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The determinant of an anti-symmetric matrix $g$ is the square of its Pfaffian, which like the determinant is a polynomial in the entries of $g$. Studies of certain super conformal field theories (of class S) suggested a conjectural generalization of this, predicting that each of a series of other polynomials in the entries of $g$ also admit polynomial square roots. Among other consequences, this conjecture led to a characterization of the local Hitchin image for type D. Several important special cases had been established previously. In this paper we prove the conjecture in full.

We construct a measure on the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces with Ramond punctures using the super Mumford isomorphism and a super period map., Comment: 23 pages

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., Comment: 105 pages, 22 figures

Following the strategy outlined in [DP09] arXiv:math/0604617 and [DP22] arXiv:math/0604617 for bundles of rank 2 on a smooth projective curve of genus $2$, we construct flat connections over the moduli of stable bundles, with singularities along the wobbly locus. We verify that the associated $D$-modules are Hecke eigensheaves. The local systems are constructed by the nonabelian Hodge correspondence from Higgs bundles. The spectral varieties of the Higgs bundles are the Hitchin fibers corresponding to the Hecke eigenvalues., Comment: 330 pages, 2 figures

Motivated by their appearance as Coulomb branch geometries of Class S theories, we study the image of the local Hitchin map in tame Hitchin systems of type-D with residue in a special nilpotent orbit $\mathcal{O}_H$. We describe two important features which distinguish it from the type A case studied in arXiv:2008.01020. The first feature, which we term even type constraints, arise iff the partition label $[\mathcal{O}_H]$ has even parts. In this case, our Hitchin image is non-singular and thus different from the one studied by Baraglia and Kamgarpour. We argue that our Hitchin image always globalizes to being the Hitchin base of an integrable system. The second feature, which we term odd type constraints, is related to a particular finite group $\overline{A}_b(\mathcal{O}_H)$ being non-trivial. When this finite group is non-trivial, we have $\mid \overline{A}_b \mid$ choices for the local Hitchin base. Additionally, we also show that the finite group $\overline{A}_b(\mathcal{O}_H)$ encodes the size of the dual special piece., Comment: Revisions to Section 4.2. The precise conditions for part (i) of Theorem 2 are corrected and the Proof of the Theorem improved

While M- and F-theory compactifications describe a much larger class of vacua than perturbative string compactifications, they typically need singularities to generate non-abelian gauge fields and charged matter. The physical explanation involves M2-branes wrapped on vanishing cycles. Here we seek an alternative explanation that could address outstanding issues such as the description of nilpotent branches, stability walls, frozen singularities and so forth. To this end we use a model in which the three-form is related to the Chern-Simons form of a bundle. The model has a one-form non-abelian gauge symmetry which normally eliminates all the degrees of freedom associated to the bundle. However by restricting the transformations to preserve the bundle along the vanishing cycles, we may get new degrees of freedom associated to singularities, without appealing to wrapped M2-branes. The analysis can be simplified by gauge-fixing the one-form symmetry using higher-dimensional instanton equations. We explain how this mechanism leads to the natural emergence of phenomena such as enhanced ADE gauge symmetries, nilpotent branches, charged matter fields and their holomorphic couplings.

The supermoduli space $\frak{M}_{g,0,2r}$ is not projected for all $g \ge 5r +1 \ge 6$., Comment: 21 pages

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., Comment: 32 pages plus appendices, missing graphs added to list of terminal graphs

This paper proves a linear algebra result that has to do with the geometry of "widgets". For us a widget is a collection of n pairs of points in a vector space. (The pairs represent the different possible spin states of a particle.) We investigate linear relations among such collections. A corollary of our theorem was conjectured in arXiv:2208.02478v1 where it arose in an attempt to understand some issues in super string theory. In that paper an investigation of perturbative superstring theory with Ramond punctures required the special case when the ambient dimension is n. Here we prove the general case., Comment: 3 pages

