Related papers: An analytic torsion for graded D-branes
We investigate a class of N=4 quiver Chern-Simons theories and their gravity duals. We define the group of fractional D3-brane charges in a type IIB brane setup with taking account of D3-brane creation due to Hanany-Witten effect, and…
The standard evaluation of the partition function $Z$ of Schwarz's topological field theory results in the Ray--Singer analytic torsion. Here we present an alternative evaluation which results in Z=1. Mathematically, this amounts to a novel…
A famous theorem of D. Orlov describes the derived bounded category of coherent sheaves on projective hypersurfaces in terms of an algebraic construction called graded matrix factorizations. In this article, I implement a proposal of E.…
This thesis is devoted to the construction and study of D-branes in some curved space-times in string theory. On the one hand, those D-branes are described geometrically as submanifolds subject to Born-Infeld effective dynamics. On the…
We propose an analytic torsion for the Rumin complex associated with generic rank two distributions on closed 5-manifolds. This torsion behaves as expected with respect to Poincare duality and finite coverings. We establish anomaly…
We study total and partial supersymmetry breaking by freely acting orbifolds, or equivalently by Scherk-Schwarz compactifications, in type I string theory. In particular, we describe a four-dimensional chiral compactification with…
We study the interplay between four-derivative 4d gauged supergravity, holography, wrapped M5-branes, and theories of class $\mathcal{R}$. Using results from Chern-Simons theory on hyperbolic three-manifolds and the 3d-3d correspondence we…
This elementary survey article was prepared for a talk at the 2016 Superschool on Derived Categories and D-branes. The goal is to outline an identification of the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on a Calabi-Yau threefold with…
In type-II string theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau manifolds, topological string theory partition functions give a class of exact F-terms in the four-dimensional effective action. We point out that in the background of constant…
Brane Tilings represent one of the largest classes of superconformal theories with known gravity duals in 3+1 and also 2+1 dimensions. They provide a useful link between a large class of quiver gauge theories and their moduli spaces, which…
We present a general method for the computation of tree-level superpotentials for the world-volume theory of B-type D-branes. This includes quiver gauge theories in the case that the D-brane is marginally stable. The technique involves…
Using mirror symmetry, we show that Chern-Simons theory on certain manifolds such as lens spaces reduces to a novel class of Hermitian matrix models, where the measure is that of unitary matrix models. We show that this agrees with the more…
We study the Type IIA NS five-brane wrapped on a Calabi-Yau manifold X in a double-scaled decoupling limit. We calculate the euclidean partition function in the presence of a flat RR 3-form field. The classical contribution is given by a…
In the presence of a D-brane a string theory develops a new subsector. We show that for curved D-branes the corresponding sector is a (partially twisted) topological field theory. We use this result to compute the degeneracy of 2-branes…
In [L-Y5] (D(6): arXiv:1003.1178 [math.SG]) we introduced the notion of Azumaya $C^{\infty}$-manifolds with a fundamental module and morphisms therefrom to a complex manifold. In the current sequel, we use this notion to give a prototypical…
A generalized Chan-Paton construction is presented which is analogous to the tensor product of vector bundles. To this end open string theories are considered where the space of states decomposes into sectors whose product is described by a…
In a geometrical background, D-brane charge is classified by topological K-theory. The corresponding classification of D-brane charge in an arbitrary, nongeometrical, compactification is still a mystery. We study D-branes on…
Motivated by physical constructions of homological knot invariants, we study their analogs for closed 3-manifolds. We show that fivebrane compactifications provide a universal description of various old and new homological invariants of…
We examine the fluctuations around a Dp-brane solution in an unstable D-brane system using boundary states and also boundary string field theory. We show that the fluctuations correctly reproduce the fields on the Dp-brane. Plugging these…
We give a precise definition and produce a path-integral computation of the normalized partition function of the abelian U(1) Chern-Simons field theory defined in a general closed oriented 3-manifold. We use the Deligne-Beilinson formalism,…