Top Banner
On the Geometry of the Strominger System by Teng Fei B.Sc., Tsinghua University (2011) Submitted to the Department of Mathematics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUN 1 6 2016 LIBRARIES ARCHVES June 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2016. All rights reserved. Signature redacted Author............ Sic Certified by.. Certified by. 6) Department of Mathematics A ril 9 216 gnature redacted Shing-Tung Yau William Caspar Graust 4 in Professor of Mathematics Sig nature redacted Thesis Supervisor ................... Victor Guillemin Professor of Mathematics Thesis Supervisor Signature redacted Accepted by.. William P. Minicozzi II Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Theses p ,I
97

Sicgnature redacted

Nov 26, 2021

Download

Documents

dariahiddleston
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1: Sicgnature redacted

On the Geometry of the Strominger System

by

Teng Fei

B.Sc., Tsinghua University (2011)

Submitted to the Department of Mathematics

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics

at the

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTEOF TECHNOLOGY

JUN 1 6 2016

LIBRARIESARCHVES

June 2016

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2016. All rights reserved.

Signature redactedAuthor............

SicCertified by..

Certified by.

6) Department of MathematicsA ril 9 216

gnature redactedShing-Tung Yau

William Caspar Graust 4in Professor of Mathematics

Sig nature redacted Thesis Supervisor

...................Victor Guillemin

Professor of MathematicsThesis Supervisor

Signature redactedAccepted by..

William P. Minicozzi II

Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Theses

p ,I

Page 2: Sicgnature redacted

2

Page 3: Sicgnature redacted

On the Geometry of the Strominger System

by

Teng Fei

Submitted to the Department of Mathematicson April 29, 2016, in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy in Mathematics

Abstract

The Strominger system is a system of partial differential equations describing thegeometry of compactifications of heterotic superstrings with flux. Mathematically itcan be viewed as a generalization of Ricci-flat metrics on non-Kshler Calabi-Yau 3-folds. In this thesis, I will present some explicit solutions to the Strominger system ona class of noncompact Calabi-Yau 3-folds. These spaces include the important local

models like C' as well as both deformed and resolved conifolds. Along the way, I alsogive a new construction of non-Kihler Calabi-Yau 3-folds and prove a few results incomplex geometry.

Thesis Supervisor: Shing-Tung YauTitle: William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics

Thesis Supervisor: Victor GuilleminTitle: Professor of Mathematics

3

.,--,, .......... .I'll

Page 4: Sicgnature redacted

4

Page 5: Sicgnature redacted

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisors Prof. Shing-Tung Yau

and Prof. Victor Guillemin for their constant help and encouragement along the way.

To quote The Analects, "I looked up to them, and they seemed to become more high;

I tried to penetrate them, and they seemed to become more firm". ( e

I am greatly indebted to communications with Claude LeBrun, Li-Sheng Tseng,

Valentino Tosatti and Bao-Sen Wu. Their knowledge and insight helped shaping this

thesis.

For everyone in Yau's school, the experience of Yau's Student Seminar is unfor-

gettable. I wish to thank Yu-Wei Fan, Peng Gao, An Huang, Atsushi Kanazawa,

Siu-Cheong Lau, Yu-Shen Lin, Peter Smillie, Chung-Jun Tsai, Yi Xie, Cheng-Long

Yu, Bo-Yu Zhang, Jie Zhou and Jonathan Zhu for their inspiring talks. I benefited

tremendously from their contributions.

Thanks also go to Nate Bottman, Chen-Jie Fan, Qiang Guang, Francesco Lin,

Hai-Hao Lu, Ao Sun, Xin Sun, Guo-Zhen Wang, Hong Wang, Wen-Zhe Wei, Ben

Yang, Yi Zeng, Rui-Xun Zhang, Xin Zhou, Xu-Wen Zhu and Perverse Sheaf. You

made my years at MIT so memorable!

Special thanks are due to my family, especially my parents and grandparents, for

their everlasting support and love. Finally I would like to thank my beloved wife Yi

Zhang, to whom this thesis is dedicated.