The bad locus in the moduli of super Riemann surfaces with Ramond punctures parametrizes those super Riemann surfaces that have more than the expected number of independent closed holomorphic 1-forms. There is a super period map that depends on certain discrete choices. For each such choice, the period map blows up along a divisor that contains the bad locus. Our main result is that away from the bad locus, at least one of these period maps remains finite. In other words, we identify the bad locus as the intersection of the blowup divisors. The proof abstracts the situation into a question in linear algebra, which we then solve. We also give some bounds on the dimension of the bad locus., Comment: 13 pages; some references and minor clarifications added

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 $B_3( \Delta_4^\circ )$ 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 $B_3( \Delta^\circ )$ obtained from triangulations of certain 3-dimensional polytopes $\Delta^\circ$. The matter curves in $X_\Sigma \in B_3( \Delta^\circ )$ can be deformed to nodal curves which are the same for all spaces in $B_3( \Delta^\circ )$. Therefore, one can probe the vector-like spectra on the entire family $B_3( \Delta^\circ )$ 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. $B_3( \Delta_4^\circ )$ admits a jumping circuit, but the root bundle constraints pick the canonical bundle and no jump happens., Comment: 37 pages + appendix; fixes to computational mistakes; typos corrected

In previous work we showed that the Hurwitz space of W(E_6)-covers of the projective line branched over 24 points dominates via the Prym-Tyurin map the moduli space A_6 of principally polarized abelian 6-folds. Here we determine the 25 Hodge classes on the Hurwitz space of W(E_6)-covers corresponding to the 25 irreducible representations of the Weyl group W(E_6). This result has direct implications to the intersection theory of the toroidal compactification A_6. In the final part of the paper, we present an alternative, elementary proof of our uniformization result on A_6 via Prym-Tyurin varieties of type W(E_6)., Comment: 34 pages. Final version, to appear in PAMQ volume dedicated to Herb Clemens

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., Comment: 38 pages + appendix

Motivated by the connection to 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories, we study the global behavior of families of tamely-ramified $SL_N$ Hitchin integrable systems as the underlying curve varies over the Deligne-Mumford moduli space of stable pointed curves. In particular, we describe a flat degeneration of the Hitchin system to a nodal base curve and show that the behaviour of the integrable system at the node is partially encoded in a pair $(O,H)$ where $O$ is a nilpotent orbit and $H$ is a simple Lie subgroup of $F_{O}$, the flavour symmetry group associated to $O$. The family of Hitchin systems is nontrivially-fibered over the Deligne-Mumford moduli space. We prove a non-obvious result that the Hitchin bases fit together to form a vector bundle over the compactified moduli space. For the particular case of $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{0,4}$, we compute this vector bundle explicitly. Finally, we give a classification of the allowed pairs $(O,H)$ that can arise for any given $N$., Comment: 77pp

Motivated by engineering vector-like (Higgs) pairs in the spectrum of 4d F-theory compactifications, we combine machine learning and algebraic geometry techniques to analyze line bundle cohomologies on families of holomorphic curves. To quantify jumps of these cohomologies, we first generate 1.8 million pairs of line bundles and curves embedded in $dP_3$, for which we compute the cohomologies. A white-box machine learning approach trained on this data provides intuition for jumps due to curve splittings, which we use to construct additional vector-like Higgs-pairs in an F-Theory toy model. We also find that, in order to explain quantitatively the full dataset, further tools from algebraic geometry, in particular Brill--Noether theory, are required. Using these ingredients, we introduce a diagrammatic way to express cohomology jumps across the parameter space of each family of matter curves, which reflects a stratification of the F-theory complex structure moduli space in terms of the vector-like spectrum. Furthermore, these insights provide an algorithmically efficient way to estimate the possible cohomology dimensions across the entire parameter space., Comment: 42 pages + appendix

Folding of ADE-Dynkin diagrams according to graph automorphisms yields irreducible Dynkin diagrams of ABCDEFG-types. This folding procedure allows to trace back the properties of the corresponding simple Lie algebras or groups to those of ADE-type. In this article, we implement the techniques of folding by graph automorphisms for Hitchin integrable systems. We show that the fixed point loci of these automorphisms are isomorphic as algebraic integrable systems to the Hitchin systems of the folded groups away from singular fibers. The latter Hitchin systems are isomorphic to the intermediate Jacobian fibrations of Calabi--Yau orbifold stacks constructed by the first author. We construct simultaneous crepant resolutions of the associated singular quasi-projective Calabi--Yau threefolds and compare the resulting intermediate Jacobian fibrations to the corresponding Hitchin systems., Comment: 38 pages. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

