in the early…
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 propose a non-perturbative definition for refined topological strings. This can be used to compute the partition function of superconformal theories in 5 dimensions on squashed S^5 and the superconformal index of a large number of 6…
In this paper, which is a revised version of the author's PhD thesis, we analyze two different applications of string theory. In the first part, we focus on four dimensional compactifications of Type II string theories preserving N=1…
We introduce a deformed topological vertex and use it to define deformations of the topological string partition functions of some local Calabi-Yau geometries. We also work out some examples for which such deformations satisfy a deformed…
The closed topological vertex is the simplest ``off-strip'' case of non-compact toric Calabi-Yau threefolds with acyclic web diagrams. By the diagrammatic method of topological vertex, open string amplitudes of topological string theory…
We summarize the results obtained in the last few years about permutation orbifolds in two-dimensional conformal field theories, their application to string theory and their use in the construction of four-dimensional heterotic string…
This thesis presents several new insights on the interface between mathematics and theoretical physics, with a central role for fermions on Riemann surfaces. First of all, the duality between Vafa-Witten theory and WZW models is embedded…
We construct new topological theories related to sigma models whose target space is a seven dimensional manifold of G_2 holonomy. We define a new type of topological twist and identify the BRST operator and the physical states. Unlike the…
The talk contains a brief introduction string theory, followed by a discussion of some of the recent developments.
This thesis is almost entirely devoted to studying string theory backgrounds characterized by simple geometrical and integrability properties. The archetype of this type of system is given by Wess-Zumino-Witten models, describing string…
These are notes of a series of lectures on mirror symmetry and topological string theory given at the Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University. The N=2 superconformal algebra, its deformations and its chiral ring are reviewed. A…
This article is the PhD thesis of the author. It is focused on Type II compactifications because of the potential for the construction of realistic MSSM-like compactifications. In particular we concentrate in Type IIB Calabi-Yau…
Noncompact groups, similar to those that appeared in various supergravity theories in the 1970's, have been turning up in recent studies of string theory. First it was discovered that moduli spaces of toroidal compactification are given by…
We give a short review of a large class of warped string geometries, obtained via F-theory compactified on Calabi-Yau fourfolds, that upon reduction to 5 dimensions give consistent supersymmetric realizations of the RS compactification…