5

Page 6: Sicgnature redacted

6

Page 7: Sicgnature redacted

Contents

1 Introduction 9

2 Preliminaries 13

2.1 Basics on Complex Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.2 Differential Geometry of Complex Vector Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.3 SU(3) and G 2 Structures ....... ......................... 27

2.4 Conifold Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

2.5 Hyperkhhler Manifolds and Their Twistor Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3 The Geometry of the Strominger System 37

3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

3.2 An Example: Left-invariant Solutions on the Deformed Conifold . . . 42

3.3 Relation with G 2-structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4 A Class of Local Models 51

4.1 The Geometry of Calabi-Gray Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

4.2 Degenerate Solutions on Calabi-Gray Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

4.3 Construction of Local Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

A On Chern-Ricci-Flat Balanced Metrics 81

Bibliography 89

7

Page 8: Sicgnature redacted

8

Page 9: Sicgnature redacted

Chapter 1

Introduction

The marriage between mathematics and physics is one of the most exciting scientific

developments in the second half of 20th century. Though many years have passed by,

those sweet moments keep stirring up our minds, bringing unpredicted illuminations

to our lives.

A particularly lovely story is the seminal contribution of Candelas-Horowitz-

Strominger-Witten [251, where they embraced the remarkable world of Calabi-Yau

geometries into string theory. To be precise, Candelas-Horowitz-Strominger-Witten

discovered that, by considering 10d superstring theory on the metric product M 4 x X,

where M4 is a maximally symmetric spacetime, Ar = 1 spacetime supersymmetry ef-

fectively restricts the geometry of the internal manifold X. In particular, X must

be a complex 3-fold equipped with a holomorphic nowhere vanishing (3, 0)-form Q

and a balanced (semi-Kahler) metric w. For the more familiar setting where the flux

vanishes, (X, w) has to be Kdhler and Ricci-flat. Such geometric objects are more

commonly known as Calabi-Yau spaces, thanks to the foundational work of Calabi

[17, 181 and Yau [116, 118J.

Replacing the metric product by a warped product, Strominger [1031 derived a

more general system of partial differential equations describing the geometry of com-

pactification of heterotic superstrings with flux (torsion). This is the so-called Stro-

minger system, the main subject to study in my thesis.

Among many other results, Strominger showed that in real dimension 6, the inter-

9

Page 10: Sicgnature redacted

nal manifold X has to be a complex 3-fold with trivial canonical bundle. Moreover,

X is equipped with a Hermitian metric w and a Hermitian holomorphic vector bun-

dle (E, h). Let Q be a nowhere vanishing holomorphic (3,0)-form on X. Then the

Strominger system consists of the following equations:

(1.1) d*w = d log ||0||,,

(1.2) F A w2 = 0, FO,2 = F2 ,0 = 0,

a'(1.3) iBw=- (Tr-(R A R) - Tr(F A F)) .

4

In the above equations, a' is a positive coupling constant, while R and F are

curvature 2-forms of T1' 0X and E respectively, computed with respect to certain

metric connections. Equation (1.1) and (1.2) are consequences of M = 1 supersym-

metry, while Equations (1.3) comes from the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation

mechanism.

Compared with its Calabi-Yau counterpart, the beauty and difficulty of the Stro-

minger system lies in the fact that the inner manifold X can be non-Kdhler. Recall

that a Hermitian manifold is a complex manifold equipped with a Hermitian metric,

which can be characterized by a positive (1,1)-form w. The metric is called Kdhler if

w is closed. We shall call a complex manifold non-Kdhler if it does not support any

Kdhler metric.

Kshler manifolds have very beautiful properties, which arise from the compati-

bility of the complex-analytic and Riemannian structure. As a result we may em-

ploy both complex analytic and Riemannian techniques to study them. Such tech-

niques have led to extremely elegant theories and theorems. To name a few, we

have Hodge theory, Kodaira-Spencer's deformation theory, Deligne-Griffiths-Morgan-

Sullivan's rational homotopy theory and so on.

Another great example in this line is Yau's solution to the Calabi conjecture, as it

stands at the intersection of nonlinear partial differential equations, complex algebraic

geometry and theoretical physics. By solving a complex Monge-Ampbre equation, Yau

showed that within any fixed Kahler class on a compact Kdhler manifold, there is a

10

Page 11: Sicgnature redacted

unique Kdhler metric with prescribed Ricci form. In particular, when the manifold

has vanishing first Chern class, there exists a unique Ricci-flat Khler metric in each

Kihler class. Hence these Ricci-flat metrics can be regarded as canonical metrics in

this Calabi-Yau setting.

