Higgs bundles for M-theory on G2-manifolds

Braun, Andreas P.; Cizel, Sebastjan; Hübner, Max; Schäfer-Nameki, Sakura

Abstract

M-theory compactified on G2-holonomy manifolds results in 4d N = 1 supersymmetric gauge theories coupled to gravity. In this paper we focus on the gauge sector of such compactifications by studying the Higgs bundle obtained from a partially twisted 7d super Yang-Mills theory on a supersymmetric three-cycle M3. We derive the BPS equations and find the massless spectrum for both abelian and non-abelian gauge groups in 4d. The mathematical tool that allows us to determine the spectrum is Morse theory, and more generally Morse-Bott theory. The latter generalization allows us to make contact with twisted connected sum (TCS) G2-manifolds, which form the largest class of examples of compact G2-manifolds. M-theory on TCS G2-manifolds is known to result in a non-chiral 4d spectrum. We determine the Higgs bundle for this class of G2-manifolds and provide a prescription for how to engineer singular transitions to models that have chiral matter in 4d.

Citation

Braun, A. P., Cizel, S., Hübner, M., & Schäfer-Nameki, S. (2019). Higgs bundles for M-theory on G2-manifolds. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2019(3), Article 199. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep03%282019%29199

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 8, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Mar 29, 2019
• Publication Date: Mar 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 12, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 10, 2020
• Journal: Journal of High Energy Physics
• Print ISSN: 1126-6708
• Electronic ISSN: 1029-8479
• Publisher: Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2019
• Issue: 3
• Article Number: 199
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep03%282019%29199
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1311730
• Related Public URLs: http://arxiv.org/abs/arXiv:1812.06072