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Calabi-Yau compactifications have typically a large number of complex structure and/or K\"ahler moduli that have to be stabilised in phenomenologically-relevant vacua. The former can in principle be done by fluxes in type IIB solutions. However, the tadpole conjecture proposes that the number of stabilised moduli can at most grow linearly with the tadpole charge of the fluxes required for stabilisation. We scrutinise this conjecture in the $2^6$ Gepner model: a non-geometric background mirror dual to a rigid Calabi-Yau manifold, in the deep interior of moduli space. By constructing an extensive set of supersymmetric Minkowski flux solutions, we spectacularly confirm the linear growth, while achieving a slightly higher ratio of stabilised moduli to flux charge than the conjectured upper bound. As a byproduct, we obtain for the first time a set of solutions within the tadpole bound where all complex structure moduli are massive. Since the $2^6$ model has no K\"ahler moduli, these show that the massless Minkowski conjecture does not hold beyond supergravity., Comment: 33 pages, 2 figures. Bibliography contains a GitHub link to the accompanying codes and dataset

Recent work on flux compactifications suggests that the tadpole constraint generically allows only a limited number of complex structure moduli to become massive, i.e., be stabilized at quadratic order in the spacetime superpotential. We study the effects of higher-order terms systematically around the Fermat point in the $1^9$ Landau-Ginzburg model. This model lives at strong coupling and features no K\"ahler moduli. We show that, depending on the flux, several massless fields can indeed be stabilized in this fashion, and argue that this paves the way to explicit ${\mathcal N}=1$ Minkowski vacua without flat directions. Along the way, we complete the classification of integral flux vectors with small tadpole contribution. Thereby we are closing in on a future complete understanding of all possible flux configurations in the $1^9$ Landau-Ginzburg model., Comment: 41 pages, 2 figures

An extended search for anomaly free matter coupled $N=(1,0)$ supergravity in six dimension is carried out by two different methods which we refer to as the graphical and rank methods. In the graphical method the anomaly free models are built from single gauge group models, called nodes, which can only have gravitational anomalies. We search for anomaly free theories with gauge groups $G_1\times...\times G_n$ with $n=1,2,...$ (any number of factors) and $G_1\times...\times G_n \times U(1)_R$ where $n=1,2,3$ and $U(1)_R$ is the $R$-symmetry group. While we primarily consider models with the tensor multiplet number $n_T=1$, we also provide some results for $n_T\ne 1$ with an unconstrained number of charged hypermultiplets. We find a large number of ungauged anomaly free theories. However, in the case of $R$-symmetry gauged models with $n_T=1$, in addition to the three known anomaly free theories with $G_1\times G_2 \times U(1)_R$ type symmetry, we find only six new remarkably anomaly free models with symmetry groups of the form $G_1\times G_2\times G_3 \times U(1)_R$. In the case of $n_T=1$ and ungauged models, excluding low rank group factors and considering only low lying representations, we find all anomaly free theories. Remarkably, the number of group factors does not exceed four in this class. The proof of completeness in this case relies on a bound which we establish for a parameter characterizing the difference between the number of non-singlet hypermultiplets and the dimension of the gauge group., Comment: 42 pp + 33 pp apendix, 3 figures, 2 tables

In this paper we present a large class of flux backgrounds and solve the shortest vector problem in type IIB string theory on an orientifold of the $1^9$ Landau-Ginzburg model., Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure, 2 appendices. Version 2 has minor typographical corrections, and additional references

On construction sites, progress must be monitored continuously to ensure that the current state corresponds to the planned state in order to increase efficiency, safety and detect construction defects at an early stage. Autonomous mobile robots can document the state of construction with high data quality and consistency. However, finding a path that fully covers the construction site is a challenging task as it can be large, slowly changing over time, and contain dynamic objects. Existing approaches are either exploration approaches that require a long time to explore the entire building, object scanning approaches that are not suitable for large and complex buildings, or planning approaches that only consider 2D coverage. In this paper, we present a novel approach for planning an efficient 3D path for progress monitoring on large construction sites with multiple levels. By making use of an existing 3D model we ensure that all surfaces of the building are covered by the sensor payload such as a 360-degree camera or a lidar. This enables the consistent and reliable monitoring of construction site progress with an autonomous ground robot. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed planner on an artificial and a real building model, showing that much shorter paths and better coverage are achieved than with a traditional exploration planner., Comment: Published in: 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR)