However, when turning to the much broader kingdom of non-Kdhler manifolds,

we find ourselves disarmed. The failure of Khler identities makes the Hodge theory

not so satisfactory; the lack of Kahler form and 00-lemma increases the complexity

of Monge-Ampere type equation drastically. To summarize, we are short of tools to

understand the non-Kiffhler world.

This situation may well be demonstrated in the problem of finding canonical

Hermitian metrics. Nevertheless, there are still many things we can do. We shall

approach canonical metrics on non-Kishler Calabi-Yau 3-folds through the study of

the Strominger system, which is a natural generalization of Ricci-flat Kahler metrics

from the viewpoint of heterotic string theory by turning on fluxes.

Besides the interest from physics, there are also mathematical motivations to

understand the geometry of the Strominger system. The famous Reid's fantasy [1021

indicates that all the reasonably nice compact 3-folds with trivial canonical bundle

can be connected with each other via conifold transitions, meanwhile the price to

pay is to embrace the wild world of non-Kifhler Calabi-Yau's. Reid's fantasy is very

important in the study of moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau 3-folds, where a key problem is

to understand the degeneration behavior on the boundary of moduli spaces. Therefore

it would be very helpful if we can put good metrics on these Calabi-Yau 3-folds. For

the Kdhler ones, we have the canonical choice of Ricci-flat metrics; on the other hand,

the Strominger system may serve as a guidance to "canonical" metrics on non-Kihler

Calabi-Yau 3-folds.

Compared to the well-understood Kihler case, one of the biggest problems in

understanding the Strominger system is the lack of nontrivial examples. In fact,

it is not until more than twenty years later since Strominger's work that the first

non-perturbative solution was constructed by Fu and Yau [59]. In this thesis, I will

provide some new explicit non-perturbative solutions to the Strominger system on a

11

Page 12: Sicgnature redacted

class of noncompact Calabi-Yau 3-folds constructed from twistor spaces of hyperkihler

4-manifolds. The upshot is the following theorem.

Theorem A.

Let N be a hyperksihler 4-manifold and let p : Z -+ CP be its holomorphic twistor

fibration. By removing an arbitrary fiber of p from Z, we get a noncompact 3-fold

X which has trivial canonical bundle. For such X's, we can always construct explicit

solutions to the Strominger system on them.

In particular, the spaces described above contain C 3 and the resolved conifold

0(-1, -1) as special examples. These spaces are important local models for non-

Kdhler Calabi-Yau 3-folds. Therefore potentially we may use the solutions obtained

in Theorem A to construct more general geometric models for compactification of

heterotic superstrings.

This thesis is organized as follows. In Chapter 2 we review the necessary math-

ematical backgrounds for later use. Chapter 3 is an introduction to the geometry

of Strominger system. As an example, we write down homogeneous solutions to the

Strominger system on the deformed conifold SL(2, C). Chapter 4 is devoted to the

proof of Theorem A. Along the way we also provide a few related constructions and

theorems in complex geometry.

It should be mentioned that some of the results presented in this thesis have

already appeared in my joint work with my advisor S.-T. Yau [401 and my preprints

[37, 38, 391.

12

Page 13: Sicgnature redacted

Chapter 2

Preliminaries

2.1 Basics on Complex Manifolds

The goal of this section to review the basics on the theory of complex manifolds. All

the materials can be found in the standard reference 1811 if not cited otherwise.

Definition 2.1.1. Let X be a smooth manifold of real dimension n. An almost

complex structure on M is a bundle isomorphism J : TX -+ TX such that J2 = -id.

If such a J exists, then n = 2m is even and X is automatically oriented. In the

language of G-structures, a choice of an almost complex structure J is the same as a

choice of a reduction of structure group from GL(2m, R) to GL(m, C).

Definition 2.1.2. We say X is a complex manifold of complex dimension m if M as

a topological space can be covered by coordinate charts homeomorphic to C" such

that the transition functions are holomorphic. A choice of the equivalence class of

such coordinate charts is known as a complex structure.

A complex structure is automatically an almost complex structure in the following

sense. Let {zi = xi + iyj}T be a holomorphic coordinate chart of X, then we can

define J: TX -+ TX by

J--=- and J- -- j=1....,m.axi 9yi ayj x'

13

Page 14: Sicgnature redacted

It is easy to see that this definition is independent of the choice of coordinate charts.

