No Arabic abstract
We examine the structure of higher-derivative string corrections under a cosmological reduction and make connection to generalized geometry and T-duality. We observe that, while the curvature $R^mu{}_{ urhosigma}(Omega_+)$ of the generalized connection with torsion, $Omega_+=Omega+frac{1}{2}H$, is an important component in forming T-duality invariants, it is necessarily incomplete by itself. We revisit the tree-level $alphaR^2$ corrections to the bosonic and heterotic string in the language of generalized geometry and explicitly demonstrate that additional $H$-field couplings are needed to restore T-duality invariance. We also comment on the structure of the T-duality completion of tree-level $alpha^3R^4$ in the type II string.
We use newly discovered N = (2, 2) vector multiplets to clarify T-dualities for generalized Kahler geometries. Following the usual procedure, we gauge isometries of nonlinear sigma-models and introduce Lagrange multipliers that constrain the field-strengths of the gauge fields to vanish. Integrating out the Lagrange multipliers leads to the original action, whereas integrating out the vector multiplets gives the dual action. The description is given both in N = (2, 2) and N = (1, 1) superspace.
Two and three loop alpha corrections are calculated for Kasner and Schwarzschild metrics, and their T-duals, in the bosonic string theory. These metrics are used to obtain the two and three loop alpha corrections to T-duality. It is noted in particular that the inclusion of alpha corrections and the requirement of consistency with the alpha-corrected T-duality for the Kasner and Schwarzschild metrics enables one to fix uniquely the covariant form of the T-duality rules at three loops. As a generalization of the T-dual of the Schwarzschild geometry a class of massless geometries is presented.
We introduce a notion of Ricci flow in generalized geometry, extending a previous definition by Gualtieri on exact Courant algebroids. Special stationary points of the flow are given by solutions to first-order differential equations, the Killing spinor equations, which encompass special holonomy metrics with solutions of the Hull-Strominger system. Our main result investigates a method to produce new solutions of the Ricci flow and the Killing spinor equations. For this, we consider T-duality between possibly topologically distinct torus bundles endowed with Courant structures, and demonstrate that solutions of the equations are exchanged under this symmetry. As applications, we give a mathematical explanation of the dilaton shift in string theory and prove that the Hull-Strominger system is preserved by T-duality.
Demanding $O(d,d)$-duality covariance, Hohm and Zwiebach have written down the action for the most general cosmology involving the metric, $b$-field and dilaton, to all orders in $alpha$ in the string frame. Remarkably, for an FRW metric-dilaton ansatz the equations of motion turn out to be quite simple, except for the presence of an unknown function of a single variable. If this unknown function satisfies some simple properties, it allows de Sitter solutions in the string frame. In this note, we write down the Einstein frame analogues of these equations, and make some observations that make the system tractable. Perhaps surprisingly, we find that a necessary condition for de Sitter solutions to exist is that the unknown function must satisfy a certain second order non-linear ODE. The solutions of the ODE do not have a simple power series expansion compatible with the leading supergravity expectation. We discuss possible interpretations of this fact. After emphasizing that all (potential) string and Einstein frame de Sitter solutions have a running dilaton, we write down the most general cosmologies with a constant dilaton in string/Einstein frame: these have power law scale factors.
We study generalized Kahler structures on N = (2, 2) supersymmetric Wess-Zumino-Witten models; we use the well known case of SU(2) x U(1) as a toy model and develop tools that allow us to construct the superspace action and uncover the highly nontrivial structure of the hitherto unexplored case of SU(3); these tools should be useful for studying many other examples. We find that different generalized Kahler structures on N = (2, 2) supersymmetric Wess-Zumino-Witten models can be found by T-duality transformations along affine isometries.