We study the Geometric Langlands Conjecture (GLC) for rank two flat bundles on the projective line $C$ with tame ramification at five points $\{p_{1}, p_{2}, p_{3}, p_{4}, p_{5} \}$. In particular we construct the automorphic $D$-modules predicted by GLC on the moduli space of rank two parabolic bundles on $(C, \{p_{1}, p_{2}, p_{3}, p_{4}, p_{5} \})$. The construction uses non-abelian Hodge theory and a Fourier-Mukai transform along the fibers of the Hitchin fibration to reduce the problem to one in classical projective geometry on the intersection of two quadrics in $\mathbb{P}^{4}$., Comment: 243 pages, 8 figures, expanded and revised for publication

The Bagger-Witten line bundle is a line bundle over moduli spaces of two-dimensional SCFTs, related to the Hodge line bundle of holomorphic top-forms on Calabi-Yau manifolds. It has recently been a subject of a number of conjectures, but concrete examples have proven elusive. In this paper we collect several results on this structure, including a proposal for an intrinsic geometric definition over moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau manifolds and some additional concrete examples. We also conjecture a new criterion for UV completion of four-dimensional supergravity theories in terms of properties of the Bagger-Witten line bundle., Comment: 44 pages, LaTeX

Cohomological invariants of twisted wild character varieties as constructed by Boalch and Yamakawa are derived from enumerative Calabi-Yau geometry and refined Chern-Simons invariants of torus knots. Generalizing the untwisted case, the present approach is based on a spectral correspondence for meromorphic Higgs bundles with fixed conjugacy classes at the marked points. This construction is carried out for twisted wild character varieties associated to (l, kl-1) torus knots, providing a colored generalization of existing results of Hausel, Mereb and Wong as well as Shende, Treumann and Zaslow., Comment: 73 pages

We show that there are many compact subsets of the moduli space $M_g$ of Riemann surfaces of genus $g$ that do not intersect any symmetry locus. This has interesting implications for $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric conformal field theories in four dimensions., Comment: Update acknowledging recent developments

In this note we initiate a program to obtain global descriptions of Calabi-Yau moduli spaces, to calculate their Picard group, and to identify within that group the Hodge line bundle, and the closely-related Bagger-Witten line bundle. We do this here for several Calabi-Yau's obtained in [DW09] as crepant resolutions of the orbifold quotient of the product of three elliptic curves. In particular we verify in these cases a recent claim of [GHKSST16] by noting that a power of the Hodge line bundle is trivial -- even though in most of these cases the Picard group is infinite., Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures; v2: thorough revision, error corrected, added author

A string theoretic framework is constructed relating the cohomology of wild character varieties to refined stable pair theory and torus link invariants. Explicit conjectural formulas are derived for wild character varieties with a unique irregular point on the projective line. For this case the string theoretic construction leads to a conjectural colored generalization of existing results of Hausel, Mereb and Wong as well as Shende, Treumann and Zaslow., Comment: 77 pages

We provide the first explicit example of Type IIB string theory compactification on a globally defined Calabi-Yau threefold with torsion which results in a four-dimensional effective theory with a non-Abelian discrete gauge symmetry. Our example is based on a particular Calabi-Yau manifold, the quotient of a product of three elliptic curves by a fixed point free action of Z_2 x Z_2. Its cohomology contains torsion classes in various degrees. The main technical novelty is in determining the multiplicative structure of the (torsion part of) the cohomology ring, and in particular showing that the cup product of second cohomology torsion elements goes non-trivially to the fourth cohomology. This specifies a non-Abelian, Heisenberg-type discrete symmetry group of the four-dimensional theory., Comment: 17 pages

In this paper we explain how non-abelian Hodge theory allows one to compute the $L^2$ cohomology or middle perversity higher direct images of harmonic bundles and twistor D-modules in a purely algebraic manner. Our main result is a new algebraic description for the fiberwise $L^2$ cohomology of a tame harmonic bundle or the corre- sponding flat bundle or tame polystable parabolic Higgs bundle. Specifically we give a formula for the Dolbeault version of the $L^2$ pushforward in terms of a modification of the Dolbeault complex of a Higgs bundle which takes into account the monodromy weight filtration in the normal directions of the horizontal parabolic divisor. The parabolic structure of the higher direct image is obtained by analyzing the V -filtration at a normal crossings point. We prove this algebraic formula for semistable families of curves.

