Related papers: A Physicist's Visit to Exotic Spheres

In recent years, it has been widely argued that the duality transformations of string and M-theory naturally imply the existence of so-called `exotic branes'---low codimension objects with highly non-perturbative tensions, scaling as…

We develop a systematic approach to G_2 holonomy manifolds with an SU(2)xSU(2) isometry using maximal eight-dimensional gauged supergravity to describe D6-branes wrapped on deformed three-spheres. A quite general metric ansatz that…

The algebra of exterior differential forms on a regular 3-Sasakian 7-manifold is investigated, with special reference to nearly-parallel $G_2$ 3-forms. This is applied to the study of 3-forms invariant under cohomogeneity-one actions by…

We prove that the group of isometries preserving a metric foliation on a closed Alexandrov space $X$ is a closed subgroup of the isometry group of $X$. We obtain a sharp upper bound for the dimension of this subgroup and show that, when…

Since the first work on exotic smoothness in physics, it was folklore to assume a direct influence of exotic smoothness to quantum gravity. Thus, the negative result of Duston (arXiv:0911.4068) was a surprise. A closer look into the…

We study discrete symmetries of Dijkgraaf-Witten theories and their gauging in the framework of (extended) functorial quantum field theory. Non-abelian group cohomology is used to describe discrete symmetries and we derive concrete…

We study a particular N = 1 confining gauge theory with fundamental flavors realised as seven branes in the background of wrapped five branes on a rigid two-cycle of a non-trivial global geometry. In parts of the moduli space, the five…

In this thesis I present my research on the exotic configurations of antiferromagnetic systems characterised by a topological invariant. The research presented outlines the construction of novel local antiferromagnetic degrees of freedom…

Stochastic flows of Stratonovich stochastic differential equations on exotic spheres have been studied. The consequences of the choice of exotic differential structure on stochastic processes taking place on the topological space…

We construct a metrical framed structure on the tensor bundle of a Riemannian manifold equipped with a Cheeger-Gromoll type metric and by restricting this structure to the tensor sphere bundle, we obtain an almost metrical paracontact…

The survey is devoted to Toponogov's conjecture, that {\it if a complete simply connected Riemannian manifold with sectional curvature $\le 4$ and injectivity radius $\ge \pi/2$ has extremal diameter $\pi/2$, then it is isometric to CROSS}.…

We take advantage of the principal bundle geometry of the space of connections to obtain general results on the presymplectic structure of two classes of (pure) gauge theories: invariant theories, and non-invariant theories satisfying two…

In this paper we give a construction of Fedosov quantization incorporating the odd variables and an analogous formula to Getzler's pseudodifferential calculus composition formula is obtained. A Fedosov type connection is constructed on the…

Three-dimensional Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theory has the peculiar property that its one-form symmetry defects have non-trivial braiding, namely they are charged under the same symmetry they generate, which is then anomalous. This poses a…

We establish a general analytic and geometric framework for resolving Spin(7)--orbifolds. These spaces arise naturally as boundary points in the moduli space of exceptional holonomy metrics, and smooth Gromov--Hausdorff resolutions can be…

We formalize the ``metric bundle'' viewpoint by defining, for any smooth $n$--manifold $M$, the open fiberwise cones $\mathcal{G}^{p,q}\subset S^2\Tstar M$ of nondegenerate symmetric bilinear forms with fixed signature $(p,q)$, and we…

This article studies the geometry of moduli spaces of G2-manifolds, associative cycles, coassociative cycles and deformed Donaldson-Thomas bundles. We introduce natural symmetric cubic tensors and differential forms on these moduli spaces.…

These notes aim at a pedagogical introduction to recent work on deformation of spaces and deformation of vector bundles over them, which are relevant both in mathematics and in physics, notably monopole and instanton bundles. We first…

We solve an open problem in spectral geometry: the construction of finite-dimensional, discrete geometries coordinatized by non-simple, exceptional Jordan algebras. The approach taken is readily generalisable to broad classes of…

We investigate the geometry of a normal bundle equipped with a $(p,q)$-metric, i.e., Riemannian metric of Cheeger-Gromoll type, to the submanifold of a Riemannian manifold. We derive all natural object as the Levi-Civita connection,…