Informal Pizza Seminar

Twist duality for flux backgrounds of type II and heterotic String Theory from Generalized Complex Geometry

David Andriot

Université de Paris

We present the recently discovered Twist duality which maps flux backgrounds with different topologies in type II or heterotic String Theory, via a local O(d,d) transformation. This duality was found in the context of Generalized Complex Geometry (GCG), which is an appropriate mathematical language for type II Supergravity. GCG was first used in the context of flux compactifications. We begin by briefly reviewing how GCG provides a mathematical characterization of internal manifolds, when one is looking for type II SUSY Minkowski flux vacua. Then we give more details on GCG, in order to understand the action of Twist duality. After presenting the latter, we give concrete type II solutions that are mapped this way. Finally, we turn to the heterotic String Theory, where no GCG description has been made so far. We introduce GCG objects, and then perform the Twist duality to reproduce the known Kähler/non-Kähler transition.