Related papers: Del Pezzo Surfaces and Affine 7-brane Backgrounds
A single M5-brane probing G, an ADE-type singularity, leads to a system which has G x G global symmetry and can be viewed as "bifundamental" (G,G) matter. For the A_N series, this leads to the usual notion of bifundamental matter. For the…
Matrix string theory is equivalent to type IIA superstring theory in the light-cone gauge, together with extra degrees of freedom representing D-brane states. It is therefore the appropriate framework in which to study systems of multiple…
We study string theory propagating on R^6 times K3 by constructing orientifolds of Type IIB string theory compactified on the T^4/Z_N orbifold limits of the K3 surface. This generalises the Z_2 case studied previously. The orientifold…
String theory compactifications come with numerous $U(1)$ factors, implying the presence of many hidden photons in the low-energy EFT. One may call this the ``string photoverse''. We argue that, generically, these hidden photons are…
This paper is devoted to the study of a certain class of principal bundles on del Pezzo surfaces, which were introduced and studied by Friedman and Morgan in \cite{FMdP}: The two authors showed that there exists a unique principal bundle…
We study superstrings with orientifold projections and with generalized open string boundary conditions (D-branes). We find two types of consistency condition, one related to the algebra of Chan-Paton factors and the other to cancellation…
In a given 4d spacetime bakcground, one can often construct not one but a family of distinct N=2 string theories. This is due to the multiple ways N=2 superconformal algebra can be embedded in a given worldsheet theory. We formulate the…
We propose a scenario for dynamical supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications based on geometric engineering of quiver gauge theories. In particular we show that the runaway behavior of fractional branes at del Pezzo singularities…
The geometry of D-branes can be probed by open string scattering. If the background carries a non-vanishing B-field, the world-volume becomes non-commutative. Here we explore the quantization of world-volume geometries in a curved…
Let $S$ be an irreducible smooth projective surface defined over an algebraically closed field $k$. For a positive integer $d$, let ${\rm Hilb}^d(S)$ be the Hilbert scheme parametrizing the zero-dimensional subschemes of $S$ of length $d$.…
The cylinder diagrams that determine the static interactions between pairs of Dp-branes in the type IIB plane wave background are evaluated. The resulting expressions are elegant generalizations of the flat-space formulae that depend on the…
We study metastable nonsupersymmetric configurations in type IIA string theory, obtained by suspending D4-branes and anti-D4-branes between holomorphically curved NS5's, which are related to those of hep-th/0610249 by T-duality. When the…
We discuss local F-theory geometries and theirs gauge theory dualities in terms of intersecting D7-branes wrapped four-cycles in Type IIB superstring. The manifolds are built as elliptic K3 surface fibrations over intersecting F_0=CP^1…
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…
The $\mathcal{A}$-theory takes U-duality symmetry as a guiding principle, with the SL(5) U-duality symmetry being described as the world-volume theory of a 5-brane. Furthermore, by unifying the 6-dimensional world-volume Lorentz symmetry…
We analyze in detail the case of a marginally stable D-Brane on a collapsed del Pezzo surface in a Calabi-Yau threefold using the derived category of quiver representations and the idea of aligned gradings. We show how the derived category…
In this thesis we discuss some topics about topology and superstring backgrounds with D-branes. We start with a mathematical review about generalized homology and cohomology theories and the Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence, in order to…
We study the non-linearly realized spontaneously broken supersymmetry of the (anti-)D3-brane action in type IIB string theory. The worldvolume fields are one vector $A_\mu$, three complex scalars $\phi^i$ and four 4d fermions $\lambda^0$,…
An interesting consequence of string dualities is that they reveal situations where the geometry of a string background appears to be globally ill-defined, a phenomenon usually referred to as non-geometry. On the other hand, string theory…
We investigate certain fixed points in the boundary conformal field theory representation of type IIA D-branes on Gepner points of K3. They correspond geometrically to degenerate brane configurations, and physically lead to enhanced gauge…