arXiv subjects

Chiara Altavista

Publications and source records attributed to Chiara Altavista.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Art of Networking: Networks of Trivalent 10d Heterotic Junctions

We initiate the study of networks of 10d string theories connected by junctions implied by the cobordism conjecture. Focusing on the recently constructed junction of the three 10d non-tachyonic heterotic theories, we generalize its $(0, 1)$ heterotic worldsheet description to construct arbitrary networks. For one-dimensional networks, we formulate their topology in terms of graph theory and provide a simple worldsheet realization for general graphs. We then extend our analysis to higher-dimensional networks, describing e.g. nucleation in a theory of bubbles of pairs of other theories. We also discuss compact configurations, which define a novel class of compactifications in which different sectors propagate on different compact spaces, in a way reminiscent of compactifications on quantum geometries like $S^1 \vee S^1$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Heterotic Ouroboros

M-theory on ${\mathbf{S}}^1\vee{\mathbf{S}}^1$ has recently been proposed to yield, via quotients, ten-dimensional non-supersymmetric string theories. We revisit the construction that leads to the heterotic theories, finding a consistent set of rules that reproduces the light spectra and gauge groups, including indications of their global structure. Our approach uses the gauge enhancement mechanism of type I' string theory, applied to a setting in which the type I' interval is curled onto itself, with its two boundaries separated by a branch cut. Using these tools, we reproduce the ten-dimensional heterotic theories and provide some evidence for junctions among them.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Ho\v{r}ava-Witten theory on ${\mathbf{S}}^1\vee{\mathbf{S}}^1$ as type 0 orientifold

We investigate dualities between ${\mathbf{Z}}_2$ quotients of recently proposed compactifications of M-theory on `quantum geometries' of the form ${\mathbf{S}}^1\vee{\mathbf{S}}^1$ and 10d orientifolds of type 0A and 0B string theories. In particular, we relate the Ho\v{r}ava-Witten theory on ${\mathbf{S}}^1\vee{\mathbf{S}}^1$ to a 0B orientifold with gauge group $SO(16)^4$. The resulting dictionary provides a geometric explanation for characteristic features of the 0B orientifold, such as the doubling of the gauge group, while the perturbative spectrum of the 0B orientifold indicates the emergence of novel M-theoretic degrees of freedom associated with the junction point. The 0B orientifold further reveals the existence of two variants of the theory on ${\mathbf{S}}^1\vee{\mathbf{S}}^1$, corresponding to equal vs opposite (i.e., standard vs Fabinger-Ho\v{r}ava) orientations of the $E_8$ walls. We also analyze additional 0A and 0B orientifolds whose open string sectors do not arise from higher-dimensional gauge fields in M-theory and whose microscopic interpretation remains an open problem.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

The Art of Branching: Cobordism Junctions of 10d String Theories

We describe the explicit construction of configurations of several 10d string theories joining at a 9d junction, providing a dynamical realization of cobordisms between multiple 10d string theories, predicted by the Cobordism Conjecture. We provide the microscopic worldsheet description of the configuration in a generalization of the `going up and down the RG flow' interpolations recently used in the description of IIA/IIB domain wall. The interpolations involve additional degrees of freedom, which are gapped except at the branch point, at which the gap closes and triggers the branching transition. The extra degrees of freedom admit an interpretation in terms of additional dimensions in a supercritical string theory, which reduces to the 10d junction configuration upon closed tachyon condensation. Quantum corrections of the 2d worldsheet theory turn the junction into a strongly coupled lightlike core whose UV resolution lies beyond worldsheet techniques. We construct explicit examples of junctions of 10d heterotic string theories, type 0, and type II theories and orientifolds thereof. Our explicit examples include junctions of 10d chiral theories whose chiral fields flow between different branches. One particularly nice configuration is a 4-branch junction of the IIB theory, with type I, the non-supersymmetric $USp(32)$ theory and the $U(32)$ orientifold of 0B theory, thus assembling the four non-tachyonic descendants of type 0B theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Induced gravitational waves and baryon asymmetry fluctuations from primordial black hole formation

We consider black hole formation due to the gravitational collapse produced by large density fluctuations during an epoch of reheating with a stiff equation of state and calculate the induced gravitational wave spectrum. By considering the existing bounds on the total energy density of gravitational waves today, we find constraints on the parameter space of this scenario. We also calculate the lepton asymmetry generated by metric perturbations via the chiral gravitational anomaly present in the Standard Model and find that, once the electroweak sphaleron processes have taken place, the large spectrum of scalar perturbations responsible for black hole formation induces a peak in the baryon asymmetry fluctuations on small scales.

astro-ph.CO↗