A<sc>bstract</sc> We explore the T-duality web of 6D Heterotic Little String Theories, focusing on flavor algebra reducing deformations. A careful analysis of the full flavor algebra, including Abelian factors, shows that the flavor rank is preserved under T-duality. This suggests a new T-duality invariant in addition to the Coulomb branch dimension and the two-group structure constants. We also engineer Little String Theories with non-simply laced flavor algebras, whose appearance we attribute to certain discrete 3-form fluxes in M-theory. Geometrically, these theories are engineered in F-theory with non-Kähler favorable K3 fibers. This geometric origin leads us to propose that freezing fluxes are preserved across T-duality. Along the way, we discuss various exotic models, including two inequivalent Spin(32)/ℤ2models that are dual to the same E8× E8theory, and a family of self-T-dual models.
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Conway subgroup symmetric compactifications redux
A bstract We extend the investigation in [1] of special toroidal compactifications of heterotic string theory for which the half-BPS states provide representations of subgroups of the Conway group. We also explore dual descriptions of these theories and find that they are all linked to either F-theory or type IIA string theory on K3 surfaces with symplectic automorphism groups that are the same Conway subgroups as those of the heterotic dual. The matching with type IIA K3 dual theories includes both the matching of symmetry groups and a comparison between the Narain lattice on the heterotic side and the cohomology lattice on the type IIA side. We present twelve examples where we can identify a type IIA dual K3 orbifold theory as the dual description of the heterotic theory. In addition, we include a supplementary Mathematica package that performs most of the computations required for these comparisons.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1818875
- PAR ID:
- 10456011
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of High Energy Physics
- Volume:
- 2022
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1029-8479
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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