Type IIB flux vacua based on Landau-Ginzburg models without K\"ahler deformations provide fully-controlled insights into the non-geometric and strongly-coupled string landscape. We show here that supersymmetric flux configurations at the Fermat point of the $1^9$ model, which were found long-time ago to saturate the orientifold tadpole, leave a number of massless fields, which however are not all flat directions of the superpotential at higher order. More generally, the rank of the Hessian of the superpotential is compatible with a suitably formulated tadpole conjecture for all fluxes that we found. Moreover, we describe new infinite families of supersymmetric 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ Minkowski and AdS vacua and confront them with several other swampland conjectures., Comment: 37 pages, 1 figure

We describe the linearized supergeometry of eleven dimensional supergravity with four off-shell local supersymmetries. We start with a background Minkowski 11D, N=1 superspace, and an additional ingredient of a global, constant, $G_2$-structure which facilitates the definition of a $4|4+7$ background superspace. A bottom-up construction of linear fluctuations of the geometric constituents (such as supervielbein, spin connection, and the super 3-form of 11D supergravity) is given in terms of 4D, N=1 prepotential superfields. This is complemented by a top-down description of the linearized supergeometry of the $4|4+7$ superspace dealing directly with torsion, curvature, and Bianchi identities. Torsion constraints that (combined with the Bianchi identities) lead to the preceding prepotential expressions of the gauge fields are identified. All irreducible consequences of the torsion and 4-form Bianchi identities are systematically derived except for dimension 2 Bianchi identities of the 4-form, and dimension $\tfrac 52$ Bianchi identities of torsion, which set bosonic curls of components of one lower dimension to zero., Comment: 49 pages

We derive the component structure of 11D, $N=1/8$ supergravity linearized around eleven-dimensional Minkowski space. This theory represents 4 local supersymmetries closing onto 4 of the 11 spacetime translations without the use of equations of motion. It may be interpreted as adding $201$ auxiliary bosons and $56$ auxiliary fermions to the physical supergravity multiplet for a total of $376+376$ components. These components and their transformations are organized into representations of $SL(2;\mathbf C)\times G_2$., Comment: v3: References added, modified footnote. Published version

Motivated by recent efforts to encode 11D supergravity in 4D N=1 superfields, we introduce a general covariant framework relevant for describing any higher dimensional supergravity theory in external 4D N=1 superspace with n additional internal coordinates. The superspace geometry admits both external and internal diffeomorphisms and provides the superfields necessary to encode the components of the higher dimensional vielbein, except for the purely internal sector, in a universal way that depends only on the internal dimension n. In contrast, the N=1 superfield content of the internal sector of the metric is expected to be highly case dependent and involve covariant matter superfields, with additional hidden higher dimensional Lorentz and supersymmetry transformations realized in a non-linear manner., Comment: 53 pages; v2: added references

We construct 5D, N = 1 supergravity in a 4D, N = 1 superspace with an extra bosonic coordinate. This represents four of the supersymmetries and the associated Poincar\'e symmetries manifestly. The remaining four supersymmetries and the rest of the Poincar\'e symmetries are represented linearly but not manifestly. In the linearized approximation, the action reduces to the known superspace result. As an application of the formalism, we construct the $\int A\wedge R\wedge R$ invariant in this superspace., Comment: Published version. Contains improvements over v1 including relation to new-minimal supergravity and various formulations of off-shell 5D, N=1 supergravity

Eleven-dimensional supergravity can be formulated in superspaces locally of the form $\mathbf X\times Y$ where $\mathbf X$ is 4D $N=1$ conformal superspace and $Y$ is an arbitrary 7-manifold admitting a $G_2$-structure. The eleven-dimensional 3-form and the stable 3-form on $Y$ define the lowest component of a gauge superfield on $\mathbf X \times Y$ that is chiral as a superfield on $\mathbf X$. This chiral field is part of a tensor hierarchy giving rise to a superspace Chern-Simons action and its real field strength defines a lifting of the Hitchin functional on $Y$ to the $G_2$ superspace $\mathbf X\times Y$. These terms are those of lowest order in a superspace Noether expansion in seven $N=1$ conformal gravitino superfields $\Psi$. In this paper, we compute the $O(\Psi)$ action to all orders in the remaining fields. The eleven-dimensional origin of the resulting non-linear structures is parameterized by the choice of a complex spinor on $Y$ encoding the off-shell 4D $N=1$ subalgebra of the eleven-dimensional super-Poincare algebra.