There is a beautiful correspondence between configurations of lines on a rational surface and tautological bundles over that surface. We extend this correspondence to families, by means of a generalized Fourier-Mukai transform that relates spectral data to bundles over a rational surface fibration.

Starting from a beautiful idea of Kanev, we construct a uniformization of the moduli space A_6 of principally polarized abelian 6-folds in terms of curves and monodromy data. We show that the general ppav of dimension 6 is a Prym-Tyurin variety corresponding to a degree 27 cover of the projective line having monodromy the Weyl group of the E_6 lattice. Along the way, we establish numerous facts concerning the geometry of the Hurwitz space of such E_6-covers, including: (1) a proof that the canonical class of the Hurwitz space is big, (2) a concrete geometric description of the Hodge-Hurwitz eigenbundles with respect to the Kanev correspondence and (3) a description of the ramification divisor of the Prym-Tyurin map from the Hurwitz space to A_6 in the terms of syzygies of the Abel-Prym-Tyurin curve., Comment: 46 pages, numerous changes. To appear in J. Reine Angew. Mathematik

Discrete gauge groups naturally arise in F-theory compactifications on genus-one fibered Calabi-Yau manifolds. Such geometries appear in families that are parameterized by the Tate-Shafarevich group of the genus-one fibration. While the F-theory compactification on any element of this family gives rise to the same physics, the corresponding M-theory compactifications on these geometries differ and are obtained by a fluxed circle reduction of the former. In this note, we focus on an element of order three in the Tate-Shafarevich group of the general cubic. We discuss how the different M-theory vacua and the associated discrete gauge groups can be obtained by Higgsing of a pair of five-dimensional U(1) symmetries. The Higgs fields arise from vanishing cycles in $I_2$-fibers that appear at certain codimension two loci in the base. We explicitly identify all three curves that give rise to the corresponding Higgs fields. In this analysis the investigation of different resolved phases of the underlying geometry plays a crucial r\^ole., Comment: 13 pages

We study the moduli space of A/2 half-twisted gauged linear sigma models for NEF Fano toric varieties. Focusing on toric deformations of the tangent bundle, we describe the vacuum structure of many (0,2) theories, in particular identifying loci in parameter space with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking or divergent ground ring correlators. We find that the parameter space of such an A/2 theory and its ground ring is in general a moduli stack, and we show in examples that with suitable stability conditions it is possible to obtain a simple compactification of the moduli space of smooth A/2 theories., Comment: 44 pages, xy-pic figures

The first obstruction to splitting a supermanifold S is one of the three components of its super Atiyah class, the two other components being the ordinary Atiyah classes on the reduced space M of the even and odd tangent bundles of S. We evaluate these classes explicitly for the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces ("super moduli space") and its reduced space, the moduli space of spin curves. These classes are interpreted in terms of certain extensions arising from line bundles on the square of the varying (super) Riemann surface. These results are used to give a new proof of the non-projectedness of ${\mathfrak{M}}_{g,1}$, the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces with one puncture.

A string theoretic derivation is given for the conjecture of Hausel, Letellier, and Rodriguez-Villegas on the cohomology of character varieties with marked points. Their formula is identified with a refined BPS expansion in the stable pair theory of a local root stack, generalizing previous work of the first two authors in collaboration with G. Pan. Haiman's geometric construction for Macdonald polynomials is shown to emerge naturally in this context via geometric engineering. In particular this yields a new conjectural relation between Macdonald polynomials and refined local orbifold curve counting invariants. The string theoretic approach also leads to a new spectral cover construction for parabolic Higgs bundles in terms of holomorphic symplectic orbifolds., Comment: 77 pages