Let (X, J) be an almost complex manifold. Since J is a real bundle map such

that J2 = -id, we know that

TX 0 C = T1'0X T'"X,

where T",0X and T0 '1X are the i and -i eigen-subbundles of TX 0 C with respect

to J. We say J is an integrable if T"'0X, as a complex distribution, is involutive. A

famous theorem of Newlander-Nirenberg says that J comes from a complex manifold

if and only if it is integrable, which is also equivalent to the vanishing of the Nijenhuis

tensor

Nj(V, W) = [V, W] + J[JV, W] + J[V, JW - [JV, JWJ

for any vector fields V, W.

For an almost complex manifold (X, J), we may treat J as an endomorphism of

the cotangent bundle by defining Ja(V) := a(JV) for any 1-form a and vector field

V. Similarly we have the splitting of the complexified cotangent bundle

T*X 0 C = (T*)' OX e (T*)O'1X.

In addition, we can define the bundle of (p, q)-forms by

A p'T*X := AP(T*)',OX 0 Aq(T*)o'lX,

and we have the decomposition of k-forms as sum of (p, q)-forms

Ak(X) ® C= Ap'q(X),

where we use A*(X) to denote the space of smooth sections of A*T*X.

If J is integrable, then the exterior differential d restricted to APM (X) has at most

two components:

dAP'q(X) C Ap+l,q(X) E Ap,q+1(X),

14

Page 15: Sicgnature redacted

hence we can define the first order differential operators a and a by the corresponding

projections of d. Clearly, we have

a2 =- & + O = 2 = 0.

Sometimes it is useful to introduce the real operator

dc := i(O -a).

It follows that

ddC = -d'd = 2i.

As 02 = 0, (AP,*(X), 0) is a cochain complex and its associated cohomology groups

are known as the Dolbeault cohomology groups

ker (0 : AP-q(X) -+ APq+l(X))HP Im (C): AP.q-l(X) -+ AP'q(X))

They can be identified with the sheaf cohomology associated to the holomorphic

vector bundle QP of (p, 0)-forms

HP-q (X) '- H q(X, Qp).

The dimensions of Dolbeault cohomology groups are known as the Hodge numbers

hPq(X) = dimc HP'q(X).

In most nice cases, for instance when X is compact, these Hodge numbers are finite.

Hodge numbers possess the symmetry hP-q(X) = hh'-p,-q (X) coming from Serre

duality. Moreover, the Frdlicher 1511 showed that there is a spectral sequence con-

verging to the de Rham cohomology groups of X, whose Ei-page consists of exactly

15

Page 16: Sicgnature redacted

the Dolbeault cohomology groups. As a corollary, we have

bk(X) < h q(X),p+q=k

where bk(X) is the k-th Betti number of X.

Besides Dolbeault cohomology, there are many other kinds of cohomologies. Among

others, we define the Bott-Chern cohomology [141

H' (X) ker (d : AP.q(X) -+ AP+l1(X))HBPC -Im (06: AP-l.q-l(X) -+Ap,(X))

and the Aeppli cohomology [21

j~p~q(X)ker (06 : Ap'q(X) -+_ Ap+1,q+l (X))A Im (0: AP-q(X) -+ APq(X)) + Im (0: APrq-l(X) -+ Asq(X))

For compact complex manifolds, Bott-Chern and Aeppli cohomologies are finite di-

mensional. In general they are different from the Dolbeault cohomology.

Definition 2.1.3. Let (X, J) be a complex manifold of complex dimension m.. A

Hermitian metric on X is a Riemannian metric g compatible with J in the sense that

g(JV, JW) = g(V, W) for any vector fields V and W. A Hermitian metric is fully

characterized by its associated positive (1,1)-form defined by

w(V, W) := g(JV, W).

A Hermitian metric w is called Kdhler if dw = 0.

Given (X, J), Hermitian metrics always exist, and such a choice of Hermitian

metric is equivalent to the choice of a reduction of structure group from GL(m, C) to

U(m) = GL(m, C) n SO(2m, R). However, the Levi-Civita connection associated to

the Riemannian metric g does not necessarily descend to a connection on the principal

U(m)-bundle. In fact, it descends if and only if g is a Kdhler metric, or in other words,

the holonomy group of (X, g) is a subgroup of U(m).

