Related papers: Towards a classification of topological defects in…
We consider the topological defect lines commuting with the spectral flow and the $\mathcal{N}=(4,4)$ superconformal symmetry in two dimensional non-linear sigma models on K3. By studying their fusion with boundary states, we derive a…
It is shown that the supersymmetry-preserving automorphisms of any non-linear sigma-model on K3 generate a subgroup of the Conway group Co_1. This is the stringy generalisation of the classical theorem, due to Mukai and Kondo, showing that…
We initiate the study of supersymmetry-preserving topological defect lines (TDLs) in the Conway moonshine module $V^{f \natural}$. We show that the tensor category of such defects, under suitable assumptions, admits a surjective but…
We use the unique canonically-twisted module over a certain distinguished super vertex operator algebra---the moonshine module for Conway's group---to attach a weak Jacobi form of weight zero and index one to any symplectic derived…
For $\mathbb Z_3$-orbifold limits of K3, we provide a counterpart to the extensive studies by Nikulin and others of the geometry and symmetries of classical Kummer surfaces. In particular, we determine the group of holomorphic symplectic…
We consider symmetries of K3 manifolds. Holomorphic symplectic automorphisms of K3 surfaces have been classified, and observed to be subgroups of the Mathieu group $M_{23}$. More recently, automorphisms of K3 sigma models commuting with…
Motivated by an analogous result for K3 models, we classify all groups of symmetries of non-linear sigma models on a torus T^4 that preserve the N=(4,4) superconformal algebra. The resulting symmetry groups are isomorphic to certain…
In this note, we describe a connection between the enumerative geometry of curves in K3 surfaces and the chiral ring of an auxiliary superconformal field theory. We consider the invariants calculated by Yau--Zaslow (capturing the Euler…
We consider two dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(4,4)$ superconformal field theories in the moduli space of symmetric orbifolds of K3. We complete a classification of the discrete groups of symmetries of these models, conditional to a series of…
We give a complete classification of finite subgroups of automorphisms of K3 surfaces up to deformation. The classification is in terms of Hodge theoretic data associated to certain conjugacy classes of finite subgroups of the orthogonal…
We investigate both geometric and conformal field theoretic aspects of mirror symmetry on N=(4,4) superconformal field theories with central charge c=6. Our approach enables us to determine the action of mirror symmetry on (non-stable)…
Recent developments in the study of the moonshine phenomenon, including umbral and Conway moonshine, suggest that it may play an important role in encoding the action of finite symmetry groups on the BPS spectrum of K3 string theory. To…
Prompted by the Mathieu Moonshine observation, we identify a pair of 45-dimensional vector spaces of states that account for the first order term in the massive sector of the elliptic genus of K3 in every Z2-orbifold CFT on K3. These…
A close relationship between K3 surfaces and the Mathieu groups has been established in the last century. Furthermore, it has been observed recently that the elliptic genus of K3 has a natural interpretation in terms of the dimensions of…
The current status of `Mathieu Moonshine', the idea that the Mathieu group M24 organises the elliptic genus of K3, is reviewed. While there is a consistent decomposition of all Fourier coefficients of the elliptic genus in terms of Mathieu…
Recently, 23 cases of umbral moonshine, relating mock modular forms and finite groups, have been discovered in the context of the 23 even unimodular Niemeier lattices. One of the 23 cases in fact coincides with the so-called Mathieu…
In view of a potential interpretation of the role of the Mathieu group M_24 in the context of strings compactified on K3 surfaces, we develop techniques to combine groups of symmetries from different K3 surfaces to larger 'overarching'…
We study $\mathrm{AdS}_3\times S^3/\mathbb{Z}_k\times {\tilde S}^3/\mathbb{Z}_{k'}$ solutions to M-theory preserving $\mathcal{N}=(0,4)$ supersymmetries, arising as near-horizon limits of M2-M5 brane intersections ending on M5'-branes, with…
We continue the study, initiated in [hep-th:2504.18619], of topological defect lines (TDLs) in the Conway module $V^{f \natural}$ and K3 non-linear sigma models (NLSMs). In the case of $V^{f \natural}$, we fully classify the potential $N=1$…
To pave the way for the journey from geometry to conformal field theory (CFT), these notes present the background for some basic CFT constructions from Calabi-Yau geometry. Topics include the complex and Kaehler geometry of Calabi-Yau…