We prove that for genus greater than or equal to 5, the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces is not projected (and in particular is not split): it cannot be holomorphically projected to its underlying reduced manifold. Physically, this means that certain approaches to superstring perturbation theory that are very powerful in low orders have no close analog in higher orders. Mathematically, it means that the moduli space of super Riemann surfaces cannot be constructed in an elementary way starting with the moduli space of ordinary Riemann surfaces. It has a life of its own., Comment: 57 pp

F-theory compactifications on elliptic Calabi-Yau manifolds may be related to IIb compactifications by taking a certain limit in complex structure moduli space, introduced by A. Sen. The limit has been characterized on the basis of SL(2,Z) monodromies of the elliptic fibration. Instead, we introduce a stable version of the Sen limit. In this picture the elliptic Calabi-Yau splits into two pieces, a P^1-bundle and a conic bundle, and the intersection yields the IIb space-time. We get a precise match between F-theory and perturbative type IIb. The correspondence is holographic, in the sense that physical quantities seemingly spread in the bulk of the F-theory Calabi-Yau may be rewritten as expressions on the log boundary. Smoothing the F-theory Calabi-Yau corresponds to summing up the D(-1)-instanton corrections to the IIb theory., Comment: 41 pp, 1 figure, LaTeX

We establish a new weak coupling limit in F-theory. The new limit may be thought of as the process in which a local model bubbles off from the rest of the Calabi-Yau. The construction comes with a small deformation parameter $t$ such that computations in the local model become exact as $t \to 0$. More generally, we advocate a modular approach where compact Calabi-Yau geometries are obtained by gluing together local pieces (log Calabi-Yau spaces) into a normal crossing variety and smoothing, in analogy with a similar cutting and gluing approach to topological field theories. We further argue for a holographic relation between F-theory on a degenerate Calabi-Yau and a dual theory on its boundary, which fits nicely with the gluing construction., Comment: 59 pp, 2 figs, LaTeX

We study the moduli-dependent prefactor of M5-instanton corrections to the superpotential in four-dimensional F-theory compactifications. In light of the M-theory and type IIb limits and also heterotic duality, we propose that the explicit moduli dependence of the prefactor can be computed by a study of zero modes localized at intersections between the instanton and seven-branes. We present an instanton prefactor in an E_6 F-theory GUT which does not admit a heterotic dual and show that it vanishes if and only if a point of E_8 enhancement is present in the instanton worldvolume. More generically, we discuss the relationship between points of E_8 and superpotential zeroes and give sufficient conditions for such a point to cause a zero, even for an SU(5) GUT. We scan a large class of compactifications for instanton physics and demonstrate that many instantons have the same prefactor structure. We discuss the associated implications and complications for moduli stabilization. We present an explicit resolution and construction of G-flux in a generic E_6 GUT and identify a global compactification of the local model spectral cover which happens to facilitate prefactor computations. Via a Leray spectral sequence, we demonstrate the relationship between right-movers of heterotic worldsheet instantons, 3-3 strings of euclidean D3 instantons, and the Fermi zero modes of M5-instantons., Comment: 86 pages

Recently we discussed new aspects of degenerate brane configurations, which can appear in the context of heterotic strings, perturbative type II, or M/F-theory. Here we continue our study of degenerate brane configurations, focussing on two applications. First we show how the notion of gluing can be viewed as a tool to engineer flavour structures in F-theory and type IIb, such as models with bulk matter and with Yukawa textures arising from the holomorphic zero mechanism. We find that there is in principle enough structure to solve some of the major flavour problems without generating exotics. In particular, we show how this addresses the mu-problem, doublet/triplet splitting and proton decay. Secondly, we describe the Fourier-Mukai transform of heterotic monad constructions, which occur in the large volume limit of heterotic linear sigma model vacua. Degenerate structures again often appear. One may use this to explore strong coupling phenomena using heterotic/F-theory duality., Comment: V2: 61 pp, 2 figs, LaTex. Published version

We construct supersymmetric compactifications of E_8 \times E_8 heterotic string theory which realise exactly the massless spectrum of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) at low energies. The starting point is the standard embedding on a Calabi-Yau threefold which has Hodge numbers (h^11,h^21) = (1,4) and fundamental group Z_12, which gives an E_6 grand unified theory with three net chiral generations. The gauge symmetry is then broken to that of the standard model by a combination of discrete Wilson lines and continuous deformation of the gauge bundle. On eight distinct branches of the moduli space, we find stable bundles with appropriate cohomology groups to give exactly the massless spectrum of the MSSM., Comment: 37 pages including appendices

