arXiv subjects

Mirjam Cvetič

Publications and source records attributed to Mirjam Cvetič.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Mass and Force Relations for Extremal E2MD Black Holes

We study static extremal black holes in Einstein gravity coupled to a dilaton and two Maxwell fields with independent dilaton couplings $a$ and $b$. When $b=-1/a$ in four dimensions, a time-symmetric initial-value construction allows us to determine the masses and interaction energies of multi-black-hole configurations. On this special locus, the long-range force between any two extremal black holes vanishes. For arbitrary $a$ and $b$, a constant dilaton-shift symmetry, together with homogeneity and the extremality condition, yields a first-order ordinary differential equation that determines the extremal mass as a function of the two electric charges. This equation allows us to analyze the force between non-identical extremal black holes without having to know the explicit black-hole geometry. In all analytically controlled regimes that we examine, the locus $b=-1/a$ separates attractive behavior for $b>-1/a$ from repulsive behavior for $b<-1/a$. We extend the analysis to arbitrary spacetime dimensions, where the corresponding force-cancellation condition is $ab=-2(d-2)/(d-1)$. Finally, we test this sign pattern using the exact $A_2$, $B_2$ and $G_2$ Toda black holes. In the $G_2$ case, a potentially problematic branch is excluded because it contains naked singularities outside the horizon, suggesting an intriguing connection between regularity and the sign of long-range forces.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Gravitational Background of Alice-Vortices and R7-Branes

Codimension-two vortex solutions are important solitonic objects in both quantum field theory and gravity. In this paper, we construct a class of codimension-two Alice-vortex solutions in axio-dilaton gravity, in which monodromy around the vortex enacts the axion transformation $C_0 \mapsto -C_0$. In IIB supergravity, this furnishes a class of R7-brane backgrounds of the sort predicted by the Swampland Cobordism Conjecture. Such configurations generically carry an intrinsic dipole moment. We extract additional properties of such branes from scattering probes. These results provide further evidence that the worldvolume theory of an R7-brane is an 8D non-supersymmetric interacting quantum field theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Quiver Approach to Symmetry Theories

Global symmetry anomalies of a quantum field theory (QFT) can be packaged as specific couplings of a higher-dimensional symmetry theory (SymTh). In this work we show that for 5D superconformal field theories (SCFTs) engineered from M-theory backgrounds $X$ a Calabi-Yau cone, this data can be extracted from the path algebra of branes probing $X$. This provides a complementary algebraic approach compared with more geometric computations based on the explicit calculation of triple intersection numbers in a resolved geometry and / or $η$-invariants extracted from the boundary geometry $\partial X$. Our method applies in situations where the counterpart geometric computation is either unknown or combinatorially unwieldy. We illustrate with several toric threefold examples, including orbifolds $\mathbb{C}^{3} / Γ$ and more general non-orbifold Calabi-Yau cones of Sasaki-Einstein five-manifolds.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Extra-Dimensional η-Invariants and Anomaly Theories

Anomalies of a quantum field theory (QFT) constitute fundamental non-perturbatively robust data. In this paper we extract anomalies of 5D superconformal field theories (SCFTs) directly from the underlying extra-dimensional geometry. We show that all of this information can be efficiently extracted from extra-dimensional $η$-invariants, bypassing previously established approaches based on computationally cumbersome blowup / resolution techniques. We illustrate these considerations for 5D SCFTs engineered in M-theory by non-compact geometries $X=\mathbb{C}^3/Γ$ with finite subgroup $Γ\subset SU(3)$, where the anomalies are determined by the $η$-invariants of the asymptotic boundary $\partial X=S^5/Γ$. Our results apply equally to Abelian and non-Abelian $Γ$, as well as isolated and non-isolated singularities. In the setting of non-isolated singularities we further analyze the interplay of anomaly structures across different strata of the singular locus. Our considerations extend readily to backgrounds which are not global orbifolds, as well as those which do not preserve supersymmetry.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Smooth String Vacua in a Gravitationally Non-perturbative Regime

The strong coupling regime of four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric vacua of the heterotic string is analyzed from a dual domain wall perspective. Using modular invariance, we compute a closed form for the non-perturbative corrections to the supersymmetric domain wall equations, which enables a quantitative study of gravitational strong coupling regimes. A strong coupling singularity for the hidden Horava-Witten 9-brane is resolved, and the domain wall interpolates between the visible 9-brane and a supersymmetric Anti-de Sitter vacuum, thereby realizing a variant of the Randall-Sundrum model.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Metric Isometries, Holography, and Continuous Symmetry Operators

