Southeastern regional
mathematical string theory meeting

Next meeting:

Speakers tentatively include Scott Collier (MIT), Jakob Moritz (University Wisconsin Madison), Mithat Unsal (NCSU), Lara Anderson (VT), and Caoimhin Scanlon (VT).

Tentative schedule:

• Friday April 24: Optional informal dinner at India Garden restaurant at 210 Prices Fork Road in Blacksburg, at 7:30 pm. (If interested in joining, please contact ES by noon on Thurs April 23.)

• Saturday April 25: All talks will be in Robeson 103 (note unusual room).

  • 9:00 - 10:00: Scott Collier (MIT), "Recent developments in minimal string theory"
    • Abstract: I will review recently established dualities between solvable two-dimensional string theories and double-scaled matrix integrals. These theories may be thought of as irrational cousins of the older (p,q) minimal string theories. Throughout I will emphasize unsolved open problems.

  • 10:15 - 1:15: Mithat Unsal (NCSU), "Aspects of QCD in a constant self-dual background"
    • Abstract: We investigate the renormalization group flow and beta functions of Yang-Mills theory and adjoint QCD in a strong, stable, self-dual background field F. In deep UV, theory runs according to the standard beta function. Treating the background as a superselection sector, we find that the theory abelianizes below the scale F and remains strictly abelian in the deep infrared. In the intermediate weakly-coupled regime, the gauge coupling remarkably continues to run despite the absence of propagating charged degrees of freedom. Because all non-zero Landau levels decouple, this running is driven exclusively by exact zero modes, resulting in an integer-quantized beta function coefficient. Finally, we conjecture that this abelian dynamics is governed by an emergent non-commutative effective field theory that is free of pathological UV/IR mixing.

  • 11:30 - 1:15: Lunch

  • 1:15 - 2:15: Lara Anderson (VT), "An elliptic approach to Reid's fantasy"
    • Abstract: It is a long-standing problem to prove that the number of distinct topological types of Calabi-Yau threefolds is finite. A related proposition, Reid's fantasy, conjectures that all Calabi-Yau threefolds are connected in a single moduli space. Finiteness and connectivity are known to hold for the moduli space of elliptic and genus one fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds, which recently have been shown to constitute the vast majority of known Calabi-Yau threefolds. I will report results demonstrating that all non-fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds in two of the largest known classes (toric hypersurfaces and complete intersection Calabi-Yaus) are connected to fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds through simple classes of geometric transitions.This suggests that non-fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds are rare special cases that are reached by simplifying fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds, and provides a natural path towards proving finiteness and Reid's fantasy for Calabi-Yau threefolds.

  • 2:30 - 3:30: Jakob Moritz (Wisconsin), "F-theory uplifts of type IIB orientifolds"
    • Abstract: In order to understand moduli stabilization in 4d N=1 compactifications of type IIB string theory, one needs to compute the superpotential dependence on geometric and brane position moduli. But the lack of simple and explicit F-theory uplifts of generic orientifolds has so far obstructed addressing the stabilization of seven-brane moduli in generic models. In this talk, I will present a systematic construction of holomorphic Calabi-Yau orientifolds as hypersurfaces in toric orbifolds, starting from Calabi-Yau threefolds drawn from the Kreuzer-Skarke database. I will then construct their F-theory uplifts to elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds. Many of the resulting F-theory models turn out to arise from so-called nef-partitions of 6d reflexive polytopes, for which mirror symmetry is best understood due to seminal works by Batyrev and Borisov. This makes our models suitable for investigating the seven-brane superpotential. Based on upcoming work with Björn Hassfeld

  • 3:45 - 4:15: Caoimhin Scanlon (VT), "N=1 dualities from geometric transitions"
    • Abstract: I will describe conjectured dualities between 4d, N=1 compactifications arising from geometric transitions. We will look at how the moduli spaces are related across the transition, as well as seeing how this duality behaves in the case of non-simply connected manifolds.

• Group photos here, here, here.

Accessibility / accomodations:

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Eric Sharpe (VT office phone 540-381-0185) at least 10 business days prior to the event.

Coffee:

For visitors to the area:

• For those flying in, the closest airport is Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA).
• VT:
• Maps of VT's campus can be found here.
• Nearby hotels include, for example,
  • The Inn at Virginia Tech,
  • Hyatt Place Blacksburg/University,
  • Marriott Residence Inn
  • Hilton Garden Inn Blacksburg,
  • Holiday Inn Express Blacksburg-University,
  • Main Street Inn.
• On weekends (between Fri 5 pm and Mon 7 am), parking is free in any regular lot, unless otherwise marked.
• A map with Robeson Hall, local hotels, and coffee shops marked explicitly is here.

Funding:

Previous regional meetings:

Other upcoming meetings of interest:

In addition, September 19-21 is the Richmond geometry meeting at Virginia Commonwealth University, which has some string and string-adjacent talks.

Blacksburg area attractions:

• Taubman Museum of Art
• Center in the Square
• Virginia Museum of Transportation
• Link Museum
• Historic Smithfield Plantation
• Chateau Morrisette Winery and Restaurant
• Cascades Recreation Area
• Peaks of Otter
• Blue Ridge Parkway
• Dragon's Tooth Trail
• Natural Bridge
• American Shakespeare Center