Related papers: Gopakumar-Vafa Invariants and the Emergent String …
We analyse divergences of the scalar curvature $R$ of the vector multiplet moduli space of type IIA string theory compactified on a Calabi--Yau $X$, along infinite-distance large volume limits. Extending previous results, we classify the…
We study limits of infinite distance in the moduli space of 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ string compactifications, in which instanton effects dominate. We first consider trajectories in the hypermultiplet moduli space of type IIB Calabi-Yau…
The ultraviolet cutoff on a quantum field theory can be interpreted as a condensate of the affine curvature such that while the maximum of the affine action gives the power-law corrections, its minimum leads to the emergence of gravity.…
We conjecture a general upper bound on the strength of gravity relative to gauge forces in quantum gravity. This implies, in particular, that in a four-dimensional theory with gravity and a U(1) gauge field with gauge coupling g, there is a…
We prove a version of the Weak Gravity Conjecture for 6d F-theory or heterotic string compactifications with 8 supercharges. This sharpens our previous analysis by including massless scalar fields. The latter are known to modify the Weak…
We systematically analyse weak coupling limits for 2-form tensor fields in the presence of gravity. Such limits are significant for testing various versions of the Weak Gravity and Swampland Distance Conjectures, and more broadly, the…
Gopakumar, Ooguri and Vafa famously proposed the existence of a correspondence between a topological gauge theory on one hand ($U(N)$ Chern-Simons theory on the three-sphere) and a topological string theory on the other (the topological…
In this paper, we introduce new enumerative invariants of curves on Calabi-Yau 3-folds via certain stable objects in the derived category of coherent sheaves. We introduce the notion of limit stability on the category of perverse coherent…
In this paper we propose a definition of torsion refined Gopakumar-Vafa (GV) invariants for Calabi-Yau threefolds with terminal nodal singularities that do not admit K\"ahler crepant resolutions. Physically, the refinement takes into…
The motivation for Calabi-Yau-like compactifications of the weakly coupled $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory, its particle spectrum and the issue of dilaton stabilization are briefly reviewed. Modular invariant models for hidden…
We extend the formulation of gauged supergravity in five dimensions, as obtained by compactification of $M$~theory on a deformed Calabi-Yau manifold, to include non-universal matter hypermultiplets. Even in the presence of this gauging,…
Infinite distance limits in the moduli space of a quantum gravity theory are characterized by having infinite towers of states becoming light, as dictated by the Distance Conjecture in the Swampland program. These towers imply a drastic…
The Gopakumar-Vafa conjecture predicts that the BPS invariants of a symplectic 6-manifold, defined in terms of the Gromov-Witten invariants, are integers and all but finitely many vanish in every homology class. The integrality part of this…
This review talk focusses on some of the interesting developments in the area of superstring compactification that have occurred in the last couple of years. These include the discovery that ``mirror symmetric" pairs of Calabi--Yau spaces,…
In the Emergence Proposal in QG it is conjectured that all light-particle kinetic terms are absent in the fundamental UV theory and are generated by quantum corrections in the IR. It has been argued that this may provide for some…
Motivated by the Weak Gravity Conjecture, we uncover an intricate interplay between black holes, BPS particle counting, and Calabi-Yau geometry in five dimensions. In particular, we point out that extremal BPS black holes exist only in…
The Distance Conjecture of Ooguri and Vafa holds that any infinite-distance limit in the moduli space of a quantum gravity theory must be accompanied by a tower of exponentially light particles, which places tight constraints on the…
We study towers of light particles that appear in infinite-distance limits of moduli spaces of 9-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ string theories, some of which notably feature decompactification limits with running string coupling. The lightest…
We offer a derivation of the duality between the topological U(1) gauge theory on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold and the topological A-model on the same manifold. This duality was conjectured recently by Iqbal, Nekrasov, Okounkov, and Vafa. We deduce…
We investigate swampland conjectures for quantum gravity in the context of M-theory compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds which admit infinite sequences of flops. Naively, the moduli space of such compactifications contains paths of…