In the AdS/CFT correspondence, a topological symmetry operator of the boundary CFT is dual to a dynamical brane in the gravitational bulk. Said differently, this predicts a dynamical brane for every global symmetry of the boundary CFT. We analyze this correspondence for continuous symmetries which arise from a consistent truncation of isometries on the "internal" factor $X$ of $\text{AdS}\times X$. In the extra-dimensional geometry, these branes are associated with various metric singularities and do not arise from wrapped D-branes. Boosts relate configurations interpreted as topological symmetry operators and heavy defects in the CFT. From the perspective of the AdS factor, with gravity and bulk gauge fields, these are codimension two Gukov-Witten-like vortex configurations which are the gravity duals of 0-form symmetry operators. These effective branes come with an asymptotic tension and size which is also fully fixed by bulk dynamics. We use this higher-dimensional perspective to determine properties of the worldvolume theory for these branes. We also discuss how these considerations generalize to more general QFTs engineered via string theory which need not possess a semi-classical gravity dual.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Non-perturbative Resolution of Strong Coupling Singularities in 4d N=1 Heterotic/M-theory

We investigate the interior of the moduli space of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ theories of gravity arising from compactifications of the $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string on Calabi-Yau threefolds. By studying the threshold corrections to the coupling of the heterotic gauge groups, we infer the existence of a strong coupling singularity for one of the perturbative heterotic gauge groups, which effectively yields an additional finite distance boundary of the classical scalar field space. In heterotic M-theory, this boundary maps to a domain wall solution for which the gauge coupling and the warp factor on one of the Horava-Witten 9-branes diverge, thus highlighting the gravitational origin of the classical strong coupling singularity. The divergence of the warp factor is, however, regulated once non-perturbative effects are taken into account, as we demonstrate by studying the instanton corrections to the 5d BPS domain wall equations. This regularization implies that the classical strong coupling boundary of the scalar field 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ heterotic/M-theory is resolved, indicating that, at the quantum level, the field space can be extended beyond this classical boundary.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Frozen Generalized Symmetries

M-theory frozen singularities are (locally) $D$- or $E$-type orbifold singularities with a background fractional $C_3$-monodromy surrounding them. In this paper, we revisit such backgrounds and address several puzzling features of their physics. We first give a top-down derivation of how the $D$- or $E$-type 7D $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauge theory directly ``freezes" to a lower rank gauge theory due to the $C_3$-background. This relies on a Hanany--Witten effect of fractional M5 branes and the presence of a gauge anomaly of fractional D$p$ probes in the circle reduction. Additionally, we compute defect groups and 8D symmetry topological field theories (SymTFTs) of the 7D frozen theories in several duality frames. We apply our results to understanding the evenness condition of strings ending on $O7^+$-planes, and calculating the global forms of supergravity gauge groups of M-theory compactified on $T^4/Γ$ with frozen singularities. In an Appendix, we also revisit IIA $ADE$ singularities with a $C_1$-monodromy along a 1-cycle in the boundary lens space and show that this freezes the gauge degrees-of-freedom via confinement.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Cornering Relative Symmetry Theories

The symmetry data of a $d$-dimensional quantum field theory (QFT) can often be captured in terms of a higher-dimensional symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT). In top down (i.e., stringy) realizations of this structure, the QFT in question is localized in a higher-dimensional bulk. In many cases of interest, however, the associated $(d+1)$-dimensional bulk is not fully gapped and one must instead consider a filtration of theories to reach a gapped bulk in $D = d+m$ dimensions. Overall, this leads us to a nested structure of relative symmetry theories which descend to coupled edge modes, with the original QFT degrees of freedom localized at a corner of this $D$-dimensional bulk system. We present a bottom up characterization of this structure and also show how it naturally arises in a number of string-based constructions of QFTs with both finite and continuous symmetries.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Kerr Effective Black Hole Geometries in Supergravity

We derive the explicit embedding of the effective Kerr spacetimes, which are pertinent to the vanishing of static Love numbers, soft hair descriptions of Kerr black holes, and low-frequency scalar-Kerr scattering amplitudes, as solutions within N = 2 supergravity. These spacetimes exhibit a hidden $SL(2, R) \times U (1)$ or $SO(4, 2)$ symmetry resembling the so called subtracted geometries with $SL(2, R) \times SL(2, R)$ symmetry, which accurately represent the near-horizon geometry of Kerr black holes and, as we will argue most accurately represents the internal structure of the Kerr black hole. To quantify the differences among the effective Kerr spacetimes, we compare their physical quantities, internal structures, and geodesic equations. Although their thermodynamic properties, including entropy, match those of Kerr, our study uncovers significant differences in the interiors of these effective Kerr solutions. A careful examination of the internal structure of the spacetimes highlights the distinctions between various effective Kerr geometries and their quasinormal spectra.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Improved statistics for F-theory standard models

