Geometric singularities and enhanced gauge symmetries

1996/05/30 by M. Bershadsky, K. Intriligator, Kenneth Intriligator +8 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #hep-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/s0550-3213(96)90131-5

published as Nucl.Phys.B481:215-252,1996 · 49 pages harvmac big (must print in big mode for tables to appear correctly); Typos and reference corrected

arxiv created 1996/05/30 · openalex publication_date 1996/12/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Using ``Tate's algorithm,'' we identify loci in the moduli of F-theory compactifications corresponding to enhanced gauge symmetry. We apply this to test the proposed F-theory/heterotic dualities in six dimensions. We recover the perturbative gauge symmetry enhancements of the heterotic side and the physics of small SO(32) instantons, and discover new mixed perturbative/non-perturbative gauge symmetry enhancements. Upon further toroidal compactification to 4 dimensions, we derive the chain of Calabi-Yau threefolds dual to various Coulomb branches of heterotic strings.

Citations

• Some Comments On String Dynamics
• Dual Polyhedra and Mirror Symmetry for Calabi-Yau Hypersurfaces in Toric Varieties
• Consistency Conditions for Orientifolds and D-Manifolds
• D-branes, Quivers, and ALE Instantons

Cited by

• On four-dimensional compactifications of F-theory
• Calabi-Yau 4-folds and toric fibrations
• Elliptic Calabi-Yau Threefolds withZ3×Z3Wilson Lines
• A note on local GUT models in F-theory
• On global flipped SU(5) GUTs in F-theory
• Five-brane superpotentials and heterotic/F-theory duality
• Enhanced preheating after multi-field inflation: on the importance of being special
• Matrix Factorizations for Local F-Theory Models