Related papers: Fivebranes, Membranes and Non-Perturbative String …
Tests of duality between heterotic strings on $K3\times T^2$ (restricted on certain Narain moduli subspaces) and type IIA strings on K3-fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds are attempted in the weak coupling regime on the heterotic side by…
Compactifications of type II theories on Calabi-Yau threefolds including electric and magnetic background fluxes are discussed. We derive the bosonic part of the four-dimensional low energy effective action and show that it is a…
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…
It is argued that every Calabi-Yau manifold $X$ with a mirror $Y$ admits a family of supersymmetric toroidal 3-cycles. Moreover the moduli space of such cycles together with their flat connections is precisely the space $Y$. The mirror…
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…
We show how enhanced gauge symmetry in type II string theory compactified on a Calabi--Yau threefold arises from singularities in the geometry of the target space. When the target space of the type IIA string acquires a genus $g$ curve $C$…
Motivated by the M-theory compactification physics, we study a type IIA superstring quiver model with an open string axion field associated with the U(1)_{PQ} Peccei-Quinn global symmetry using D6-brane physics. This realization extends the…
We construct compactifications of type IIB string theory that yield, at leading order in the $\alpha^\prime$ and $g_s$ expansions, de Sitter vacua of the form envisioned by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde, and Trivedi. We specify explicit Calabi-Yau…
Moduli stabilisation in superstring compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds remains a key challenge in the search for realistic string vacua. In particular, odd moduli arising from the reduction of 2-forms $(B_2,C_2)$ in type IIB are…
The effective action of N=2 supersymmetric 5-dimensional supergravity arising from compactifications of M-theory on Calabi-Yau threefolds receives non-perturbative corrections from wrapped Euclidean membranes and fivebranes. These…
We review and extend the progress made over the past few years in understanding the structure of toric quiver gauge theories; those which are induced on the world-volume of a stack of D3-branes placed at the tip of a toric Calabi-Yau cone,…
The effective four-dimensional supergravity of M-theory compactified on the orbifold S^1/Z_2 and a Calabi-Yau threefold includes in general moduli supermultiplets describing massless modes of five-branes. For each brane, one of these fields…
We argue that compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds with vanishing Euler number yield effective four dimensional theories exhibiting (spontaneously broken) N=4 supersymmetry. To this end, we derive the low-energy effective action for…
We study N=2 four-dimensional flux vacua describing intrinsic non-perturbative systems of 3 and 7 branes in type IIB string theory. The solutions are described as compactifications of a G(ravity) theory on a Calabi Yau threefold which…
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 review the applications of mirror symmetry to the study of the moduli spaces of two-dimensional conformal field theories with $N{=}(2,2)$ supersymmetry, particularly those constructed from Calabi--Yau manifolds. (Lecture delivered at the…
In this paper we investigate the properties of series of vacua in the string theory landscape. In particular, we study minima to the flux potential in type IIB compactifications on the mirror quintic. Using geometric transitions, we embed…
We review some recent developments in the study of M-theory compactifications via Matrix theory. In particular we highlight the appearance of IIA strings and their interactions, and explain the unifying role of the M-theory five-brane for…
We revisit type II$_0$ limits in the vector multiplet moduli space of compactifications of Type IIB string theory on Calabi-Yau threefolds. These limits are special because they cannot be described using mirror symmetry. While we showed in…
Motivated by a class of flux compactifications of type IIA strings on rigid Calabi-Yau manifolds, preserving N=2 local supersymmetry in four dimensions, we derive a non-perturbative potential of all scalar fields from the exact D-instanton…