Much of the analysis of F-theory-based Standard Models boils down to computing cohomologies of line bundles on matter curves. By varying parameters one can degenerate such matter curves to singular ones, typically with many nodes, where the computation is combinatorial and straightforward. The question remains to relate the (a priori possibly smaller) value on the original curve to the singular one. In this work, we introduce some elementary techniques (pruning trees and removing interior edges) for simplifying the resulting nodal curves to a small collection of terminal ones that can be handled directly. When applied to the QSMs, these techniques yield optimal results in the sense that obtaining more precise answers would require currently unavailable information about the QSM geometries. This provides us with an opportunity to enhance the statistical bounds established in earlier research regarding the absence of vector-like exotics on the quark-doublet curve.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Generalized Symmetries, Gravity, and the Swampland

Generalized global symmetries are a common feature of many quantum field theories decoupled from gravity. By contrast, in quantum gravity / the Swampland program, it is widely expected that all global symmetries are either gauged or broken, and this breaking is in turn related to the expected completeness of the spectrum of charged states in quantum gravity. We investigate the fate of such symmetries in the context of 7D and 5D vacua realized by compact Calabi-Yau spaces with localized singularities in M-theory. We explicitly show how gravitational backgrounds support additional dynamical degrees of freedom which trivialize (i.e.,"break") the higher symmetries of the local geometric models. Local compatability conditions across these different sectors lead to gluing conditions for gauging higher-form and (in the 5D case) higher-group symmetries. This also leads to a preferred global structure of the gauge group and higher-form gauge symmetries. In cases based on a genus-one fibered Calabi-Yau space, we also get an F-theory model in one higher dimension with corresponding constraints on the global form of the gauge group.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

0-Form, 1-Form and 2-Group Symmetries via Cutting and Gluing of Orbifolds

Orbifold singularities of M-theory constitute the building blocks of a broad class of supersymmetric quantum field theories (SQFTs). In this paper we show how the local data of these geometries determines global data on the resulting higher symmetries of these systems. In particular, via a process of cutting and gluing, we show how local orbifold singularities encode the 0-form, 1-form and 2-group symmetries of the resulting SQFTs. Geometrically, this is obtained from the possible singularities which extend to the boundary of the non-compact geometry. The resulting category of boundary conditions then captures these symmetries, and is equivalently specified by the orbifold homology of the boundary geometry. We illustrate these general points in the context of a number of examples, including 5D superconformal field theories engineered via orbifold singularities, 5D gauge theories engineered via singular elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds, as well as 4D SQCD-like theories engineered via M-theory on non-compact $G_2$ spaces.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Fluxbranes, Generalized Symmetries, and Verlinde's Metastable Monopole

The stringy realization of generalized symmetry operators involves wrapping "branes at infinity". We argue that in the case of continuous (as opposed to discrete) symmetries, the appropriate objects are fluxbranes. We use this perspective to revisit the phase structure of Verlinde's monopole, a proposed particle which is BPS when gravity is decoupled, but is non-BPS and metastable when gravity is switched on. Geometrically, this monopole is obtained from branes wrapped on locally stable but globally trivial cycles of a compactification geometry. The fluxbrane picture allows us to characterize electric (resp. magnetic) confinement (resp. screening) in the 4D theory as a result of monopole decay. In the presence of the fluxbrane, this decay also creates lower-dimensional fluxbranes, which in the field theory is interpreted as the creation of an additional topological field theory sector.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Brill-Noether-general Limit Root Bundles: Absence of vector-like Exotics in F-theory Standard Models

Root bundles appear prominently in studies of vector-like spectra of 4d F-theory compactifications. Of particular importance to phenomenology are the Quadrillion F-theory Standard Models (F-theory QSMs). In this work, we analyze a superset of the physical root bundles whose cohomologies encode the vector-like spectra for the matter representations $(\mathbf{3}, \mathbf{2})_{1/6}$, $(\mathbf{\overline{3}}, \mathbf{1})_{-2/3}$ and $(\mathbf{1}, \mathbf{1})_{1}$. For the family $B_3( Δ_4^\circ )$ consisting of $\mathcal{O}(10^{11})$ F-theory QSM geometries, we argue that more than $99.995\%$ of the roots in this superset have no vector-like exotics. This indicates that absence of vector-like exotics in those representations is a very likely scenario. The QSM geometries come in families of toric 3-folds $B_3( Δ^\circ )$ obtained from triangulations of certain 3-dimensional polytopes $Δ^\circ$. The matter curves in $X_Σ\in B_3( Δ^\circ )$ can be deformed to nodal curves which are the same for all spaces in $B_3( Δ^\circ )$. Therefore, one can probe the vector-like spectra on the entire family $B_3( Δ^\circ )$ from studies of a few nodal curves. We compute the cohomologies of all limit roots on these nodal curves. In our applications, for the majority of limit roots the cohomologies are determined by line bundle cohomology on rational tree-like curves. For this, we present a computer algorithm. The remaining limit roots, corresponding to circuit-like graphs, are handled by hand. The cohomologies are independent of the relative position of the nodes, except for a few circuits. On these \emph{jumping circuits}, line bundle cohomologies can jump if nodes are specially aligned. This mirrors classical Brill-Noether jumps. $B_3( Δ_4^\circ )$ admits a jumping circuit, but the root bundle constraints pick the canonical bundle and no jump happens.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Reflections on the Matter of 3d $\mathcal{N} = 1$ Vacua and Local $Spin(7)$ Compactifications

