Related papers: M-Theory on Eight-Manifolds
We study the properties of M and F theory compactifications to three and four dimensions with background fluxes. We provide a simple construction of supersymmetric vacua, including some with orientifold descriptions. These vacua, which have…
The proposal that a strong coupling limit of the five-dimensional type II string theory (M-theory compactified on a 6-torus) in which the Planck length becomes infinite could give a six-dimensional superconformal phase of M-theory is…
A compactification over $\overline{M}_g$ of $M_{g,n}$ is obtained by considering the relative Fulton-MacPherson configuration space of the universal curve. The resulting compactification differs from the Deligne-Mumford space…
Using a reconstruction theorem, we prove that the supersymmetry conditions for a certain class of flux backgrounds are equivalent with a tractable subsystem of relations on differential forms which encodes the full set of contraints arising…
In this paper we derive part of the low energy action corresponding to F-theory compactifications on specific eight manifolds with SU(3) structure. The setup we use can actually be reduced to compactification of six-dimensional supergravity…
The nature of M-theory on K3 X I, where I is a line interval, is considered, with a view towards formulating a `matrix theory' representation of that situation. Various limits of this compactification of M-theory yield a number of well…
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 describe special supersymmetric gauge theories in three, five, seven and nine dimensions, whose compactification on two-, four-, six- and eight-folds produces a supersymmetric quantum mechanics on moduli spaces of holomorphic bundles…
We introduce a notion of topological M-theory and argue that it provides a unification of form theories of gravity in various dimensions. Its classical solutions involve G_2 holonomy metrics on 7-manifolds, obtained from a topological…
The construction of effective field theories describing M-theory compactified on $S^1/{\bf Z}_2$ is revisited, and new insights into the parameters of the theory are explained. Particularly, the web of constraints which follow from…
We study the constraints of spacetime supersymmetry for perturbative three- and two-dimensional Minkowski vacua of the critical heterotic string. Assuming a standard RNS construction of the spacetime supersymmetry generators and a compact…
We consider spaces of "virtual" constrained generalized Killing spinors, i.e. spaces of Majorana spinors which correspond to "off-shell" $s$-extended supersymmetry in compactifications of eleven-dimensional supergravity based on…
Let the warped product $M^n=L^m\times_\varphi F^{n-m}$, $n\geq m+3\geq 8$, of Riemannian manifolds be an Einstein manifold with Ricci curvature $\rho$ that admits an isometric immersion into Euclidean space with codimension two. Under the…
Superstring/M-theory compactified on compact Ricci flat manifolds have recently been conjectured to exhibit instabilities whenever the metrics do not have special holonomy. We use worldsheet conformal field theory to investigate…
We consider compactifications of type IIA superstring theory on mirror-folds obtained as K3 fibrations over two-tori with non-geometric monodromies involving mirror symmetries. At special points in the moduli space these are asymmetric…
Considering matter coupled supersymmetric Chern-Simons theories in three dimensions we extend the Gaiotto-Witten mechanism of supersymmetry enhancement $\mathcal{N}_3=3\to \mathcal{N}_3=4$ from the case where the hypermultiplets span a flat…
In the context of supersymmetric compactifications of type II supergravity to four dimensions, we show that orientifold sources can be compatible with a generalized SU(3) x SU(3)-structure that is neither strictly SU(3) nor static SU(2). We…
Spacetimes obtained by dimensional reduction along lattices containing a lightlike direction can admit semigroup extensions of their isometry groups. We show by concrete examples that such a semigroup can exhibit a natural order, which in…
We recently proposed a class of type IIB vacua that yield, at low energies, four--dimensional Minkowski spaces with broken supersymmetry and a constant string coupling. They are compactifications with an internal five-torus bearing a…
We show that exponentially large warp factor hierarchies can be dynamically generated in supersymmetric compactifications. The compactification we consider is the supersymmetric extension of the Randall-Sundrum model. The crucial issue is…