Related papers: Fixing All Moduli in a Simple F-Theory Compactific…
We find a general model of {\em single-field} inflation within the context of type IIB string theory compactified on large volume Calabi-Yau orientifolds with $h^{2,1} > h^{1,1} = 2$. The inflaton is the axion part of the complexified…
We provide a consistent reduction to five dimensions of the system of D3-branes at Calabi-Yau singularities coupled to D7-branes with world-volume gauge flux. The D3-branes source the dual to would-be conformal quiver theories. The…
We construct a model of inflation in string theory after carefully taking into account moduli stabilization. The setting is a warped compactification of Type IIB string theory in the presence of D3 and anti-D3-branes. The inflaton is the…
We study the backreaction effect of a large axion field excursion on the saxion partner residing in the same $\mathcal{N}=1$ multiplet. Such configurations are relevant in attempts to realize axion monodromy inflation in string…
Non-vanishing fluxes in M-theory and string theory compactifications induce a superpotential in the lower dimensional theory. Gukov has conjectured the explicit form of this superpotential. We check this conjecture for the heterotic string…
We study electric-magnetic duality in compactifications of M-theory on twisted connected sum (TCS) $G_2$ manifolds via duality with F-theory. Specifically, we study the physics of the D3-branes in F-theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau…
We revisit the issue of M5-brane instanton corrections to the superpotential in F-theory compactifications on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds. Elaborating on concrete geometries, we compare the instanton zero modes for…
We discuss the effect of the dynamics of D-branes on moduli stabilization in type IIB string theory compactifications, with reference to a concrete toy model of T6/Z3 orientifold compactification with fractional D3-branes and anti-D3-branes…
We discuss some aspects of F-theory in four dimensions on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds which are Calabi-Yau threefold fibrations. A particularly simple class of such manifolds emerges for fourfolds in which the generic…
In this thesis, we explore two approaches to string phenomenology. In the first half of the work, we investigate M-theory compactifications on spaces with co-dimension four, orbifold singularities. We construct M-theory on C^2/Z_N by…
We study novel type IIB compactifications on the T^6/Z_2 orientifold. This geometry arises in the T-dual description of Type I theory on T^6, and one normally introduces 16 space-filling D3-branes to cancel the RR tadpoles. Here, we cancel…
M-theory on K3xK3 with non-supersymmetry-breaking G-flux is dual to M-theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold times a 2-torus without flux. This allows for a thorough analysis of the effects of flux without relying on supergravity approximations.…
We develop a perturbative expansion scheme for solving general boundary value problems in a broad class of type IIB flux compactifications. The background solution is any conformally Calabi-Yau compactification with imaginary self-dual…
We initiate the systematic study of flux scalar potentials and their vacua by using asymptotic Hodge theory. To begin with, we consider F-theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau fourfolds with four-form flux. We argue that a classifications…
We study the restrictions imposed by cancellation of the tadpoles for two, three, and four-form gauge fields in string theory, M-theory and F-theory compactified to two, three and four dimensions, respectively. For a large class of…
We study warped compactifications to three dimensions, realized as an orientifold of type IIA string theory on T^7. By turning on 3- and 4-form fluxes on the torus in a supersymmetric way, we generate a potential for the moduli fields. We…
We study D-branes on smooth noncompact toric Calabi-Yau manifolds that are resolutions of abelian orbifold singularities. Such a space has a distinguished basis {S_i} for the compactly supported K-theory. Using local mirror symmetry we…
Recent work on four dimensional effective descriptions of the heterotic string has identified the moduli of such systems as being given by kernels of maps between ordinary Dolbeault cohomology groups. The maps involved are defined by the…
Stabilization of closed string moduli in toroidal orientifold compactifications of type IIB string theory are studied using constant internal magnetic fields on D-branes and 3-form fluxes that preserve N=1 supersymmetry in four dimensions.…
Under heterotic/F-theory duality it was argued that a wide class of heterotic five-branes is mapped into the geometry of an F-theory compactification manifold. In four-dimensional compactifications this identifies a five-brane wrapped on a…