We study complex analogues on Calabi-Yau manifolds of gauge theories on low dimensional real manifolds. In particular we define a holomorphic analogue of the Casson invariant, counting coherent sheaves on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold.

Freiburg i. Br., Univ., Diss., 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 44).

In this thesis we explore various aspects of Calabi-Yau (CY) manifolds and com- pactifications of the heterotic string over them. At first we focus on classifying symmetries and computing Hodge numbers of smooth CY quotients. Being non- simply connected, these quotients are an integral part of CY compactifications of the heterotic string, aimed at producing realistic string vacua. Discrete symmetries of such spaces that are generically present in the moduli space, are phenomenologically important since they may appear as symmetries of the associated low energy theory. We classify such symmetries for the class of smooth Complete Intersection CY (CICY) quotients, resulting in a large number of regular and R-symmetry examples. Our results strongly suggest that generic, non-freely acting symmetries for CY quotients arise relatively frequently. A large number of string derived Standard Models (SM) were recently obtained over this class of CY manifolds indicating that our results could be phenomenologically important. We also specialise to certain loci in the moduli space of a quintic quotient to produce highly symmetric CY quotients. Our computations thus far are the first steps towards constructing a sizeable class of highly symmetric smooth CY quotients. Knowledge of the topological properties of the internal space is vital in determining the suitability of the space for realistic string compactifications. Employing the tools of polynomial deformation and counting of invariant Kähler classes, we compute the Hodge numbers of a large number of smooth CICY quotients. These were later verified by independent cohomology computations. We go on to develop the machinery to understand the geometry of CY manifolds embedded as hypersurfaces in a product of del Pezzo surfaces. This led to an interesting account of the quotient space geometry, enabling the computation of Hodge numbers of such CY quotients. Until recently only a handful of CY compactifications were known that yielded low energy theories with desirable MSSM features. The recent construction of rank 5 line bundle sums over smooth CY quotients has led to several SU(5) GUTs with the exact MSSM spectrum. We derive semi-analytic results on the finiteness of the number of such line bundle models, and study the relationship between the volume of the CY and the number of line bundle models over them. We also imply a possible correlation between the observed number of generations and the value of the gauge coupling constants of the corresponding GUTs. String compactifications with underlying SO(10) GUTs are theoretically attractive especially since the discovery that neutrinos have non-zero mass. With this in mind, we construct tens of thousands of rank 4 stable line bundle sums over smooth CY quotients leading to SO(10) GUTs.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mathematics / Yan S. Soibelman / The motivic Donaldson-Thomas theory of 2-dimensional Calabi-Yau categories can be induced from the theory of 3-dimensional Calabi-Yau categories via dimensional reduction. The cohomological Hall algebra is one approach to the motivic Donaldson-Thomas invariants. Given an arbitrary quiver one can construct a double quiver, which induces the preprojective algebra. This corresponds to a 2-dimensional Calabi-Yau category. One can further construct a triple quiver with potential, which gives rise to a 3-dimensional Calabi-Yau category. The critical cohomological Hall algebra (critical COHA for short) is defined for a quiver with potential. Via the dimensional reduction we obtain the cohomological Hall algebra (COHA for short) of the preprojective algebra. We prove that a subalgebra of this COHA consists of a semicanonical basis, thus is related to the generalized quantum groups. Another approach is motivic Hall algebra, from which an integration map to the quantum torus is constructed. Furthermore, a conjecture concerning some invariants of 2-dimensional Calabi-Yau categories is made. We investigate the correspondence between the A∞-equivalent classes of ind-constructible 2-dimensional Calabi-Yau categories with a collection of generators and a certain type of quivers. This implies that such an ind-constructible category can be canonically reconstructed from its full subcategory consisting of the collection of generators.

