Related papers: The Heterotic String, the Tangent Bundle, and Deri…

We discuss two-dimensional sigma models on moduli spaces of instantons on K3 surfaces. These N=(4,4) superconformal field theories describe the near-horizon dynamics of the D1-D5-brane system and are dual to string theory on AdS_3. We…

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 discuss the use of gauge fields to stabilize complex structure moduli in Calabi-Yau three-fold compactifications of heterotic string and M-theory. The requirement that the gauge fields in such models preserve supersymmetry leads to a…

We present an explicit method for translating between the linear sigma model and the spectral cover description of SU(r) stable bundles over an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau manifold. We use this to investigate the 4-dimensional duality…

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…

We study ${\cal N}=2$ compactifications of $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string theory on orbifolds of $K3 \times T^2$ by $g'$ which acts as an $\mathbb{Z}_N$ automorphism of $K3$ together with a$1/N$ shift on a circle of $T^2$. The orbifold…

String-string duality dictates that type IIA strings compactified on a K3 surface acquire non-abelian gauge groups for certain values of the K3 moduli. We argue that, contrary to expectation, the theories for which such enhanced gauge…

Branches of moduli space of F-theory in four dimensions are investigated. The transition between two branches is described as a 3-brane-instanton transition on a 7-brane. A dual heterotic picture of the transition is presented and the…

We study certain compactifications of the type I string on K3. The three topologically distinct choices of gauge bundle for the type I theory are shown to be equivalent to type IIB orientifolds with different choices of background…

We provide the first explicit example of Type IIB string theory compactification on a globally defined Calabi-Yau threefold with torsion which results in a four-dimensional effective theory with a non-Abelian discrete gauge symmetry. Our…

We construct a new class of stable vector bundles suitable for heterotic string compactifications. Using these we describe a novel way to derive the fermionic matter content of the Standard Model from the heterotic string. For this we…

In recent scans of 4D F-theory geometric models, it was shown that a dominant majority of the base geometries only support SU(2), $G_2$, $F_4$ and $E_8$ gauge groups. Moreover, most of these gauge groups are shown to couple to strongly…

The data of a "2D field theory with a closed string compactification" is an equivariant chain level action of a cell decomposition of the union of all moduli spaces of punctured Riemann surfaces with each component compactified as a…

Supersymmetric heterotic string models, built from a stable holomorphic vector bundle $V$ on a Calabi-Yau threefold $X$, usually come with many vector bundle moduli whose stabilisation is a difficult and complex task. It is therefore of…

In type IIB string compactifications on a Calabi-Yau threefold, the hypermultiplet moduli space $M_H$ must carry an isometric action of the modular group SL(2,Z), inherited from the S-duality symmetry of type IIB string theory in ten…

We explicitly give the correspondence between spectra of heterotic string theory compactified on $T^2$ and string junctions in type IIB theory compactified on $S^2$.

In this paper we initiate a broad study of some central properties of the string axiverse arising from Calabi-Yau compactifications of the perturbative heterotic $E_8\times E_8$ theory. Along this road toward a heterotic axiverse, we…

We discuss a string model where a conformal four-dimensional N=2 gauge theory receives corrections to its gauge kinetic functions from "stringy" instantons. These contributions are explicitly evaluated by exploiting the localization…

We discuss some aspects of heterotic-Type I duality. We focus on toroidal compactification, with special attention for the topology of the gauge group, and the topology of the bundle. We review the arguments leading to a classification of…

In this thesis, we study moduli in compactifications of ten-dimensional heterotic supergravity. We consider supersymmetric compactifications to four-dimensional maximally symmetric space, commonly referred to as the Strominger system. The…