Related papers: Cobordism Conjecture, Anomalies, and the String La…
We discuss some topological constraints on Type IIB string theory that cannot be described by elementary characteristic classes. Anomaly cancellation of the worldvolume theory of a D3-brane requires a shifted Dirac quantization condition of…
We derive the general anomaly polynomial for a class of two-dimensional CFTs arising as twisted compactifications of a higher-dimensional theory on compact manifolds $\mathcal{M}_d$, including the contribution of the isometries of…
Supersymmetric states in M-theory are mapped after compactification to perturbatively non-supersymmetric states in type IIA string theory, with the supersymmetric parts being encoded in the non-perturbative section of the string theory. An…
We show that various disconnected components of the moduli space of superstring vacua with 16 supercharges admit a rationale in terms of BPS un-orientifolds, i.e. type I toroidal compactifications with constant non-vanishing but quantized…
The dynamics of superstring, supergravity and M theories and their compactifications are probed by studying the various perturbation theories that emerge in the strong and weak coupling limits for various directions in coupling constant…
Following a recent suggestion by Randall and Sundrum, we consider string compactification scenarios in which a compact slice of AdS-space arises as a subspace of the compactification manifold. A specific example is provided by the type II…
Six-dimensional supergravity theories with N=(1,0) supersymmetry must satisfy anomaly equations. These equations come from demanding the cancellation of gravitational, gauge and mixed anomalies. The anomaly equations have implications for…
We consider supergravity in twelve dimension, whose dimensional reduction yields eleven-dimensional, IIA, and IIB supergravities. This also provides the effective field theory of F-theory. We must take one direction as a compact circle, so…
In this thesis we study compactifications of type II string theories and M-theory to four dimensions. We construct the four-dimensional N=2 supergravities that arise from compactifications of type IIA string theory and M-theory on manifolds…
We study the constraints on models with extra dimensions arising from local anomaly cancellation. We consider a five-dimensional field theory with a U(1) gauge field and a charged fermion, compactified on the orbifold S^1/(Z_2 x Z_2'). We…
String theories with branes can often be generalized by adding brane-antibrane pairs. We explore the cancellation of anomalies in this more general context, extending the familiar anomaly-cancelling mechanisms, both for ten-dimensional…
We study some geometrical and topological aspects of the generalised dimensional reduction of supergravities in D=11 and D=10 dimensions, which give rise to massive theories in lower dimensions. In these reductions, a global symmetry is…
Motivated by the recently proposed bounds on the slow-roll parameters for scalar potentials arising from string/M-theory compactifications, a.k.a. the Refined de Sitter Swampland conjecture, we explore the sharpness of such constraints…
We analyse various two dimensional theories arising from compactification of type II and heterotic string theory on asymmetric orbifolds. We find extra supersymmetry generators arising from twisted sectors, giving rise to exotic…
We study the reduction of 11- dimensional M-theory to (3 +1) dimensions with four conserved supersymmetric charges by following the work of B. Acharya and E. Witten [arXiv:hep-th/0109152]. We first review the various 10D superstrings…
We consider compactifications of M-theory and type IIA string theory to four dimensions. For Minkowski space-time, a supergravity no-go theorem forbids flux supported in the internal space. We show how to evade this no-go theorem by…
F-theory compactifications on elliptically fibered Calabi--Yau threefolds yield consistent six-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ supergravity theories, for which the cancellation of gravitational, gauge and mixed anomalies imposes non-trivial…
String theory contains sources like orientifold planes that support higher derivative interactions. These interactions make possible static flux compactifications which are forbidden in supergravity. They can also lead to violations of the…
A topological fact about eleven dimensions is used to motivate a potential new duality in M-theory. We complete the discussion of consistent limits of M-theory raised in a previous paper to include gravitational anomaly cancelation and…
We study gauge theories which are associated with classical vacua of perturbative Type II string theory that allows for a conformal field theory description. We show that even if we compactify seven spatial dimensions (allowing for one…