Lectures on F-theory compactifications and model building
Abstract
These lecture notes are devoted to formal and phenomenological aspects of F-theory. We begin with a pedagogical introduction to the general concepts of F-theory, covering classic topics such as the connection to Type IIB orientifolds, the geometry of elliptic fibrations and the emergence of gauge groups, matter and Yukawa couplings. As a suitable framework for the construction of compact F-theory vacua we describe a special class of Weierstrass models called Tate models, whose local properties are captured by the spectral cover construction. Armed with this technology we proceed with a survey of F-theory GUT models, aiming at an overview of basic conceptual and phenomenological aspects, in particular in connection with GUT breaking via hypercharge flux.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1009.3497,
title = {Lectures on F-theory compactifications and model building},
author = {Timo Weigand},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1009.3497},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
Invited contribution to the proceedings of the CERN Winter School on Supergravity, Strings and Gauge Theory 2010, to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravity; 63 pages; v2: references added, typos corrected