We give a formulation of linearized 11D supergravity in 4D, $N=1$ superspace keeping all eleven bosonic coordinates. The fields are fluctuations around $\mathbf M=\mathbf R^{4|4}\times Y$, where $Y$ is a background Riemannian 7-manifold admitting a $G_2$ structure. We embed the 11D fields into superfield representations of the 4D, $N=1$ superconformal algebra. These consist of the conformal graviton superfield, seven conformal gravitino superfields, a tensor hierarchy of superfields describing the 11D 3-form, and a non-abelian Kaluza-Klein vector multiplet gauging the tensor hierarchy by diffeomorphisms on $Y$. The quadratic action consists of the linearization of a superspace volume term and a Chern-Simons action for the gauged hierarchy coupled to the supergravity and gravitino superfields, and the full structure is fixed by superconformal and gauge invariance. When this action is projected to components, we recover the full linearized action of 11D supergravity., Comment: 33+16 pages

We give a geometric description of supersymmetric gravity/(non-)abelian $p$-form hierarchies in superspaces with 4D, $N = 1$ super-Poincare invariance. These hierarchies give rise to Chern-Simons-like invariants, such as those of the 5D, $N = 1$ graviphoton and the eleven-dimensional 3-form but also generalizations such as Green-Schwarz-like/BF-type couplings. Previous constructions based on prepotential superfields are reinterpreted in terms of $p$-forms in superspace thereby elucidating the underlying geometry. This vastly simplifies the calculations of superspace field-strengths, Bianchi identities, and Chern-Simons invariants. Using this, we prove the validity of a recursive formula for the conditions defining these actions for any such tensor hierarchy. Solving it at quadratic and cubic orders, we recover the known results for the BF-type and cubic Chern-Simons actions. As an application, we compute the quartic invariant $\sim A dA dA dA + \ldots$ relevant, for example, to seven-dimensional supergravity compactifications., Comment: 31 pages; v2: added references

We embed the component fields of eleven-dimensional supergravity into a superspace of the form $X\times Y$ where $X$ is the standard 4D, $N=1$ superspace and $Y$ is a smooth 7-manifold. The eleven-dimensional 3-form gives rise to a tensor hierarchy of superfields gauged by the diffeomorphisms of $Y$. It contains a natural candidate for a $G_2$ structure on $Y$, and being a complex of superforms, defines a superspace Chern-Simons invariant. Adding to this a natural generalization of the Riemannian volume on $X\times Y$ and freezing the (superspin-$\frac32$ and 1) supergravity fields on $X$, we obtain an approximation to the eleven-dimensional supergravity action that suffices to compute the scalar potential. In this approximation the action is the sum of the superspace Chern-Simons term and a superspace generalization of the Hitchin functional for $Y$ as a $G_2$-structure manifold. Integrating out auxiliary fields, we obtain the conditions for unbroken supersymmetry and the scalar potential. The latter reproduces the Einstein-Hilbert term on $Y$ in a form due to Bryant., Comment: Minor (typographical) errors corrected

We gauge the abelian hierarchy of tensor fields in 4D by a Lie algebra. The resulting non-abelian tensor hierarchy can be interpreted via an equivariant chain complex. We lift this structure to N=1 superspace by constructing superfield analogs for the tensor fields, along with covariant superfield strengths. Next we construct Chern-Simons actions, for both the bosonic and N=1 cases, and note that the condition of gauge invariance can be presented cohomologically. Finally, we provide an explicit realization of these structures by dimensional reduction, for example by reducing the three-form of eleven-dimensional supergravity into a superspace with manifest 4D, N=1 supersymmetry., Comment: 40pp, v2 added references