We use Higgs bundles to study the 3d $\mathcal{N} = 1$ vacua obtained from M-theory compactified on a local $Spin(7)$ space given as a four-manifold $M_4$ of ADE singularities with further generic enhancements in the singularity type along one-dimensional subspaces. There can be strong quantum corrections to the massless degrees of freedom in the low energy effective field theory, but topologically robust quantities such as "parity" anomalies are still calculable. We show how geometric reflections of the compactification space descend to 3d reflections and discrete symmetries. The "parity" anomalies of the effective field theory descend from topological data of the compactification. The geometric perspective also allows us to track various perturbative and non-perturbative corrections to the 3d effective field theory. We also provide some explicit constructions of well-known 3d theories, including those which arise as edge modes of 4d topological insulators, and 3d $\mathcal{N} = 1$ analogs of grand unified theories. An additional result of our analysis is that we are able to track the spectrum of extended objects and their transformations under higher-form symmetries.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Statistics of Limit Root Bundles Relevant for Exact Matter Spectra of F-Theory MSSMs

In the largest, currently known, class of one Quadrillion globally consistent F-theory Standard Models with gauge coupling unification and no chiral exotics, the vector-like spectra are counted by cohomologies of root bundles. In this work, we apply a previously proposed method to identify toric base 3-folds, which are promising to establish F-theory Standard Models with exactly three quark-doublets and no vector-like exotics in this representation. The base spaces in question are obtained from triangulations of 708 polytopes. By studying root bundles on the quark doublet curve $C_{(\mathbf{3},\mathbf{2})_{1/6}}$ and employing well-known results about desingularizations of toric K3-surfaces, we derive a \emph{triangulation independent lower bound} $\check{N}_P^{(3)}$ for the number $N_P^{(3)}$ of root bundles on $C_{(\mathbf{3},\mathbf{2})_{1/6}}$ with exactly three sections. The ratio $\check{N}_P^{(3)} / N_P$, where $N_P$ is the total number of roots on $C_{(\mathbf{3},\mathbf{2})_{1/6}}$, is largest for base spaces associated with triangulations of the 8-th 3-dimensional polytope $Δ^\circ_8$ in the Kreuzer-Skarke list. For each of these $\mathcal{O}( 10^{15} )$ 3-folds, we expect that many root bundles on $C_{(\mathbf{3},\mathbf{2})_{1/6}}$ are induced from F-theory gauge potentials and that at least every 3000th root on $C_{(\mathbf{3},\mathbf{2})_{1/6}}$ has exactly three global sections and thus no exotic vector-like quark-doublet modes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Root Bundles and Towards Exact Matter Spectra of F-theory MSSMs

Motivated by the appearance of fractional powers of line bundles in studies of vector-like spectra in 4d F-theory compactifications, we analyze the structure and origin of these bundles. Fractional powers of line bundles are also known as root bundles and can be thought of as generalizations of spin bundles. We explain how these root bundles are linked to inequivalent F-theory gauge potentials of a $G_4$-flux. While this observation is interesting in its own right, it is particularly valuable for F-theory Standard Model constructions. In aiming for MSSMs, it is desired to argue for the absence of vector-like exotics. We work out the root bundle constraints on all matter curves in the largest class of currently-known F-theory Standard Model constructions without chiral exotics and gauge coupling unification. On each matter curve, we conduct a systematic "bottom"-analysis of all solutions to the root bundle constraints and all spin bundles. Thereby, we derive a lower bound for the number of combinations of root bundles and spin bundles whose cohomologies satisfy the physical demand of absence of vector-like pairs. On a technical level, this systematic study is achieved by a well-known diagrammatic description of root bundles on nodal curves. We extend this description by a counting procedure, which determines the cohomologies of so-called limit root bundles on full blow-ups of nodal curves. By use of deformation theory, these results constrain the vector-like spectra on the smooth matter curves in the actual F-theory geometry.

hep-th↗