Structural and morphological characterization of a Si(110) film heteroepitaxied on 3C-SiC(001)/ Si(001) on-axis template by chemical vapor deposition has been performed. An antiphase domain (APD) free 3C-SiC layer was used showing a roughness limited to 1 nm. This leads to a smooth Si film with a roughness of only 3 nm for a film thickness of 400 nm. The number of rotation domains in the Si(110) epilayer was found to be two on this APD-free 3C-SiC surface. This is attributed to the in-plane azimuthal misalignment of the mirror planes between the two involved materials. We prove that fundamentally no further reduction of the number of domains can be expected for the given substrate. We suggest the necessity to use off-axis substrates to eventually favor a single domain growth.

Le but de cette thèse est de construire de nouvelles variétés algébriques complexes de Fano et à canonique triviale dans les espaces homogènes et d'analyser leur géométrie. On commence en construisant les variétés spéciales comme lieux de zéros de fibrés homogènes dans les grassmanniennes généralisées. On donne une complète classification en dimension 4. On prouve que les uniques variétés de dimension 4 hyper-Kahleriennes ainsi construites sont les exemples de Beauville-Donagi et Debarre-Voisin. Le même résultat vaut dans les grassmanniennes ordinaires en toute dimension quand le fibré est irréductible. Ensuite on utilise les lieux de dégénérescence orbitaux (ODL), qui généralisent les lieux de dégénérescence classiques, pour construire d'autres variétés. On rappelle les propriétés basiques des ODL, qu'on définit à partir d'une adhérence d'orbite. On construit trois schémas de Hilbert de deux points sur une K3 comme ODL, et beaucoup d'autres exemples de variétés de Calabi-Yau et de Fano. Puis on étudie les adhérences d'orbites dans les représentations de carquois, et on décrit des effondrements de Kempf pour celles de type A_n et D_4; ceci nous permet de construire davantage de variétés spéciales comme ODL. Pour finir, on analyse les grassmanniennes bisymplectiques, qui sont des Fano particulières. Elles admettent l'action d'un tore avec un nombre fini de points fixes. On étudie leurs petites déformations. Ensuite, on étudie la cohomologie (équivariante) des grassmanniennes symplectiques, qui est utile pour mieux comprendre la cohomologie des grassmanniennes bisymplectiques. On analyse en détail un cas explicite en dimension 6. / The aim of this thesis is to construct new interesting complex algebraic Fano varieties and varieties with trivial canonical bundle and to analyze their geometry. In the first part we construct special varieties as zero loci of homogeneous bundles inside generalized Grassmannians. We give a complete classification for varieties of small dimension when the bundle is completely reducible. Thus, we prove that the only fourfolds with trivial canonical bundle so constructed which are hyper-Kahler are the examples of Beauville-Donagi and Debarre-Voisin. The same holds in ordinary Grassmannians when the bundle is irreducible in any dimension. In the second part we use orbital degeneracy loci (ODL), which are a generalization of classical degeneracy loci, to construct new varieties. ODL are constructed from a model, which is usually an orbit closure inside a representation. We recall the fundamental properties of ODL. As an illustration of the construction, we construct three Hilbert schemes of two points on a K3 surface as ODL, and many examples of Calabi-Yau and Fano threefolds and fourfolds. Then we study orbit closures inside quiver representations, and we provide crepant Kempf collapsings for those of type A_n, D_4; this allows us to construct some special varieties as ODL.Finally we focus on a particular class of Fano varieties, namely bisymplectic Grassmannians. These varieties admit the action of a torus with a finite number of fixed points. We find the dimension of their moduli space. We then study the equivariant cohomology of symplectic Grassmannians, which turns out to help understanding better that of bisymplectic ones. We analyze in detail the case of dimension 6.