16

Page 17: Sicgnature redacted

Compact Kdhler manifolds behave well in terms of Hodge theory. It is a well-

known fact that for a compact Kihler manifold X, the Frdlicher spectral sequence

degenerates at El-page and we have the Hodge decomposition

H k(X; C)= HP'q(X).p+q=k

Consequently we see the extra Hodge symmetry hP'9(X) = hq-P(X) and the equality

bk (X) = 1: hp?'(X).

p+q=k

As a corollary, the odd Betti numbers of X are even. Moreover, X satisfy the so-

called 00-lemma. One version of the 00-lemma dictates that if a (p, q)-form a is

both a-closed and 0-exact, then it must be 0-exact. It follows entirely from the

00-lemma that the Bott-Chern cohomology and Aeppli cohomology coincide with the

Dolbeault cohomology. In fact, the 00-lemma is slightly stronger than the degeneracy

of Fr6licher spectral sequence. It was proved by Deligne-Griffiths-Morgan-Sullivan

[33] that the 00-lemma is equivalent to the degeneracy of Fr6licher spectral sequence

at E-page plus a Hodge structure condition.

The 00-lemma holds for a strictly larger class of compact complex manifolds than

the Khhlerian ones. Recall that a compact complex manifold is said to be of Fujiki

class C if it is bimeromorphic to a compact Khhler manifold. It was proved by

Deligne-Griffiths-Morgan-Sullivan [33} that manifolds of Fujiki class C always satisfy

the 00-lemma. It is also noteworthy to point out that though the Kdhler condition

[841 and the 00-lemma [113, 115] are stable under small deformations, the Fujiki class

C is not stable under small deformations [23, 90].

Besides the restrictions on odd Betti numbers, there are many topological and

geometric obstructions to the existence of Kdhler metrics on a compact complex

manifold. For example, the fundamental group of a compact Kdhler manifold has

to be a so-called "Kihler group"; any nontrivial complex submanifold of a compact

Kahler manifold cannot be homologous to 0. Furthermore, we have the following

17

Page 18: Sicgnature redacted

intrinsic characterization of compact K~ihler manifolds in terms of geometric measure

theory:

Theorem 2.1.4 (Harvey-Lawson [721).

Suppose X is a compact complex manifold, then X admits a Kdhler metric if and only

if there are no positive currents on X which are the (1,1)-component of boundaries.

In order to understand the much broader world of non-Kahler manifolds, it is

natural to consider Hermitian metrics with weaker-than-Kihler conditions. In this

thesis, we will only deal with balanced (semi-Kihler), Gauduchon, pluriclosed (strong

Kahler with torsion), and astheno-Kifhler metrics.

Definition 2.1.5. Following Michelsohn [961, we say a Hermitian metric w on a

complex m-fold X is balanced (also known as semi-Kahler in old literatures) if

d(w"'-) = 0.

In particular in complex dimension 2, balanced metrics are exactly Kdhler metrics.

It is a simple exercise of linear algebra that d(wk) = 0 for some k < m - 1 implies

that w is Kdhler. The balanced condition can be interpreted as d*w = 0, where

d* = - * d* is the adjoint operator of d. Hence one should think of a balanced metric

as some notion dual to a Kdhler metric. Indeed this is the case as demonstrated

in [96]. In particular, Michelsohn gave the following intrinsic characterization of

balanced manifolds dual to Theorem 2.1.4:

Theorem 2.1.6 (Michelsohn [96]).

Let X be a compact complex manifold of complex dimension m. Then X admits

a balanced metric if and only if there are no positive currents on X which are the

(m - 1, m - 1)-component of boundaries.

There are many non-Kahler manifolds that are balanced. For example, Alessandrini-

Bassanelli [4] showed that being balanced is preserved under modification, hence all

the compact complex manifolds of Fujiki class C are balanced.

18

Page 19: Sicgnature redacted

Definition 2.1.7. Let X be a complex manifold of complex dimension m. We say a

Hermitian metric w on X is Gauduchon if iaa(w"'-1) = 0.

Unlike for balanced metrics, there are no obstructions to the existence of Gaudu-

chon metrics. In fact, we have

Theorem 2.1.8 (Gauduchon [61, 621).

Let X be a compact complex manifold with complex dimension at least 2. For any

Hermitian metric on X, there exists a unique Gauduchon metric in its conformal class

up to scaling.

Definition 2.1.9. A Hermitian metric w on a complex rn-fold is called pluriclosed

(a.k.a. SKT, standing for strong Kihler with torsion), if ia9w = 0. It is known as an

astheno Kdhler metric [821 if instead ia(wm 2 ) = 0. Notice that for 3-folds, these

two concepts coincide. It is also known that there are compact complex manifolds

with no pluriclosed/astheno Kdhler metrics.

