Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli
Abstract We describe the geometry of generic heterotic backgrounds preserving minimal supersymmetry in four dimensions using the language of generalised geometry. They are characterised by an SU(3) × Spin(6 + n) structure within O(6, 6 + n) × ℝ+ generalised geometry. Supersymmetry of the background...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP11(2020)071 |
| _version_ | 1819171622535299072 |
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| author | Anthony Ashmore Charles Strickland-Constable David Tennyson Daniel Waldram |
| author_facet | Anthony Ashmore Charles Strickland-Constable David Tennyson Daniel Waldram |
| author_sort | Anthony Ashmore |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We describe the geometry of generic heterotic backgrounds preserving minimal supersymmetry in four dimensions using the language of generalised geometry. They are characterised by an SU(3) × Spin(6 + n) structure within O(6, 6 + n) × ℝ+ generalised geometry. Supersymmetry of the background is encoded in the existence of an involutive subbundle of the generalised tangent bundle and the vanishing of a moment map for the action of diffeomorphisms and gauge symmetries. We give both the superpotential and the Kähler potential for a generic background, showing that the latter defines a natural Hitchin functional for heterotic geometries. Intriguingly, this formulation suggests new connections to geometric invariant theory and an extended notion of stability. Finally we show that the analysis of infinitesimal deformations of these geometric structures naturally reproduces the known cohomologies that count the massless moduli of supersymmetric heterotic backgrounds. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:54:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-61377964fa3a4b6783deb9f64e8a8762 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:54:13Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-61377964fa3a4b6783deb9f64e8a87622022-12-21T18:14:27ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792020-11-0120201114610.1007/JHEP11(2020)071Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduliAnthony Ashmore0Charles Strickland-Constable1David Tennyson2Daniel Waldram3Enrico Fermi Institute & Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics, University of ChicagoSchool of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of HertfordshireDepartment of Physics, Imperial College LondonDepartment of Physics, Imperial College LondonAbstract We describe the geometry of generic heterotic backgrounds preserving minimal supersymmetry in four dimensions using the language of generalised geometry. They are characterised by an SU(3) × Spin(6 + n) structure within O(6, 6 + n) × ℝ+ generalised geometry. Supersymmetry of the background is encoded in the existence of an involutive subbundle of the generalised tangent bundle and the vanishing of a moment map for the action of diffeomorphisms and gauge symmetries. We give both the superpotential and the Kähler potential for a generic background, showing that the latter defines a natural Hitchin functional for heterotic geometries. Intriguingly, this formulation suggests new connections to geometric invariant theory and an extended notion of stability. Finally we show that the analysis of infinitesimal deformations of these geometric structures naturally reproduces the known cohomologies that count the massless moduli of supersymmetric heterotic backgrounds.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP11(2020)071Flux compactificationsSuperstrings and Heterotic StringsDifferential and Algebraic Geometry |
| spellingShingle | Anthony Ashmore Charles Strickland-Constable David Tennyson Daniel Waldram Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli Journal of High Energy Physics Flux compactifications Superstrings and Heterotic Strings Differential and Algebraic Geometry |
| title | Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli |
| title_full | Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli |
| title_fullStr | Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli |
| title_short | Heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry: moment maps and moduli |
| title_sort | heterotic backgrounds via generalised geometry moment maps and moduli |
| topic | Flux compactifications Superstrings and Heterotic Strings Differential and Algebraic Geometry |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP11(2020)071 |
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