Prof Andre Lukas

Abstract:

Calabi–Yau manifolds can be obtained as hypersurfaces in toric varieties built from reflexive polytopes. We generate reflexive polytopes in various dimensions using a genetic algorithm. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate that our algorithm reproduces the full set of reflexive polytopes in two and three dimensions, and in four dimensions with a small number of vertices and points. Motivated by this result, we construct five-dimensional reflexive polytopes with the lowest number of vertices and points. By calculating the normal form of the polytopes, we establish that many of these are not in existing datasets and therefore give rise to new Calabi–Yau four-folds. In some instances, the Hodge numbers we compute are new as well.

Abstract:

The string theory landscape may include a multitude of ultraviolet embeddings of the Standard Model, but identifying these has proven difficult due to the enormous number of available string compactifications. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) represent a powerful class of discrete optimisation techniques that can efficiently deal with the immensity of the string landscape, especially when enhanced with input from quantum annealers. In this letter, we focus on geometric compactifications of the (Formula presented.) heterotic string theory compactified on smooth Calabi-Yau threefolds with Abelian bundles. We make use of analytic formulae for bundle-valued cohomology to impose the entire range of spectrum requirements, something that has not been possible so far. For manifolds with a relatively low number of Kähler parameters, we compare the GA search results with results from previous systematic scans, showing that GAs can find nearly all the viable solutions while visiting only a tiny fraction of the solution space. Moreover, we carry out GA searches on manifolds with a larger numbers of Kähler parameters where systematic searches are not feasible.

Abstract:

Calabi-Yau threefolds with infinitely many flops to isomorphic manifolds have an extended Kähler cone made up from an infinite number of individual Kähler cones. These cones are related by reflection symmetries across flop walls. We study the implications of this cone structure for mirror symmetry, by considering the instanton part of the prepotential in Calabi-Yau threefolds. We show that such isomorphic flops across facets of the Kähler cone boundary give rise to symmetry groups isomorphic to Coxeter groups. In the dual Mori cone, non-flopping curve classes that are identified under these groups have the same Gopakumar-Vafa invariants. This leads to instanton prepotentials invariant under Coxeter groups, which we make manifest by introducing appropriate invariant functions. For some cases, these functions can be expressed in terms of theta functions whose appearance can be linked to an elliptic fibration structure of the Calabi-Yau manifold.

Abstract:

We study flops of Calabi-Yau threefolds realised as Kähler-favourable complete intersections in products of projective spaces (CICYs) and identify two different types. The existence and the type of the flops can be recognised from the configuration matrix of the CICY, which also allows for constructing such examples. The first type corresponds to rows containing only 1s and 0s, while the second type corresponds to rows containing a single entry of 2, followed by 1s and 0s. We give explicit descriptions for the manifolds obtained after the flop and show that the second type of flop always leads to isomorphic manifolds, while the first type in general leads to non-isomorphic flops. The singular manifolds involved in the flops are determinantal varieties in the first case and more complicated in the second case. We also discuss manifolds admitting an infinite chain of flops and show how to identify these from the configuration matrix. Finally, we point out how to construct the divisor images and Picard group isomorphisms under both types of flops.