Related papers: The physical moduli of heterotic G_2 string compac…
These are notes based on lectures given at TASI99. We review the geometry of the moduli space of N=2 theories in four dimensions from the point of view of superstring compactification. The cases of a type IIA or type IIB string compactified…
We systematically analyze a broad class of dual heterotic and F-theory models that give four-dimensional supergravity theories, and compare the geometric constraints on the two sides of the duality. Specifically, we give a complete…
A central role in recent investigations of the duality of F-theory and heterotic strings is played by the moduli of principal bundles, with various structure groups G, over an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau manifold on which the heterotic…
Recent work on four dimensional effective descriptions of the heterotic string has identified the moduli of such systems as being given by kernels of maps between ordinary Dolbeault cohomology groups. The maps involved are defined by the…
Suppose $(X, g)$ is a compact, spin Riemannian 7-manifold, with Dirac operator $D$. Let $G$ be SU$(m)$ or U$(m)$, and $E\to X$ be a rank $m$ complex bundle with $G$-structure. Write ${\mathcal B}_E$ for the infinite-dimensional moduli space…
We explore the moduli space of heterotic strings in two dimensions. In doing so, we introduce new lines of compactified theories with Spin(24) gauge symmetry and discuss compactifications with Wilson lines. The phase structure of d=2…
A type IIA string (or F-theory) compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold is believed to be dual to a heterotic string on a K3 surface times a 2-torus (or on a K3 surface). We consider how the resulting moduli space of hypermultiplets is…
We derive the three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ effective theories obtained by compactifying all five ten-dimensional string theories on generic seven-dimensional manifolds with $G_2$ structure. The resulting flux compactifications are…
The structure of stringy quantum corrections to four-dimensional effective theories is particularly interesting for string phenomenology and attempts to stabilize moduli. We consider the heterotic string compactified on a Calabi-Yau space.…
In this dissertation, we study various aspects of type IIB string theory compactified on freely acting orbifolds. We focus particularly on asymmetric orbifolds, which are examples of non-geometric string compactifications and constitute an…
In this thesis, we explore two approaches to string phenomenology. In the first half of the work, we investigate M-theory compactifications on spaces with co-dimension four, orbifold singularities. We construct M-theory on C^2/Z_N by…
We derive a map relating the gauge symmetry groups of heterotic strings on $T^4$ to other components of the moduli space with rank reduction. This generalizes the results for $T^2$ and $T^3$ which mirror the singularity freezing mechanism…
We develop the deformation theory of instantons on asymptotically conical $G_2$-manifolds, where an asymptotic connection at infinity is fixed. A spinorial approach is adopted to relate the space of deformations to the kernel of a twisted…
We study the geometry of type II supergravity compactifications in terms of an oriented vector bundle $E$, endowed with a bundle metric of split signature and further datum. The geometric structure is associated with a so-called generalised…
The hypermultiplet moduli space M_H in type II string theories compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold X is largely constrained by supersymmetry (which demands quaternion-K\"ahlerity), S-duality (which requires an isometric action of SL(2,…
Let $X$ be a closed, four-dimensional, oriented, smooth manifold with a Riemannian metric, $g$, let $G$ be a compact Lie group, and $P$ be a principal $G$ bundle over $X$. D. Groisser and T. Parker (1987, 1989) and S. K. Donaldson (1990)…
We study the moduli space of $G_2$-instantons on (projectively) flat bundles over torsion-free $G_2$-orbifolds. We prove that the moduli space is compact and smooth at the irreducible locus after adding small and generic holonomy…
Supersymmetric heterotic string models, built from a stable holomorphic vector bundle $V$ on a Calabi-Yau threefold $X$, usually come with many vector bundle moduli whose stabilisation is a difficult and complex task. It is therefore of…
We use local mirror symmetry in type IIA string compactifications on Calabi-Yau n+1 folds $X_{n+1}$ to construct vector bundles on (possibly singular) elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau n-folds Z_n. The interpretation of these data as valid…
In this work we study the duality between F-theory and the heterotic string beyond the stable degeneration limit in F-theory and large fiber limit in the heterotic theory. Building upon a recent proposal by Clingher-Doran and…