Related papers: Flow Equations for Uplifting Half-Flat to Spin(7) …
We study the gradient flow of Spin($7$)-structures and construct the first explicit solutions, in the homogeneous setting. As an intermediate step, we obtain formulae expressing the Spin($7$)-torsion tensor and gradient flow in terms of the…
We formulate and study the negative gradient flow of an energy functional of Spin(7)-structures on compact $8$-manifolds. The energy functional is the $L^2$-norm of the torsion of the Spin(7)-structure. Our main result is the short-time…
A 3-Sasakian structure on a 7-manifold may be used to define two distinct Einstein metrics: the 3-Sasakian metric and the squashed Einstein metric. Both metrics are induced by nearly parallel $G_2$-structures which may also be expressed in…
We introduce and study a new general flow of $\mathrm{G}_2$-structures which we call the Ricci-harmonic flow of $\mathrm{G}_2$-structures. The flow is the coupling of the Ricci flow of underlying metrics and the isometric flow of…
We construct new explicit metrics on complete non-compact Riemannian 8-manifolds with holonomy Spin(7). One manifold, which we denote by A_8, is topologically R^8 and another, which we denote by B_8, is the bundle of chiral spinors over…
M-theory on compact eight-manifolds with $\mathrm{Spin}(7)$-holonomy is a framework for geometric engineering of 3d $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauge theories coupled to gravity. We propose a new construction of such $\mathrm{Spin}(7)$-manifolds, based…
The exceptional holonomy groups are G2 in 7 dimensions, and Spin(7) in 8 dimensions. Riemannian manifolds with these holonomy groups are Ricci-flat. This is a survey paper on exceptional holonomy, in two parts. Part I introduces the…
We propose a novel approach to obtain non-supersymmetric four-dimensional effective actions by considering F-theory on manifolds with special holonomy Spin(7). To perform such studies we suggest that a duality relating M-theory on a certain…
We study the relation between supersymmetry and geometric flows driven by the Bianchi identity for the three-form flux $H$ in heterotic supergravity. We describe how the flow equations can be derived from a functional that appears in a…
We consider holographic RG flow solutions with eight supersymmetries and study the geometry transverse to the brane. For both M2-branes and for D3-branes in F-theory this leads to an eight-manifold with only a four-form flux. In both…
We conjecture a topology changing transition in M-theory on a non-compact asymptotically conical Spin(7) manifold, where a 5-sphere collapses and a CP(2) bolt grows. We argue that the transition may be understood as the condensation of…
We establish a general analytic and geometric framework for resolving Spin(7)--orbifolds. These spaces arise naturally as boundary points in the moduli space of exceptional holonomy metrics, and smooth Gromov--Hausdorff resolutions can be…
We give a new example of a compact manifold with holonomy Spin(7) from a Beauville's Calabi-Yau fourfold. Its construction is very concrete, starting with products of elliptic curves with complex multiplications --- so probably more…
Nearly $G_2$-structures define positive Einstein metrics in $7$ dimensions and are critical points, up to scale, for a geometric flow of co-closed $G_2$-structures with good analytic properties called the modified $G_2$-Laplacian co-flow.…
In this paper most of the classes of G2-structures with Einstein induced metric of negative, null or positive scalar curvature are realized. This is carried out by means of warped G2-structures with fiber an Einstein SU(3) manifold. The…
We construct BPS domain wall solutions of the effective action of type-IIA string theory compactified on a half-flat six-manifold. The flow equations for the vector and hypermultiplet scalars are shown to be equivalent to Hitchin's flow…
Let $\frak T_2$ (resp. $\mathfrak{T}$) be the Hermitian symmetric domain of $Spin(2,10)$ (resp. $E_{7,3}$). In the previous work, we constructed holomorphic cusp forms on $\mathfrak{T}$ from elliptic cusp forms with respect to…
The realizations of the exceptional non-linear (quadratically generated, or W-type) N=8 and N=7 superconformal algebras with Spin(7) and G_2 affine symmetry currents are reviewed. Both the N=8 and N=7 algebras admit unitary realizations in…
The exceptional holonomy groups are G2 in 7 dimensions, and Spin(7) in 8 dimensions. Riemannian manifolds with these holonomy groups are Ricci-flat. This is a survey paper on constructions for compact 7- and 8-manifolds with holonomy G2 and…
This article studies the geometry of moduli spaces of G2-manifolds, associative cycles, coassociative cycles and deformed Donaldson-Thomas bundles. We introduce natural symmetric cubic tensors and differential forms on these moduli spaces.…