With the goal of constructing the supersymmetric action for all fields, massless and massive, obtained by Kaluza-Klein compactification from type II theory or M-theory in a closed form, we embed the (Abelian) tensor hierarchy of p-forms in four-dimensional, N=1 superspace and construct its Chern-Simons-like invariants. When specialized to the case in which the tensors arise from a higher-dimensional theory, the invariants may be interpreted as higher-dimensional Chern-Simons forms reduced to four dimensions. As an application of the formalism, we construct the eleven-dimensional Chern-Simons form in terms of four-dimensional, N=1 superfields., Comment: 31 pages

We calculate all tree level string theory vacuum to Dp-brane disc amplitudes involving an arbitrary RR-state and two NS-NS vertex operators. This computation was earlier performed by K. Becker, Guo, and Robbins for the simplest case of a RR-state of type C_{p-3}. Here we use the aid of a computer to calculate all possible three-point amplitudes involving a RR-vertex operator of type C_{p+1+2k}., Comment: 40 pages

We consider alpha'-corrections to Calabi-Yau compactifications of type II string theory. These were discussed from the string worldsheet approach many years ago in terms of supersymmetric non-linear sigma-models by Nemeschansky and Sen as well as Gross and Witten. There it was shown that once alpha'-corrections are included, the internal manifold solving the string equations of motion is still Calabi-Yau though not Ricci flat. In this brief note we review these results and compare with a space-time effective field theory approach, in which we show that SU(3)-holonomy manifolds become SU(3)-structure manifolds once such corrections are included., Comment: 9 pages

We calculate tree level scattering amplitudes for open strings using the NSR formalism. We present a streamlined symmetry-based and pedagogical approach to the computations, which we first develop by checking two-, three-, and four-point functions involving bosons and fermions. We calculate the five-point amplitude for massless gluons and find agreement with an earlier result by Brandt, Machado and Medina. We then compute the five-point amplitudes involving two and four fermions respectively, the general form of which has not been previously obtained in the NSR formalism. The results nicely confirm expectations from the supersymmetric $F^4$ effective action. Finally we use the prescription of Kawai, Lewellen and Tye (KLT) to compute the amplitudes for the closed string sector., Comment: 40+8 pages; v2: references added; v3: additional field theory checks made; published version; v4: minor corrections; results unchanged

In this talk we report on recent progress in describing compactifications of string theory and M-theory on G_2 and Spin(7) manifolds. We include the infinite set of alpha'-corrections and describe the entire tower of massless and massive Kaluza-Klein modes resulting from such compactifications., Comment: 9 pages

Using an effective field theory approach and the language of SU(N)-structures, we study higher derivative corrections to the supersymmetry constraints for compactifications of string or M-theory to Minkowski space. Our analysis is done entirely in the target space and is thus very general, and does not rely on theory-dependent details such as the amount of worldsheet supersymmetry. For manifolds of real dimension n<4 we show that the internal geometry remains flat and uncorrected. For n=4, 6, Kahler manifolds with SU(N)-holonomy can become corrected to SU(N)-structure, while preserving supersymmetry, once corrections are included., Comment: 27 pages

In this note we present a closed expression for the space-time effective action for all bosonic fields (massless and massive) obtained from the compactification of gravity or supergravity theories (such as type II or eleven-dimensional supergravities) from $D$ to $d$ space-time dimensions., Comment: 20 pages

In the approximation corresponding to the classical Einstein equations, which is valid at large radius, string theory compactification on a compact manifold $M$ of $G_2$ or $\mathrm{Spin}(7)$ holonomy gives a supersymmetric vacuum in three or two dimensions. Do $\alpha'$ corrections to the Einstein equations disturb this statement? Explicitly analyzing the leading correction, we show that the metric of $M$ can be adjusted to maintain supersymmetry. Beyond leading order, a general argument based on low energy effective field theory in spacetime implies that this is true exactly (not just to all finite orders in $\alpha'$). A more elaborate field theory argument that includes the massive Kaluza-Klein modes matches the structure found in explicit calculations. In M-theory compactification on a manifold $M$ of $G_2$ or Spin(7) holonomy, similar results hold to all orders in the inverse radius of $M$ -- but not exactly. The classical moduli space of $G_2$ metrics on a manifold $M$ is known to be locally a Lagrangian submanifold of $H^3(M,{\mathbf R})\oplus H^4(M,\mathbf{R})$. We show that this remains valid to all orders in the $\alpha'$ or inverse radius expansion., Comment: 34 pp