Related papers: Type II Strings and Generalized Calabi-Yau Manifol…
We study certain compactifications of the type I string on K3. The three topologically distinct choices of gauge bundle for the type I theory are shown to be equivalent to type IIB orientifolds with different choices of background…
We study various aspects of orientifold projections of Type IIB closed string theory on Gepner points in different dimensions. The open string sector is introduced, in the usual constructive way, in order to cancel RR charges carried by…
We study quantum effects in five dimensions in heterotic superstring theory compactified on K_3 x S_1 and analyze the conjecture that its dual effective theory is eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold. This…
The compactification of type IIA superstring on n-dimensional Calabi-Yau manifolds is discussed. In particular, a conjecture is given for type IIA extremal p-dimensional black brane attractors corresponding to Ads_{p+2}\times S^{8-2n-p}…
We propose a construction of K\"ahler and non-K\"ahler Calabi-Yau manifolds by branched double covers of twistor spaces. In this construction we use the twistor spaces of four-manifolds with self-dual conformal structures, with the examples…
We propose two kinds of gauged linear sigma models whose moduli spaces are real eight-dimensional hyperKahler and Calabi-Yau manifolds, respectively. Here, hyperKahler manifolds have sp(2) holonomy in general and are dual to Type IIB…
The non-perturbative equivalence of four-dimensional N=2 superstrings with three vector multiplets and four hypermultiplets is analysed. These models are obtained through freely acting orbifold compactifications from the heterotic, the…
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…
Fibrations of flux backgrounds by supersymmetric cycles are investigated. For an internal six-manifold M with static SU(2) structure and mirror \hat{M}, it is argued that the product M x \hat{M} is doubly fibered by supersymmetric…
We study a supersymmetry-preserving solution-generating method in heterotic supergravity. In particular, we use this method to construct one-parameter non-Kahler deformations of Calabi-Yau manifolds with a U(1) isometry, in which the…
We discuss orientifold projections on superspace effective actions for hypermultiplets. We present a simple and new mechanism that allows one to find the Kahler potential and complex structure for the N=1 theory directly in terms of the…
We consider the compactification of type IIB superstring theory on K3 $\times$ K3. We obtain the massless spectrum of the resulting two dimensional theory and show that the model is free of gravitational anomaly. We then consider an…
We discuss two-dimensional sigma models on moduli spaces of instantons on K3 surfaces. These N=(4,4) superconformal field theories describe the near-horizon dynamics of the D1-D5-brane system and are dual to string theory on AdS_3. We…
The first part of this paper is a review of the Strominger-Yau-Zaslow conjecture in various settings. In particular, we summarize how, given a pair (X,D) consisting of a Kahler manifold and an anticanonical divisor, families of special…
We construct an embedding of two commuting copies of the N=2 superconformal vertex algebra in the space of global sections of the twisted chiral-anti-chiral de Rham complex of a generalized Calabi-Yau metric manifold, including the case…
Using the twistor approach to hypermultiplet moduli spaces, we derive the worldsheet, D(-1), and D1-instanton contributions to the generalized mirror map, relating Type IIA and Type IIB string theory compactified on generic mirror…
We construct the M-Theory lifts of type IIA orientifolds based on K3-fibred Calabi-Yau threefolds with compatible involutions. Such orientifolds are shown to lift to M-Theory on twisted connected sum $G_2$ manifolds. Beautifully, the two…
We give geometric explanations and proofs of various mirror symmetry conjectures for $T^{n}$-invariant Calabi-Yau manifolds when instanton corrections are absent. This uses fiberwise Fourier transformation together with base Legendre…
We discuss the vacuum structure of type IIA/B Calabi-Yau string compactifications to four dimensions in the presence of n-form H-fluxes. These will lift the vacuum degeneracy in the Calabi-Yau moduli space, and for generic points in the…
I illustrate the existence of quasi-realistic heterotic-string models in which all the untwisted Kaehler and complex structure moduli, as well as all of the twisted sectors moduli, are projected out by the generalized GSO projections. I…