Balanced, pluriclosed and astheno K~ihler metrics have been extensively studied

in the vast literature of non-Khhler geometry. We shall refer to the survey papers

[52, 45, 461 and the references therein for more information about these metrics.

2.2 Differential Geometry of Complex Vector Bun-

dles

In this section, we will review the theory of complex and holomorphic vector bundles.

Most material are standard and can be found in [811. The theory of Hermitian

connections on tangent bundle is taken from [631.

Let X be a smooth manifold and E a smooth complex vector bundle over X. A

connection V on E is a C-linear map V : A(E) -+ A' (E) satisfying

V(fs) = fVs + df 0 s for any f E A0 (X);s E AO(E),

19

Page 20: Sicgnature redacted

where Ak(E) is the space of E-valued complex k-forms on X. By a partition of

unity argument we know that connections always exist and they form an affine space

modeled on Al (End E).

The curvature form FV associated to the connection V is defined to be

Fv V2 E A2 (End E).

The famous Chern-Weil theory says that the Chern classes can be represented by

curvature forms. More precisely, we have

c(E) = 1 + c(E) + --- + cm(E)

det I+i FV + i - Tr FV Tr(F) 2 - (Ir FV)2

2- r 2z 87r 2

In the above equation, the Chern classes should be understood as de Rham cohomol-

ogy classes, while the second line says that these cohomology classes can be repre-

sented by closed forms given by trace of powers of FV. In particular, Tr(FV)k are

closed forms and their de Rham cohomology classes are independent of the choice of

connections.

Now let X be a complex manifold. We say E is a holomorphic vector bundle over

X if we can find local trivializations of E -+ X covering X such that the transition

functions are holomorphic. Given a holomorphic vector bundle E over X, we can

define the 0-operator and get the cochain complex 0 : AO q(E) -+ AO q+l(E). Like the

differential form case, its cohomology computes the sheaf cohomology of the locally

free sheaf associated to E.

Now let E be a holomorphic vector bundle over X. When E is equipped with

a Hermitian metric (-, -), there is a canonical choice of connection Vc, known as the

Chern connection (it is called Hermitian connection in physics literature). The Chern

20

Page 21: Sicgnature redacted

connection is uniquely characterized by the following properties

(VC)O'1 -8

d(si, s 2 ) = (Vcs 1 , S2) + (Si, V's2 ), for any local sections S1, s2 of E.

Roughly speaking, the first condition says that Vc is compatible with the holo-

morphic structure while the second condition says that Vc is compatible with the

Hermitian metric.

By choosing a local holomorphic frame {S1,...1,s} of E, we can express the

Hermitian metric by the Hermitian matrix H = (hjk).rxr, where hjk = (sj, sk). Then

the curvature form FVc associated to the Chern connection is given by

FVc = (H- 10H) E A'1(End E).

As a consequence all the Chern forms cvc (E, h) are real (k, k)-forms and their Bott-

Chern cohomology classes

ckC(E) E H;(X; R)

are independent of the choice of the Hermitian metric [14]. In particular, when k = 1,

the first Chern form can be computed by

cf (E) = 2 c9a log det H E H %(X; R).

As an analogue of the Newlander-Nirenberg theorem, the holomorphic structure

of E can be recovered from a connection whose curvature form has vanishing (0, 2)-

component, this is the famous Koszul-Malgrange integrability theorem [85].

Now let X be a compact complex manifold of complex dimension m with a Gaudu-

chon metric w. Let E be a holomorphic vector bundle over X. The degree of E with

respect to the polarization w is defined to be

deg(E) := BC(E) -1 .x (mI-(M ).

21

Page 22: Sicgnature redacted

The Gauduchon condition guarantees that the above definition is well-defined in the

sense that it does not depend on the representative of the Bott-Chern cohomology. In

addition, the degree is topological if w is a balanced metric, in the sense that deg(E)

depends only on the de Rham cohomology class [wm] and the topology of E. The

slope of E is defined to be

p(E) = deg(E)rank(E)

By taking resolutions, we can generalize the notion of slope to coherent analytic

sheaves.

Definition 2.2.1. We say E is slope-stable (slope-semistable) if for any subsheaf

F c E with rank(F) < rank(E), we have

p (F) < (<;) p (E).

