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Heterotic string models in $4$-dimensions are the hybrid theories of a left-moving $N=1$ fermionic string whose additional $6$-dimensions are compactified on a $N=2$ SCFT theory with the central charge $9$, and a right-moving bosonic…
We construct a fully interacting holomorphic/topological theory in eleven dimensions that is defined on products of Calabi-Yau fivefolds with real one-manifolds. The theory describes a particular deformation of the cotangent bundle to the…
If X is a smooth projective complex threefold, the Hodge conjecture holds for degree 4 rational Hodge classes on X. Kollar gave examples where it does not hold for integral Hodge classes of degree 4, that is integral Hodge classes need not…
Identifying flux vacua in string theory with stabilized complex structure moduli presents a significant challenge, necessitating the minimization of a scalar potential complicated by infinitely many exponential corrections. In order to…
We derive an approximate analytic relation between the number of consistent heterotic Calabi-Yau compactifications of string theory with the exact charged matter content of the standard model of particle physics and the topological data of…
We discuss the structure of heterotic/type II duality in four dimensions as a consequence of string-string duality in six dimensions. We emphasize the new features in four dimensions which go beyond the six dimensional vacuum structure and…
The study of the geometry of Calabi-Yau fourfolds is relevant for compactifications of string theory, M-theory, and F-theory to various dimensions. In the first part of this thesis, we study the action of mirror symmetry on two-dimensional…
We review the Kaluza-Klein reduction of Type IIA string theory on Calabi-Yau fourfolds and apply mirror symmetry to the resulting two-dimensional $ \mathcal{N}=(2,2) $ effective theories. In the course of the reduction we focus especially…
We construct polarized Calabi--Yau 3-folds with at worst isolated canonical orbifold points in codimension 4 that can be described in terms of the equations of the Segre embedding of $\mathbb P^2 \times \mathbb P^2$ in $\mathbb P^8$. We…
Calabi-Yau threefolds with h^11(X)=h^21(X)=1 are constructed as free quotients of a hypersurface in the ambient toric variety defined by the 24-cell. Their fundamental groups are SL(2,3), a semidirect product of Z_3 and Z_8, and Z_3 x Q_8.
We study Calabi-Yau manifolds constructed as double covers of ${\mathbb P}^3$ branched along an octic surface. We give a list of 85 examples corresponding to arrangements of eight planes defined over ${\mathbb Q}$. The Hodge numbers are…
String theory is the prime candidate for the theory of everything. However, it must be defined in ten dimensions to be consistent. To get 4D physics, the 6 other dimensions should be curled up in a small compact manifold, this procedure is…
We prove the Mirror Conjecture for Calabi-Yau manifolds equipped with a holomorphic symplectic form. Such manifolda are also known as complex manifolds of hyperkaehler type. We obtain that a complex manifold of hyperkaehler type is Mirror…
These notes consist of a study of special Lagrangian submanifolds of Calabi-Yau manifolds and their moduli spaces. The particular case of three dimensions, important in string theory, allows us to introduce the notion of gerbes. These offer…
We develop tools that allow the systematic enumeration of inequivalent holomorphic orientifolds of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in toric fourfolds of arbitrary Hodge numbers. As examples, we construct an orientifold of the Calabi-Yau…
We compute the number of rational quartics on a general Calabi-Yau hypersurface in weighted projective space P(2,1^4). The result agrees with the prediction made by mirror symmetry.
Flux compactification of IIB string theory associates special points in Calabi-Yau moduli space to choices of (pairs of) integral three-form fluxes. In this paper, we propose that supersymmetric flux vacua are modular. That is, to a…
This thesis is concerned with heterotic E8 x E8 string models that can produce quasirealistic N = 1 supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model in the low-energy limit. We start rather generally by deriving the four-dimensional spectrum…
A large class of new 4-D superstring vacua with non-trivial/singular geometries, spacetime supersymmetry and other background fields (axion, dilaton) are found. Killing symmetries are generic and are associated with non-trivial dilaton and…
We argue that compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds with vanishing Euler number yield effective four dimensional theories exhibiting (spontaneously broken) N=4 supersymmetry. To this end, we derive the low-energy effective action for…