Related papers: Superpotentials from Singular Divisors
We discuss the four-dimensional N=1 effective actions of single space-time filling Dp-branes in general Type IIA and Type IIB Calabi-Yau orientifold compactifications. The effective actions depend on an infinite number of normal…
In this review article we present an analysis of several aspects of four-dimensional, non-perturbative N=1 compactifications of string theory. Our study focuses on brane dynamics and their effective physics as encoded in the holomorphic…
We analyze in detail the description of type IIB theory on a Calabi-Yau three-fold near a conifold singularity in terms of intersecting D-branes. In particular we study the singularity structure of higher derivative $F$-terms of the form…
We study novel type IIB compactifications on the T^6/Z_2 orientifold. This geometry arises in the T-dual description of Type I theory on T^6, and one normally introduces 16 space-filling D3-branes to cancel the RR tadpoles. Here, we cancel…
In this work, we provide evidence for a duality between 4-dimensional Calabi-Yau compactifications of the heterotic string, in which the base manifolds are linked by a conifold transition. In recent work, a geometric proposal was put…
After orientifold projection, the conifold singularity in hypermultiplet moduli space of Calabi-Yau compactifications cannot be avoided by geometric deformations. We study the non-perturbative fate of this singularity in a local model…
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…
We report on progress towards constructing string models incorporating both realistic D-brane matter content and moduli stabilisation with dynamical low-scale supersymmetry breaking. The general framework is that of local D-brane models…
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…
In the context of four-dimensional ${\cal N} = 1$ type IIB superstring compactifications, the U-dual completion of the holomorphic flux superpotential leads to four S-dual pairs of fluxes, namely $(F, H), (Q, P), (P', Q')$ and $(H', F')$.…
The $\mathcal{N}=1$ superconformal field theories that arise in AdS-CFT from placing a stack of D3-branes at the singularity of a toric Calabi-Yau threefold can be described succinctly by dimer models. We present an efficient algorithm for…
A class of abelian fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds X_{m,n} is shown yield SU(2) structure, in addition to the standard SU(3) holonomy. Compactification of type II string theory on a manifold in this class give a 4D effective supergravity…
We discuss a simple example of an F-theory compactification on a Calabi-Yau fourfold where background fluxes, together with nonperturbative effects from Euclidean D3 instantons and gauge dynamics on D7 branes, allow us to fix all closed and…
We prove a new rigidity criterion for families of polarized Calabi-Yau manifolds. Motivated by known non-rigid examples, we conjecture that a family over a quasi-projective curve is rigid if it admits a smooth compactification whose…
F-theory compactifications on appropriate local elliptic Calabi-Yau manifolds engineer six dimensional superconformal field theories and their mass deformations. The partition function $Z_{top}$ of the refined topological string on these…
We revisit the issue of M5-brane instanton corrections to the superpotential in F-theory compactifications on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds. Elaborating on concrete geometries, we compare the instanton zero modes for…
A graded quiver with superpotential is a quiver whose arrows are assigned degrees $c\in \{0, 1, \cdots, m\}$, for some integer $m \geq 0$, with relations generated by a superpotential of degree $m-1$. Ordinary quivers ($m=1)$ often describe…
The theory of coverings of the two-dimensional torus is a standard part of algebraic topology and has applications in several topics in string theory, for example, in topological strings. This paper initiates applications of this theory to…
We study the moduli spaces of surface pairs $(X,D)$ admitting a log Calabi--Yau fibration $(X,D) \to C$. We develop a series of results on stable reduction and apply them to give an explicit description of the boundary of the KSBA…
Making use of the N=2 Liouville theory and world-sheet techniques, we study the properties of D-branes wrapped around vanishing SUSY cycles of singular Calabi-Yau n-folds (n=2,3,4). After constructing boundary states describing the wrapped…