Related papers: Classical {\it vs.}\ Landau-Ginzburg Geometry of C…
We consider Newman's representation of the Kerr geometry as a complex retarded-time construction generated by a source propagating along a complex world-line. We notice that the complex world-line forms really an open complex string,…
We review a progress in obtaining the complete non-perturbative effective action of type II string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold. This problem is equivalent to understanding quantum corrections to the metric on the…
We study limits of four-dimensional type II Calabi-Yau compactifications with vanishing four-cycle singularities, which are dual to $\IT^2$ compactifications of the six-dimensional non-critical string with $E_8$ symmetry. We define proper…
Recently, a correspondence has been proposed between spectral theory and topological strings on toric Calabi-Yau manifolds. In this paper we develop in detail this correspondence for mirror curves of higher genus, which display many new…
Yau proved an existence theorem for Ricci-flat K\"ahler metrics in the 1970's, but we still have no closed form expressions for them. Nevertheless there are several ways to get approximate expressions, both numerical and analytical. We…
We study gauged linear sigma models for noncompact Calabi-Yau manifolds described as a line bundle on a hypersurface in a projective space. This gauge theory has a unique phase if the Fayet-Iliopoulos parameter is positive, while there…
Non-simply connected Calabi-Yau threefolds play a central role in the study of string compactifications. Such manifolds are usually described by quotienting a simply connected Calabi-Yau variety by a freely acting discrete symmetry. For the…
It was observed some time ago by Shatashvili and Vafa that superstring compactification on manifolds of exceptional holonomy gives rise to superconformal field theories with extended chiral algebras. In their paper, free field realisations…
We clarify certain important issues relevant for the geometric interpretation of a large class of N = 2 superconformal theories. By fully exploiting the phase structure of these theories (discovered in earlier works) we are able to clearly…
In the framework of heterotic M-theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold 'times' an interval, the relation between geometry and four-flux is derived {\it beyond first order}. Besides the case with general flux which cannot be described…
An overview is given of the construction of a differential polynomial ring of functions on the moduli space of Calabi-Yau threefolds. These rings coincide with the rings of quasi modular forms for geometries with duality groups for which…
We study aspects of Calabi-Yau four-folds as compactification manifolds of F-theory, using mirror symmetry of toric hypersurfaces. Correlation functions of the topological field theory are determined directly in terms of a natural ring…
This review summarizes the recent developments in topological string theory from the author's perspective, mostly focused on aspects of research in which the author is involved. After a brief overview of the theory, we discuss two aspects…
F-theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau fivefolds give rise to two-dimensional N=(0,2) supersymmetric field theories coupled to gravity. We explore the dilaton supergravity defined by the moduli sector of such compactifications. The…
In this work we present a new approach to constructing Calabi-Yau orbifold models required for compactification in superstring theory. We use the connection of CY orbifolds with the class of exactly solvable N=2 SCFT models to explicitly…
We define the notion of mirror of a Calabi-Yau manifold with a stable bundle in the context of type II strings in terms of supersymmetric cycles on the mirror. This allows us to relate the variation of Hodge structure for cohomologies…
We use local mirror symmetry in type IIA string compactifications on Calabi-Yau n+1 folds $X_{n+1}$ to construct vector bundles on (possibly singular) elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau n-folds Z_n. The interpretation of these data as valid…
We consider the procedure that constructs log Calabi-Yau compactifications of weak Landau-Ginzburg models of Fano varieties. We apply it for del Pezzo surfaces and coverings of projective spaces of index one. For the coverings of degree…
The condition of having an $N=1$ spacetime supersymmetry for heterotic string leads to 4 distinct possibilities for compactifications namely compactifications down to 6,4,3 and 2 dimensions. Compactifications to 6 and 4 dimensions have been…
We study the quantum volume of D-branes wrapped around various cycles in Calabi-Yau manifolds, as the manifold's moduli are varied. In particular, we focus on the behaviour of these D-branes near phase transitions between distinct low…