We say E is slope-polystable if it is holomorphically a direct sum of stable subbundles

with same slope.

Definition 2.2.2. Let E be a holomorphic vector bundle over X. We say a Hermitian

metric h on E is Hermitian-Yang-Mills (Hermitian-Einstein) if

iAFVC = -y - idE,

or equivalently

iFvc A Win - idE ~~(rn-i )! m

where -Yh is a constant and A is the operator of contracting w.

The celebrated Donaldson-Uhlenbeck-Yau Theorem says that the slope stability

is equivalent to the solvability of Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation in the sense that

Theorem 2.2.3 (Donaldson-Uhlenbeck-Yau [34, 111, 921).

Let (X, w) be a compact complex manifold with a Gauduchon metric. A holomorphic

vector bundle E over X admits a solution to the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation if

and only if it is slope-polystable with respect to w.

22

Page 23: Sicgnature redacted

From now on in this section, we restrict ourselves from general holomorphic vector

bundles to the holomorphic tangent bundle. As a complex vector bundle, the holo-

morphic tangent bundle T1"X can be naturally identified with (TX, J). Under such

an identification, connections on T1'0X are exactly those real connections on TX such

that J is parallel. Suppose now X is equipped with a Hermitian metric w, then we

have the associated Levi-Civita connection VLC and the Chern connection V'. It is

a well-known fact that these two connections coincide if and only if W is Kdhler. In

fact, there are lots of "canonical" connections on a general Hermitian manifold.

Let (X, J, g) be a Hermitian manifold of complex dimension m. We will use

to denote the Hermitian inner product and (-, -) the (complexified) Riemannian inner

product. Following [63], we will study Hermitian connections on X, i.e. those real

connections D on TX satisfying Dg = 0 and DJ = 0.

The first step is to understand the space of TX-valued real 2-forms. We will use

A 2 (TX) to denote the space of TX-valued 2-forms on X.

Each element B E A 2 (TX) will be also be identified (via g) tacitly as a trilinear

form which is skew-symmetric with respect to the last two arguments, by

B(U, V, W) = g(U, B(V, W)).

In particular, the space of 3-forms A 3 (X) will be considered as a subspace of A2 (TX).

Let b: A 2(TX) -+ A 3 (X) be the Bianchi projection operator given by

1(bB)(U, V, W) = -(B(U, V, W) + B(V, W, U) + B(W, U, V)).

3

The trace of B is the 1-form Tr(B) defined by contracting the first two arguments,

i.e.

Tr(B)(W) = B(ei, ei, W),

where {ei} is an orthonormal frame of X with respect to g. The trace should be

thought as a projection operator from A 2 (TX) onto A1 (X), where the latter is real-

23

Page 24: Sicgnature redacted

ized as a subspace of A2 (TX) by identifying a C A"(X) with & E A2 (TX) via

1I (a(W)g(U,2m - 1 V)'- a(V)g(W, U)).

It is straightforward to check that

Tr() = a.

We thus get a decomposition of A 2(TX):

A2(TX) = A1(X) E A 3(X) ( (A2(TX))0 ,

where (A2 (TX))0 is the subspace of traceless elements satisfying the Bianchi identity.

Accordingly, we can express B G A 2 (TX) as

B = Tr(B) + bB + BO.

Up to now, everything we did works for general Riemannian manifolds. Now we shall

take J into account.

Definition 2.2.4. An element B c A 2 (TX) is said to be of

(a). type (1,1), if B(JV, JW) = B(V, W),

(b). type (2,0), if B(JV, W) = JB(V, W),

(c). type (0,2), if B(JV,W) = - JB(V,W).

We shall denote the corresponding spaces A',(TX), A2,0(TX) and AO,2 (TX) respec-

tively.

We also introduce an involution 9A on A 2 (TX) defined by

9AB(U, V, W) = B(U, JV, JW).

24

&(U, V, W) =

Page 25: Sicgnature redacted

Let 91jti be the eigenspaces of 9)R with eigenvalues 1. It is clear that

9J1 = A' 1 (TX).

We can further introduce an involution 91 on 9R_1 by

9TB(V, W) = JB(JV, W).

Again, we have

91, = AO,2 (TX) and 91 -1 = A2,O (TX).

Hence we conclude that

A2(TX) = Al"1(TX) D A2,0 (TX ) ( A',2 (TX).

