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We show that compactifications of the heterotic string on a circle exhibit at the boundary of moduli space ($R\to 0$, or equivalently the decompactification limit $R \to \infty$) a tower of winding or momentum modes that enhance the $E_8 \times E_8$ or $SO(32)$ gauge symmetry to the affine algebras $(E_9 \oplus E_9)/\sim$ (the identification means that the two copies of $E_9$ share the same central extension) and $\hat{D}_{16}$, respectively. We also prove that these towers of modes satisfy the lattice Weak Gravity and Repulsive Force Conjectures., Comment: 27 pages, 3 tables, 1 figure

Compactifications of the heterotic string on special T^d/Z_2 orbifolds realize a landscape of string models with 16 supercharges and a gauge group on the left-moving sector of reduced rank d+8. The momenta of untwisted and twisted states span a lattice known as the Mikhailov lattice II_{(d)}, which is not self-dual for d > 1. By using computer algorithms which exploit the properties of lattice embeddings, we perform a systematic exploration of the moduli space for d=1 and 2, and give a list of maximally enhanced points where the U(1)^{d+8} enhances to a rank d+8 non-Abelian gauge group. For d = 1, these groups are simply-laced and simply-connected, and in fact can be obtained from the Dynkin diagram of E_{10}. For d = 2 there are also symplectic and doubly-connected groups. For the latter we find the precise form of their fundamental groups from embeddings ofof lattices into the dual of II_{(2)}. Our results easily generalize to d > 2., 65 pages. v2: corrected global groups

We present a new class of dualities relating non-geometric Calabi-Yau compactifications of type II string theory to T-fold compactifications of the heterotic string, both preserving four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry. The non-geometric Calabi-Yau space is a $K3$ fibration over $T^2$ with non-geometric monodromies in the duality group $O(\Gamma_{4,20})$; this is dual to a heterotic reduction on a $T^4$ fibration over $T^2$ with the $O(\Gamma_{4,20})$ monodromies now viewed as heterotic T-dualities. At a point in moduli space which is a minimum of the scalar potential, the type II compactification becomes an asymmetric Gepner model and the monodromies become automorphisms involving mirror symmetries, while the heterotic dual is an asymmetric toroidal orbifold. We generalise previous constructions to ones in which the automorphisms are not of prime order. The type II construction is perturbatively consistent, but the naive heterotic dual is not modular invariant. Modular invariance on the heterotic side is achieved by including twists in the circles dual to the winding numbers round the $T^2$, and this in turn introduces non-perturbative phases depending on NS5-brane charge in the type II construction., Comment: 50 pages, no figure

We compute the one-loop threshold corrections to the gauge and gravitational couplings for a large class of N=2 non-K\"ahler heterotic compactifications with three-form flux, consisting in principal two-torus bundles over K3 surfaces. We obtain the results as sums of BPS-states contributions, depending on the topological data of the bundle. We analyse also the worldsheet non-perturbative corrections coming from instantons wrapping the torus fiber, that are mapped under S-duality to D-instanton corrections in type I flux compactifications., Comment: 36 pages

We investigate M-theory and heterotic compactifications to 7 and 3 dimensions. In 7 dimensions we discuss a class of massive supergravities that arise from M-theory on K3 and point out obstructions to realizing these theories in a dual heterotic framework with a geometric description. Taking M-theory further down to 3 dimensions on K3xK3 with a choice of flux leads to a rich landscape of theories with various amounts of supersymmetry, including those preserving 6 supercharges. We explore possible heterotic realizations of these vacua and prove a no--go theorem: every heterotic geometry that preserves 6 supercharges preserves 8 supercharges., Comment: 31 pages; v2: added appendix B with details on flux for N=3, D=3 M-theory vacua

We study the constraints of spacetime supersymmetry for perturbative three- and two-dimensional Minkowski vacua of the critical heterotic string. Assuming a standard RNS construction of the spacetime supersymmetry generators and a compact unitary internal superconformal worldsheet theory, we describe the worldsheet structures associated to various spacetime supersymmetries. In three dimensions we show that there are no CFT surprises: each allowed spacetime supersymmetry is realized by a supergravity compactification. As a recent orbifold construction shows, in two dimensions there are more exotic possibilities, and we discuss how these fit into our analysis., 27 pages; D=2 mistake corrected; typos fixed and references added