Related papers: Type IIB at eight derivatives: insights from Super…
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…
This is a short version of hep-th/0406137. We show that the supersymmetry transformations for type II string theories on six-manifolds can be written as differential conditions on a pair of pure spinors, the exponentiated Kahler form e^{iJ}…
The string coupling of N=2 supersymmetric compactifications of type II string theory on a Calabi-Yau manifold belongs to the so-called universal dilaton hypermultiplet, that has four real scalars living on a quaternion-Kaehler manifold.…
We report on the construction of four dimensional gauged supergravity models that can be interpreted as type IIB orientifold compactification in presence of 3-form fluxes and D3--branes. We mainly address our attention to the symplectic…
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 study the compactification of M-theory on Calabi-Yau five-folds and the resulting N=2 super-mechanics theories. By explicit reduction from 11 dimensions, including both bosonic and fermionic terms, we calculate the one-dimensional…
We examine the dual correspondence between holographic IIB superstring theory and N=4 super Yang-Mills theory at finite values of the coupling constants. In particular we analyze a field theory strong-coupling expansion which is the S-dual…
Some aspects of string compactifications with non-geometric fluxes are revisited in the light of recent progress in double field theory. After rederiving the general form of these fluxes, we consider the proposed flux induced…
We discuss the duality symmetries of Type II string effective actions in nine, ten and eleven dimensions. As a by-product we give a covariant action underlying the ten--dimensional Type IIB supergravity theory. We apply duality symmetries…
We investigate the connections between four-dimensional, N=2 M-theory vacua constructed as orbifolds of type II, heterotic, and type I strings. All these models have the same massless spectrum, which contains an equal number of vector…
We classify all possible two- and four-derivative couplings of bulk NS-NS sector fields to a single Op-plane which are compatible with diffeomorphism invariance and B-field gauge invariance. This is applicable to type IIA or IIB…
Recent studies suggest that applying the Buscher rules to the dimensional reduction of ten-dimensional, one-loop effective actions generate "purely stringy" couplings in nine dimensions that cannot be lifted to a local, covariant form in…
We study quantum effects in five dimensions in heterotic superstring theory compactified on K_3 x S_1 and analyze the conjecture that its dual effective theory is eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold. This…
Recently, it has been shown that the minimum number of gauge invariant couplings for $B$-field, metric and dilaton at order $\alpha'^3$ is 872. These couplings, in a particular scheme, appear in 55 different structures. In this paper, up to…
We present a new class of dualities relating non-geometric Calabi-Yau compactifications of type II string theory to T-fold compactifications of the heterotic string, both preserving four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry. The…
We first review aspects of Kac Moody indefinite algebras with particular focus on their hyperbolic subset. Then we present two field theoretical systems where these structures appear as symmetries. The first deals with complete…
We consider Z2, freely acting orbifolds of the type IIB string with 16 parallel D5-branes. When the string is compactified on T2 X T4 and the D5-branes are wrapped on T2, these systems possess N=2 supersymmetry, originating from the…
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…
We consider Type IIB superstring theory with the addition of n 9-branes and n anti-9-branes (and no orientifolds). The result is a ten-dimensional chiral theory of open and closed oriented strings with gauge group U(n) \times U(n). There…
We propose a top-down approach to non-invertible symmetries in 2D QFTs and their associated symmetry topological field theories. We focus on the gauge theory engineered on D1-branes probing a particular Calabi-Yau 4-fold singularity. We…