Branes, Calabi-Yau spaces, and toroidal compactification of the N = 1 six-dimensional E8 theory
Abstract
We consider compactifications of the N = 1, d = 6, E8 theory on tori to five, four, and three dimensions and learn about some properties of this theory. As a by-product we derive the SL(2, Z) duality of the N = 2, d = 4, SU(2) theory with Nf = 4. Using this theory on a D-brane probe we shed new light on the singularities of F-theory compactifications to eight dimensions. As another application we consider compactifications of F-theory, M-theory and the IIA string on (singular) Calabi-Yau spaces where our theory appears in space-time. Our viewpoint leads to a new perspective on the nature of the singularities in the moduli space and their space-time interpretations. In particular, we have a universal understanding of how the singularities in the classical moduli space of Calabi-Yau spaces are modified by world-sheet instantons to singularities in the moduli space of the corresponding conformal field theories.
- Publication:
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Nuclear Physics B
- Pub Date:
- February 1997
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0550-3213(96)00690-6
- arXiv:
- arXiv:hep-th/9610251
- Bibcode:
- 1997NuPhB.487...93G
- Keywords:
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- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- 40 pages, 2 figures, harvmac with epsf. Minor corrections, references added