Related papers: Topological partition function and string-string d…
Important illustration to the principle ``partition functions in string theory are $\tau$-functions of integrable equations'' is the fact that the (dual) partition functions of $4d$ $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories solve Painlev\'e equations.…
This review talk focusses on some of the interesting developments in the area of superstring compactification that have occurred in the last couple of years. These include the discovery that ``mirror symmetric" pairs of Calabi--Yau spaces,…
This is a very brief survey of some results in the geometry of string duality delivered at a lecture given at ICM 1998, Berlin. String Duality is the statement that one kind of string theory compactified on one space is equivalent in some…
We offer a derivation of the duality between the topological U(1) gauge theory on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold and the topological A-model on the same manifold. This duality was conjectured recently by Iqbal, Nekrasov, Okounkov, and Vafa. We deduce…
We review the relation between Chern-Simons gauge theory and topological string theory on noncompact Calabi-Yau spaces. This relation has made possible to give an exact solution of topological string theory on these spaces to all orders in…
Computation of the holomorphic $F_1$-function describing one-loop gravitational couplings of vectormultiplets is shown to confirm string-string duality of the proposed dual pair consisting of the heterotic string on $K3\times T^2$ with…
We give an introductory review of topological strings and their application to various aspects of superstrings and supersymmetric gauge theories. This review includes developing the necessary mathematical background for topological strings,…
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…
We search for $N=2$, $d=4$ theories which can be realized both as heterotic string compactifications on $K_{3}\times T^{2}$ and as type II string compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds. In such cases, the exact non-perturbative…
We study geometric transitions for topological strings on compact Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in toric varieties. Large N duality predicts an equivalence between topological open and closed string theories connected by an extremal transition.…
We study the topological string partition function of a class of toric, double elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds $X_{N,M}$ at a generic point in the K\"ahler moduli space. These manifolds engineer little string theories in five…
We show that the non-critical $c=1$ string at the self-dual radius is equivalent to topological strings based on the deformation of the conifold singularity of Calabi-Yau threefolds. The Penner sum giving the genus expansion of the free…
In the paper ``Chirality change in string theory'', by Douglas and Zhou, the authors give a list of bundles on a quintic Calabi-Yau threefold. Here we prove the semistability of most of these bundles. This provides examples of string theory…
In this paper we show that the polynomial structure of the topological string partition function found by Yamaguchi and Yau for the quintic holds for an arbitrary Calabi-Yau manifold with any number of moduli. Furthermore, we generalize…
We propose a new duality involving topological strings in the limit of large string coupling constant. The dual is described in terms of a classical statistical mechanical model of crystal melting, where the temperature is inverse of the…
In this article we review four-dimensional string vacua with N=2 space-time supersymmetry. In particular, we will discuss several aspects of the string-string duality between the heterotic string, compactified on $K3\times T^2$, and the…
It is well known that string theory has a T-duality symmetry relating circle compactifications of large and small radius. This symmetry plays a foundational role in string theory. We note here that while T-duality is order two acting on the…
We show that, in local Calabi-Yau manifolds, the topological open string partition function transforms as a wavefunction under modular transformations. Our derivation is based on the topological recursion for matrix models, and it…
We formulate a twisted version of the conjectured duality between heterotic and type I string theories. Our formulation relates the chiral part of the heterotic string with a type I topological B-model on a Calabi-Yau five-fold. We provide…
We sharpen the duality between open and closed topological string partition functions for topological gravity coupled to matter. The closed string partition function is a generalised Kontsevich matrix model in the large dimension limit. We…