Aspects of Calabi-Yau Fourfold Compactifications

Abstract

The study of the geometry of Calabi-Yau fourfolds is relevant for compactifications of string theory, M-theory, and F-theory to various dimensions. In the first part of this thesis, we study the action of mirror symmetry on two-dimensional N = (2,2) effective theories obtained by compactifying Type IIA string theory on Calabi-Yau fourfolds. Our focus is on fourfold geometries with non-trivial three-form cohomology. The couplings of the massless zero-modes arising from an expansion of the three-form gauge-potential into these forms depend both on the complex structure deformations and the Kähler structure deformations of the Calabi-Yau fourfold. We argue that two holomorphic functions, called three-form periods, one for each kind of deformation, capture this information. These are exchanged under mirror symmetry, which allows us to derive them at the large complex structure and large volume point. We discuss the application of the resulting explicit expression to F-theory compactifications and their weak string coupling limit. The second part of this work introduces the mathematical machinery to derive the complete moduli dependence of the periods of non-trivial three-forms for fourfolds realized as hypersurfaces in toric ambient spaces. It sets the stage to determine Picard-Fuchs-type differential equations and integral expressions for these forms. The key tool is the observation that non-trivial three-forms on fourfold hypersurfaces in toric ambient spaces always stem from divisors that are build out of trees of toric surfaces fibered over Riemann surfaces. The three-form periods are then non-trivially related to the one-form periods of these Riemann surfaces. We conclude with two explicit example fourfolds for F-theory compactifications in which the three-form periods determine axion decay constants.