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arXiv · hep-th/9602022

Evidence for F-Theory

Cumrun Vafa
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Abstract

We construct compact examples of D-manifolds for type IIB strings. The construction has a natural interpretation in terms of compactification of a 12 dimensional `F-theory'. We provide evidence for a more natural reformulation of type IIB theory in terms of F-theory. Compactification of M-theory on a manifold $K$ which admits elliptic fibration is equivalent to compactification of F-theory on $K\times S^1$. A large class of $N=1$ theories in 6 dimensions are obtained by compactification of F-theory on Calabi-Yau threefolds. A class of phenomenologically promising compactifications of F-theory is on $Spin(7)$ holonomy manifolds down to 4 dimensions. This may provide a concrete realization of Witten's proposal for solving the cosmological constant problem in four dimensions.

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Cumrun Vafa. 1996-02-05. Evidence for F-Theory. https://doi.org/10.1016/0550-3213(96)00172-1

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