2011/08/31 by Antonella Grassi, Grassi, Antonella, David R. Morrison +1 · 3 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algebraic Geometry (math.AG) #FOS: Mathematics #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #hep-th #math.AG
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1109.0042
63 pages, 15 tables. v2: minor changes
arxiv created 2012/01/23 · arxiv updated 2012/01/25
We investigate the delicate interplay between the types of singular fibers in elliptic fibrations of Calabi-Yau threefolds (used to formulate F-theory) and the "matter" representation of the associated Lie algebra. The main tool is the analysis and the appropriate interpretation of the anomaly formula for six-dimensional supersymmetric theories. We find that this anomaly formula is geometrically captured by a relation among codimension two cycles on the base of the elliptic fibration, and that this relation holds for elliptic fibrations of any dimension. We introduce a "Tate cycle" which efficiently describes this relationship, and which is remarkably easy to calculate explicitly from the Weierstrass equation of the fibration. We check the anomaly cancellation formula in a number of situations and show how this formula constrains the geometry (and in particular the Euler characteristic) of the Calabi-Yau threefold.