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We study string compactifications with sixteen supersymmetries. The moduli space for these compactifications becomes quite intricate in lower dimensions, partly because there are many different irreducible components. We focus primarily,…
We analyse the Weak Gravity Conjecture for chiral four-dimensional F-theory compactifications with N=1 supersymmetry. Extending our previous work on nearly tensionless heterotic strings in six dimensions, we show that under certain…
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 investigate the asymptotic behavior of Kaluza-Klein (KK) towers in warped compactifications to Minkowski space. Focusing on the overall decompactification limit, we derive the scaling of KK masses at large KK momentum for scalar…
Perhaps the greatest challenge for fundamental theories based on compactification from extra dimensions is accommodating a period of accelerated cosmological expansion. Previous studies have identified constraints imposed by the existence…
The Emergent String Conjecture constrains the possible types of light towers in infinite-distance limits in quantum gravity moduli spaces. In this paper, we use these constraints to restrict the geometry of the scalar charge-to-mass vectors…
The Distance Conjecture states that an infinite tower of modes becomes exponentially light when approaching an infinite distance point in field space. We argue that the inherent path-dependence of this statement can be addressed when…
We use branes to generalize the Distance Conjecture. We conjecture that in any infinite-distance limit in the moduli space of a $d$-dimensional quantum gravity theory, among the set of particle towers and fundamental branes with at most…
We study some aspects of enhanced gauge symmetries in F-theory compactified on K3. We find open string configurations connecting various 7-branes which represent stable BPS states. In this approach we recover $D_n$ and $E_n$ gauge groups…
Identifying flux vacua in string theory with stabilized complex structure moduli presents a significant challenge, necessitating the minimization of a scalar potential complicated by infinitely many exponential corrections. In order to…
We show that the F-theory dual of the heterotic string with unbroken Spin(32)/Z_2 symmetry in eight dimensions can be described in terms of the same polyhedron that can also encode unbroken E_8\times E_8 symmetry. By considering particular…
We study F-theory duals of six dimensional heterotic vacua in extreme regions of moduli space where the heterotic string is very strongly coupled. We demonstrate how to use orientifold limits of these F-theory duals to regain a perturbative…
We consider F-theory compactifications on a mirror pair of elliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds. This yields two different six-dimensional theories, each of them being nonperturbatively equivalent to some compactification of heterotic strings on…
We consider 3-dimensional hyperbolic cone-manifolds, singular along infinite lines, which are ``convex co-compact'' in a natural sense. We prove an infinitesimal rigidity statement when the angle around the singular lines is less than…
We discuss the physics of zero modes of ED3/M5 instantons at strong coupling from three different viewpoints. Motivated by an anomaly inflow argument, we give a prescription for describing neutral instanton modes in terms of string…
We study the dynamical evolution of FLRW cosmologies in the presence of a tower of scalar light states and a runaway exponential potential. Some of the attractor solutions have problematic behaviours from the EFT point of view, which we use…
Five dimensional super conformal field theories can be studied using their geometric realisation as a limit of $M$-theory on a metrically conical Calabi-Yau threefold. We utilise this framework to investigate the phases of such theories…
We test the refined distance conjecture in the vector multiplet moduli space of 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ compactifications of the type IIA string that admit a dual heterotic description. In the weakly coupled regime of the heterotic string, the…
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…
We explore the possibility that our universe's current accelerated expansion is explained by a quintessence model with an exponential scalar potential, $V =V_0\, e^{-\lambda\, \phi}$, keeping an eye towards $\lambda \geq \sqrt{2}$ and an…