Related papers: Statistics of String vacua
Recently, string theory on Calabi--Yau manifolds was constructed and was shown to be a fully consistent, space--time supersymmetric string theory. The physically interesting case is the case of three generations. Intriguingly, it appears at…
We construct stringy cosmic string solutions corresponding to compactifications of F-theory on several elliptic Calabi-Yau manifolds by solving the equations of motion of low energy effective action of ten dimensional type IIB superstring…
A review of recent work on constructing and finding statistics of string theory vacua, done in collaboration with Frederik Denef, Bogdan Florea, Bernard Shiffman and Steve Zelditch.
We study in detail some aspects of duality between type IIB and M-theory. We focus on the duality between type IIB string theory on K3 x T^2/Z_2 orientifold and M-theory on K3 x K3, in the F-theory limit. We give the explicit map between…
In this work we provide a self-contained and modern introduction to some of the tools, obstacles and open questions arising in string compactifications. Techniques and current progress are illustrated in the context of smooth heterotic…
We examine recent claims of a large set of flux compactification solutions of string theory. We conclude that the arguments for AdS solutions are plausible. The analysis of meta-stable dS solutions inevitably leads to situations where long…
Recent developments in string theory have reinforced the notion that the space of stable supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric string vacua fills out a ``landscape'' whose features are largely unknown. It is then hoped that progress in…
We propose a new mechanism for obtaining de Sitter vacua in type IIB string theory compactified on (orientifolded) Calabi-Yau manifolds similar to those recently studied by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi (KKLT). dS vacuum appears in…
We review the prospect of obtaining tree-level de Sitter (dS) vacua and slow-roll inflation models in string compactifications. Restricting ourselves to the closed string sector and assuming the absence of NSNS-sources, we classify the…
These notes contain a brief introduction to the construction of toric Calabi--Yau hypersurfaces and complete intersections with a focus on issues relevant for string duality calculations. The last two sections can be read independently and…
In order to be in control of the $\alpha'$ derivative expansion, geometric string compactifications are understood in the context of a large volume approximation. In this letter, we consider the reduction of these higher derivative terms,…
We study gauge theories which are associated with classical vacua of perturbative Type II string theory that allows for a conformal field theory description. We show that even if we compactify seven spatial dimensions (allowing for one…
We investigate the construction of non-supersymmetric vacua in compactifications of heterotic string theory with intrinsic torsion and background fluxes. We do this by using the technique of domain-wall supersymmetry breaking (DWSB) that…
The landscape of string vacua is very large, but generally expected to be finite in size. Enumerating the number and properties of the vacua is an important task for both the landscape and the swampland, in part to gain a deeper…
We briefly review three aspects of string cosmology: (1) the ``stochastic'' approach to the pre-big bang scenario, (2) the presence of chaos in the generic cosmological solutions of the tree-level low-energy effective actions coming out of…
We review the construction of non-supersymmetric open string vacua in various dimensions. They can be obtained either projecting the (compactified) non-supersymmetric 0B theory, or applying the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism to open strings.…
The study of curved D-brane geometries in type II strings implies a general relation between local singularities $\cx W$ of Calabi-Yau manifolds and gravity free supersymmetric QFT's. The minimal supersymmetric case is described by F-theory…
In this paper we study string compactifications on Deligne-Mumford stacks. The basic idea is that all such stacks have presentations to which one can associate gauged sigma models, where the group gauged need be neither finite nor…
In Calabi--Yau compactifications of the heterotic string there exist quantities which are universal in the sense that they are present in every Calabi--Yau string vacuum. It is shown that such universal characteristics provide numerical…
We review several topics of interest in the study of 4d N=1 supersymmetric compactifications of the heterotic string. After a brief introduction to the construction of such models, our focus is on the novel physics which occurs at…