The purpose of this paper is to present a mathematical theory of the half-twisted $(0,2)$ gauged linear sigma model and its correlation functions that agrees with and extends results from physics. The theory is associated to a smooth projective toric variety $X$ and a deformation $\sheaf E$ of its tangent bundle $T_X$. It gives a quantum deformation of the cohomology ring of the exterior algebra of $\sheaf E^*$. We prove that in the general case, the correlation functions are independent of `nonlinear' deformations. We derive quantum sheaf cohomology relations that correctly specialize to the ordinary quantum cohomology relations described by Batyrev in the special case $\sheaf E = T_X$.

In this paper, we will outline computations of quantum sheaf cohomology for deformations of tangent bundles of toric varieties, for those deformations describable as deformations of toric Euler sequences. Quantum sheaf cohomology is a heterotic analogue of quantum cohomology, a quantum deformation of the classical product on sheaf cohomology groups, that computes nonperturbative corrections to analogues of (27*)^3 couplings in heterotic string computations. Previous computations have relied on either physics-based GLSM techniques or computation-intensive brute-force Cech cohomology techniques. This paper describes methods for greatly simplifying mathematical computations, and derives more general results than previously obtainable with GLSM techniques. We will outline recent results (rigorous proofs will appear elsewhere)., Comment: LaTeX, 39 pages; v2: references added

We consider several aspects of holomorphic brane configurations. We recently showed that an important part of the defining data of such a configuration is the gluing morphism, which specifies how the constituents of a configuration are glued together, but is usually assumed to be vanishing. Here we explain the rules for computing spectra and interactions for configurations with non-vanishing gluing VEVs. We further give a detailed discussion of the D-terms for Higgs bundles, spectral covers and ALE fibrations. We highlight a stability criterion that applies to degenerate configurations of the spectral data, and address an apparent discrepancy between the field theory and ALE descriptions. This allows us to show that one gets walls of marginal stability in F-theory even though they are absent in the 11d supergravity description. We also propose a numerical approach for approximating the hermitian-Einstein metric of the Higgs bundle using balanced metrics., Comment: V2: 55p, 1 fig, LaTeX. Published version

We analyze M5-instantons in F-theory, or equivalently D3-instantons with varying axio-dilaton, in the presence of 7-brane gauge groups. The chiral two-form on the M5-brane plays an important role, because it couples the M5-brane to vector multiplets and charged chiral fields. The chiral two-form does not have a semi-classical description. However if the worldvolume of the M5 admits a fibration over a curve with surface fibers, then we can reduce the worldvolume theory to an `MSW' CFT by shrinking the surface. For this class of MSW instantons, we can use heterotic methods to do computations. We explain this in some detail using the physical gauge approach. We further compare M5-instantons with D3-instantons in perturbative type IIb and find some striking differences. In particular, we show that instanton zero modes tend to disappear and constraints from chirality on instanton contributions to the superpotential evaporate for finite string coupling., Comment: V2: 69p, LaTeX. Published version

F-theory admits 7-branes with exceptional gauge symmetries, which can be compactified to give phenomenological four-dimensional GUT models. Here we study general supersymmetric compactifications of eight-dimensional Yang-Mills theory. They are mathematically described by meromorphic Higgs bundles, and therefore admit a spectral cover description. This allows us to give a rigorous and intrinsic construction of local models in F-theory. We use our results to prove a no-go theorem showing that local SU(5) models with three generations do not exist for generic moduli. However we show that three-generation models do exist on the Noether-Lefschetz locus. We explain how F-theory models can be mapped to non-perturbative orientifold models using a scaling limit proposed by Sen. Further we address the construction of global models that do not have heterotic duals. We show how one may obtain a contractible worldvolume with a two-cycle not inherited from the bulk, a necessary condition for implementing GUT breaking using fluxes. We also show that the complex structure moduli in global models can be arranged so that no dimension four or five proton decay can be generated., Comment: 48p, 1 fig, LaTeX