[pt] Há alguns anos temos visto um grande progresso na resolução de problemas antigos na teoria das superfícies mínimas. Dentre esse problemas estão as conjecturas de Calabi-Yau, que datam dos anos 60 do século passado. A primeira delas afirmava que não existiam superfícies mínimas completas contidas em uma bola de R3, e a segunda que todas as superfícies mínimas completas tinham uma projeção ilimitada em cada eixo. Neste trabalho pretendemos revisar dois exemplos que mostram a falsidade da segunda conjectura. O primeiro foi dado por L. P. Jorge e F. Xavier (1980), e o segundo por H. Rosenberg e E. Toubiana (1987). A primeira conjectura também é falsa. O primeiro contraexemplo foi dado por N. Nadirashvili (1996) e também constitui um contraexemplo da conjectura de Hadamard, que afirmava que não existiam superfícies completas limitadas com curvatura Gaussiana negativa. O desenvolvimento do artigo de Nadirashvili é o principal objetivo desta dissertação. A técnica usada nestes três trabalhos é o uso da Representação de Enneper-Weierstrass, combinada com aplicações adequadas do Teorema de Runge. / [en] During some years we have seen great progress in solving old problems in minimal surfaces theory. Among these problems are the Calabi-Yau s conjectures, dating from the 60s of last century. The first one stated that there were no complete minimal surfaces contained in a ball of R3, and the second one that all complete minimal surface should have an unbounded projection in each axes. In this work we pretend to review two examples that proof the falsity of the second conjecture. The first one was given by L. P. Jorge e F. Xavier (1980) and the second one by H. Rosenberg e E. Toubiana (1987). The first conjecture is also false. The first counterexample was given by N. Nadirashvili (1996) and it is also a counterexample to the conjecture of Hadamard, which stated that there were no complete bounded surfaces with negative Gaussian curvature. Development of Nadirashvilli s article is the main objective of this dissertation. The technique used in these three works is the use of the Enneper-Weierstrass Representation, combined with appropriate applications of Runge s theorem.

This thesis studies derived equivalences between total spaces of vector bundles and dg-quivers. A dg-quiver is a graded quiver whose path algebra is a dg-algebra. A quiver with superpotential is a dg-quiver whose differential is determined by a "function" Φ. It is known that the bounded derived category of representations of quivers with superpotential with finite dimensional cohomology is a Calabi- Yau triangulated category. Hence quivers with superpotential can be viewed as noncommutative Calabi- Yau manifolds. One might then ask if there are derived equivalences between Calabi-Yau manifolds and quivers with superpotential. In this thesis, we answer this question and, generalizing Bridgeland [15], give a recipe on how to construct such derived equivalences.

This thesis explores three different aspects of quantum gravity. First we study D3-brane black holes in Calabi-Yau compactifications of type IIB string theory. Using the OSV conjecture and a relation between topological strings and matrix models we show that some black holes have a matrix model description. This is the case if the attractor mechanism fixes the internal geometry to a conifold at the black hole horizon. We also consider black holes in a flux compactification and compare the effects of the black holes and fluxes on the internal geometry. We find that the fluxes dominate. Second, we study the scalar potential of type IIB flux compactifications. We demonstrate that monodromies of the internal geometry imply as a general feature the existence of long series of continuously connected minima. This allows for the embedding of scenarios such as chain inflation and resonance tunneling into string theory. The concept of monodromies is also extended to include geometric transitions: passing to a different Calabi-Yau topology, performing its monodromies and then returning to the original space allows for novel transformations. All constructions are performed explicitly, using both analytical and numerical techniques, in the mirror quintic Calabi-Yau. Third, we study cosmological topologically massive gravity at the chiral point, a prime candidate for quantization of gravity in three dimensions. The prospects of this scenario depend crucially of the stability of the theory. We demonstrate the presence of a negative energy bulk mode that grows logarithmically toward the AdS boundary. The AdS isometry generators have non-unitary matrix representations like in logarithmic CFT, and we propose that the CFT dual for this theory is logarithmic. In a complementing canonical analysis we also demonstrate the existence of this bulk degree of freedom, and we present consistent boundary conditions encompassing the new mode.