Related papers: Aspects of Collapsing Cycles
We briefly review attempts to construct string theories that yield the standard model, concentrating on models with a geometric interpretation. Calabi-Yau compactifications are discussed in the context of both the weakly coupled heterotic…
In the search for a classification of BPS backgrounds with flux, we look at geometries that arise when M-branes wrap supersymmetric cycles in Calabi-Yau manifolds. We find constraints on the differential forms in the back-reacted manifolds…
Configurations of N probe D0-branes in a Calabi-Yau black hole are studied. A large degeneracy of near-horizon bound states are found which can be described as lowest Landau levels tiling the horizon of the black hole. These states preserve…
We explain microscopically why split attractor flows, known to underlie certain stationary BPS solutions of four dimensional N=2 supergravity, are the relevant data to describe wrapped D-branes in Calabi-Yau compactifications of type II…
We consider non-compact Calabi-Yau threefolds that are fibrations over compact Riemann surfaces, the local curves, and study the dynamics of B-branes wrapped around the curves. We discuss different but closely related possible approaches to…
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…
Over the last few years, string theory has changed profoundly. Most importantly, novel duality relations have emerged which involve gauge theories of brane excitations on one side and various closed string backgrounds on the other. In this…
Topological strings on Calabi--Yau manifolds are known to undergo phase transitions at small distances. We study this issue in the case of perturbative topological strings on local Calabi--Yau threefolds given by a bundle over a two-sphere.…
In this review, we discuss the relevance and impact of studying Calabi-Yau threefolds in the context of global model building in string phenomenology. First, taking a phenomenologist-friendly approach, we review how the topologies of the…
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…
In this thesis we deal with the specific collective phenomena in condensed matter - striped-structures formation. Such structures are observed in different branches of condensed matter physics, like surface physics or physics of…
A fundamental step towards studying string theory vacua, and, ultimately, their stability, is that of understanding the underlying mathematical structure of the QFT resulting from its dimensional reduction on Calabi-Yau (CY) manifolds, the…
We study the structure of string theory flux compactification for a general family of elliptic CY 3-folds. We investigate the locus of the attractor points of the flux compactification in type IIB string theory on the boundary components of…
We consider the quantum treatment of the rolling tachyon background describing the decay of D-branes in the limit of weak string coupling. We focus on the propagation of an open string in the fluctuating background and show how the boundary…
A general family of charge-current carrying cosmic string models is investigated. In the special case of circular configurations in arbitrary axially symmetric gravitational and electromagnetic backgrounds the dynamics is determined by…
We consider superstring compactifications where both the classical description, in terms of a Calabi-Yau manifold, and also the quantum theory is known in terms of a Landau-Ginzburg orbifold model. In particular, we study (smooth)…
A synthetic report of the advances in the study of classical and quantum string dynamics in curved backgrounds is provided, namely: the new feature of multistring solutions; the effect of a cosmological constant and of spacial curvature on…
In type IIB string theory, we consider fractional D3-branes in the orbifold background dual to four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We find the gravitational dual description of the generation of a non-trivial field theory…
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…
Type II string theory and M-theory admit flux configurations that break supersymmetry below the Kaluza-Klein scale. These backgrounds play a central role in most models of the string landscape. I argue that the behavior of such backgrounds…