Related papers: Small Instantons, del Pezzo Surfaces and Type I' t…
In this paper, we study the fattening effect of points over the complex numbers for del Pezzo surfaces $\mathbb{S}_r$ arising by blowing-up of $\mathbb{P}^2$ at $r$ general points, with $ r \in \{1, \dots, 8 \}$. Basic questions when…
Instantons are tunneling solutions that connect two vacua, and under a small change in the potential, instantons sometimes disappear. We classify these disappearances as smooth (decay rate goes to 0 at disappearance) or abrupt (decay rate…
We consider heterotic string theories compactified on a K3 surface which lead to an unbroken perturbative gauge group of Spin(32)/Z2. All solutions obtained are combinations of two types of point-like instanton --- one ``simple type'' as…
We study instanton effects in theories with compact extra dimensions. We perform an instanton calculation in a 5d theory on a circle of radius R, with gauge, scalar, and fermion fields in the bulk of the extra dimension. We show that,…
This is the first article in a series aimed at classifying normal del Pezzo surfaces of Picard rank one over algebraically closed fields of arbitrary characteristic up to an isomorphism. Our guiding invariant is the height of a del Pezzo…
The circle compactification of the 6-dim (2,0) superconformal theory of $A_{N-1}$ type leads the 5-dim SU(N) maximally supersymmetric gauge theory. Instanton solitons embody Kaluza-Klein modes and are conjectured to be composed of partonic…
We review recent progress in determining the effects of D-brane instantons in N=1 supersymmetric compactifications of Type II string theory to four dimensions. We describe the abstract D-brane instanton calculus for holomorphic couplings…
The small instanton transition of a five-brane colliding with one end of the S1/Z2 interval in heterotic M-theory is discussed, with emphasis on the transition moduli, their potential function and the associated non-perturbative…
Within the context of finding the initial conditions of the universe we consider gravitational instantons falling into the Bianchi IX classification. That is, a Euclidean four-manifold with a metric that satisfies Einstein's equations with…
We construct the first examples of regular del Pezzo surfaces for which the irregularity (i.e. the dimension of the first cohomology group of the structure sheaf) is nonzero. We also find a restriction on the integer pairs that are possible…
In this paper we give a complete description of all possible automorphism groups of real $\mathbb{R}$-rational del Pezzo surfaces $X$ of degree $4$, using the description of $X$ as the blow-up of some smooth real quadric surface $Q$ in…
In this paper, we prove that a pair of the minimal resolution of a del Pezzo surface with rational double points whose general anti-canonical member is smooth and its exceptional divisor lifts to the Witt ring. We also classify a del Pezzo…
Stacks of D3-branes placed at the tip of a cone over a del Pezzo surface provide a way of geometrically engineering a small but rich class of gauge/gravity dualities. We develop tools for understanding the resulting quiver gauge theories…
We show that the resolution of moduli space of ideal instantons parameterizes the instantons on non-commutative $\IR^{4}$. This moduli space appears as a Higgs branch of the theory of $k$ $D0$-branes bound to $N$ $D4$-branes by the…
For each field $k$ of characteristic zero, we classify which groups act by automorphisms on a quartic del Pezzo surface over $k$. We also determine which groups act on $k$-rational, stably $k$-rational, or $k$-unirational quartic del Pezzo…
We argue that there are two distinct classes of type I compactification to four dimensions on any space. These two classes are distinguished in a mysterious way by the presence (or absence) of a discrete 6-form potential. In simple…
We study instanton contributions to the superpotential of local F-theory compactifications which could potentially be used to engineer models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. These instantons correspond to Euclidean 3-branes which form…
The anomalous scaling behavior of the topological susceptibility $\chi_t$ in two-dimensional $CP^{N-1}$ sigma models for $N\leq 3$ is studied using the overlap Dirac operator construction of the lattice topological charge density. The…
This article is a part of a series aimed at classifying normal del Pezzo surfaces of Picard rank one over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic, up to an isomorphism. The key invariant guiding our classification is the…
Given a del Pezzo surface of degree d between 1 and 6, possibly with rational double points, we construct a "tautological" holomorphic G-bundle over X, where G is a reductive group which is an appropriate conformal form of the simply…