Related papers: New Higgs Transitions between Dual N=2 String Mode…

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 propose a novel method to distinguish states of matter by identifying spontaneous symmetry breaking on extended objects, such as vortices, even in the absence of a bulk phase transition. As a specific example, we investigate the phase…

We construct heterotic standard models by compactifying on smooth Calabi-Yau three-folds in the presence of purely Abelian internal gauge fields. A systematic search over complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds with less than six Kahler…

By gauging a higher-moment polynomial degree global symmetry and a discrete charge conjugation (i.e., particle-hole) symmetry coupled to matter fields (two symmetries mutually non-commutative), we derive a new class of higher-rank tensor…

This thesis contributes with a number of topics to the subject of string compactifications. In the first half of the work, I discuss the Hodge plot of Calabi-Yau threefolds realised as hypersurfaces in toric varieties. The intricate…

We study the low energy behaviour of N=(2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories in 1+1 dimensions, with orthogonal and symplectic gauge groups and matters in the fundamental representation. We observe supersymmetry breaking in super-Yang-Mills…

We construct a general class of Calabi--Yau threefolds from fiber products of rational elliptic surfaces with section, generalizing a construction of Schoen to include all Kodaira fiber types. The resulting threefolds each have two elliptic…

We derive the coupling of a hypermultiplet of N=2 global supersymmetry to the Dirac-Born-Infeld Maxwell theory with linear N=1 and a second nonlinear supersymmetry. At the level of global supersymmetry, this construction corresponds to the…

We present the construction of exactly solvable superconformal field theories describing Type II string models compactified on compact G_2 manifolds. These models are defined by anti-holomorphic quotients of the form (CY*S^1)/Z_2, where we…

It has long argued that confinement in non-Abelian gauge theories, such as QCD, can be account for by analogy with typed II superconductivity. In this paper, we show that it is possible to arrive at an effective dual Abelian-Higgs model,…

Heterotic strings on $R^6 \times K3$ generically appear to undergo some interesting new phase transition at that value of the string coupling for which the one of the six-dimensional gauge field kinetic energies changes sign. An exception…

We investigate supersymmetry breaking meta-stable vacua in N=2, SU(2)\times U(1) gauge theory with N_f=2 massless flavors perturbed by the addition of small N=1 preserving mass terms in a presence of a Fayet-Iliopoulos term. We derive the…

We continue our study of geometric transitions in type II and heterotic theories. In type IIB theory we discuss an F-theory setup which clarifies many of our earlier assumptions and allows us to study gravity duals of N = 1 gauge theories…

These are lecture notes on non-K\"ahler complex threefolds presented at the MATRIX program ``The geometry of moduli spaces in string theory''. We review some basics of Calabi-Yau geometry in Section 1, describe topological features of the…

We consider M-theory on compact spaces of G_2 holonomy constructed as orbifolds of the form (CY x S^1)/Z_2 with fixed point set \Sigma on the CY. This describes N=1 SU(2) gauge theories with b_1(\Sigma) chiral multiplets in the adjoint. For…

We systematically construct a class of two-dimensional $(2,2)$ supersymmetric gauged linear sigma models with phases in which a continuous subgroup of the gauge group is totally unbroken. We study some of their properties by employing a…

We derive formulas for counting certain classes of vacua in the string/M theory landscape. We do so in the context of the moduli space of M-theory compactifications on singular manifolds with G_2 holonomy. Particularly, we count the numbers…

We obtain the bosonic Lagrangians of vector and hypermultiplets coupled to four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravity in signatures $(0,4)$, $(1,3)$ and (2,2) by compactification of type-II string theories in signatures (0,10), (1,9) and…

We consider a flavour conserving two Higgs doublet model that consists of a type I (or X) quark sector and a generalized lepton sector where the Yukawa couplings of the charged leptons to the new scalars are not proportional to the lepton…

We consider {\bf B}-model large $N$ duality for a new class of noncompact Calabi-Yau spaces modeled on the neighborhood of a ruled surface in a Calabi-Yau threefold. The closed string side of the transition is governed at genus zero by an…