Related papers: New Higgs Transitions between Dual N=2 String Mode…
We present a 6D orbifold model on $T^2/\Z2$ which emerges as intermediate step in the compactification of the heterotic string to the supersymmetric standard model in four dimensions. It has $\SU6$ gauge symmetry in the bulk and two pairs…
We argue for finiteness of flux vacua around type IIB CY singularities by computing their gauge theory duals. This leads us to propose a geometric transition where the compact 3-cycles support both RR and NS flux, while the open string side…
Recent work on four dimensional effective descriptions of the heterotic string has identified the moduli of such systems as being given by kernels of maps between ordinary Dolbeault cohomology groups. The maps involved are defined by the…
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…
A type IIA string (or F-theory) compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold is believed to be dual to a heterotic string on a K3 surface times a 2-torus (or on a K3 surface). We consider how the resulting moduli space of hypermultiplets is…
The Higgs branch of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with non-Abelian gauge groups are described by hyper-Kahler (HK) nonlinear sigma models with potential terms. With the non-Abelian HK quotient by U(M) and SU(M) gauge groups, we give the…
We construct the dual supergravity description of strongly coupled, large $N$, eight-supercharge gauge theories with fundamental hypermultiplets at points on the mixed Coulomb-Higgs branch. With certain assumptions about unknown couplings…
In this work, we provide evidence for a duality between 4-dimensional Calabi-Yau compactifications of the heterotic string, in which the base manifolds are linked by a conifold transition. In recent work, a geometric proposal was put…
We review recent work concerning topology changing phase transitions through black hole condensation in Type II string theory. We then also briefly describe a present study aimed at extending the known web of interconnections between…
We study the dynamics of a first-order phase transition in a strongly coupled gauge theory at non-zero temperature and chemical potential, computing nucleation rates and wall speeds from first principles. The gauge theory is the…
The $7$-dimensional link $K$ of a weighted homogeneous hypersurface on the round $9$-sphere in $\mathbb{C}^5$ has a nontrivial null Sasakian structure which is contact Calabi-Yau, in many cases. It admits a canonical co-closed $\rm…
We construct and study a two parameter gauged linear sigma model with gauge group $(U(1)^2\times O(2))/{\mathbb Z}_2$ that has a dual model with gauge group $(U(1)^2\times SO(4))/{\mathbb Z}_2$. The model has two geometric phases, three…
The string coupling of N=2 supersymmetric compactifications of type II string theory on a Calabi-Yau manifold belongs to the so-called universal dilaton hypermultiplet, that has four real scalars living on a quaternion-Kaehler manifold.…
We study two-dimensional N=(4,4) supersymmetric gauge theories which do not have classical Higgs branches, but are believed to have isolated quantum Higgs vacua. We provide arguments for the existence of such vacua based on brane dynamics…
We describe an $N=2$ heterotic superstring model of rank-3 which is dual to the type-II string compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold with Betti numbers $b_{1,1}=2$ and $b_{1,2}=86$. We show that the exact duality symmetry found from the…
In this paper we discuss compactifications of type II superstrings where the moduli of the internal Calabi-Yau space vary over four-dimensional space time. The corresponding solutions of four-dimensional N=2 supergravity are given by…
We construct intersecting D-brane configurations that encode the gauge groups and field content of dual N=4 supersymmetric gauge theories in three dimensions. The duality which exchanges the Coulomb and Higgs branches and the…
We summarize an explicit construction of a duality cycle for geometric transitions in type II and heterotic theories. We emphasize that the manifolds with torsion constructed with this duality cycle are crucial for understanding different…
We observe a new puzzling physical phenomenon in F-theory on the multisection geometry, wherein a model without a gauge group transitions to another model with a discrete $\mathbb{Z}_n$ gauge group via Higgsing. This phenomenon may suggest…
This is a short version of hep-th/0406137. We show that the supersymmetry transformations for type II string theories on six-manifolds can be written as differential conditions on a pair of pure spinors, the exponentiated Kahler form e^{iJ}…