Fix the Chern connection Vc on (X, J, g). For any A E A2 (TX), we can define a

connection DA by letting

g(DAV, W) - g(V, V, W) = A(U, V, W).

We shall call A the potential of DA.

It is clear that DA always preserves g and DAJ = 0 if and only if A E Al1 (TX).

Therefore the space of Hermitian connections is an affine space modeled on A'' (TX).

In particular, for any real 3-form B E A3 (X), we can use it to twist the Chern

connection to get a Hermitian connection DB with potential B + 9)IB.

It is easy to check that the (3, 0) + (0, 3)-part of B does not contribute to B + 9)B,

therefore without loss of generality, we may assume that in local coordinates

B= Bjkidz3 A dzk A d2' + Blkdz' A d&3 A d2k,

where we have

25

Page 26: Sicgnature redacted

It is straightforward to calculate that

B + 9AB = 4Bykldzi 0 dzk A d' + (conjugate).

In order to compute the curvature forms associated to DB, we need to identify

B + 9AB as an element in A1(End(T1'0 X)). Let B denote this element. A detailed

calculation shows that with respect to the frame

the potential B can be expressed in the matrix form

3 = 4(Bjkdzi - Bs,,d3i)hkt.

In particular we have

web -4Bjkz - sjkd/ i)h k =2iAB.

Hence we have proved

Proposition 2.2.5.

c1r(X) = AjTr(FDB) = (Tr(Fv") + dTr(b)) =cf(X) - d (AB)

The space of B-twisted Hermitian connections is still too big for us. To get a

much smaller space, we may make a canonical choice of B. By setting B oc dcw, we

get the so-called canonical 1-parameter family of Hermitian connections.

The canonical 1-parameter family of Hermitian connections V' is defined by

t - 1Vt = Vc + (dcw + 9R(dcw)),4

where we have to identify the 3-form dcw as an element of A2 (TX). This affine line

parameterizes all the known "canonical" Hermitian connections:

26

Page 27: Sicgnature redacted

(a). t = 0, it is known as the first canonical connection of Lichnerowicz.

(b). t = 1, it is the Chern connection Vc.

(c). t = -1, this is the Bismut-Strominger connection Vb. It is the unique Hermi-

tian connection such that its torsion tensor Tb is totally skew-symmetric. In

particular, the torsion tensor Tb = -dcw can be related to the flux term H in

string theory. Moreover, Vb and its analogue in G2-geometry are widely used

in mathematical physics.

(d). t = 1/2, it has been called the conformal connection by Libermann.

(e). t = 1/3, this is the Hermitian connection that minimizes the norm of its torsion

tensor.

When X is Kihler, this line collapses to a single point, i.e. the Levi-Civita connection.

As a corollary of Proposition 2.2.5, we know that

(2.1) cyb(X) = c (X) + 1 d(Adcw).27r

2.3 SU(3) and G2 Structures

Let M be an oriented Riemannian m-manifold and let G be a connected closed Lie

subgroup of SO(m). A G-structure on M is a reduction of the frame bundle of M to a

principal G-subbundle. The holonomy group of M is contained in G if and only if the

Levi-Civita connection reduces to a G-connection simultaneously. The obstruction

for the reduction of Levi-Civita connection is given by the intrinsic torsion, which

pointwise is an element of T*M 0 g', where g is the Lie algebra of G identified as a

subspace of 2-forms on M, and - denotes the orthogonal complement.

According to Berger's classification list, the only possible holonomy groups for an

irreducible non-symmetric Riemannian manifold are the series SO(n), U(n), SU(n),

Sp(n), Sp(n) - Sp(1) and the exceptional ones G2 and Spin(7). Manifolds of special

holonomy play an important role in the string theory, especially for SU(n)-manifolds

27

Page 28: Sicgnature redacted

(Calabi-Yau) and G 2-manifolds. The relation SU(2) C SU(3) C G2 is closely related

to various string dualities. Mathematically this relation is used to construct various

compact G2-manifolds [83, 861. In this section, we will first review the consequences

of this relation in the setting of G-structures with torsion. Then we will explain that

how the classical constructions of Calabi [191 and Gray [67] can be interpreted in our

language.

Let V be a finite dimensional real vector space. Recall from [76] that a p-form

p E APV* is called stable if its orbit under the natural GL(V)-action is an open subset

of APV*.

It is classically known that stable forms occur only in the following cases:

" p = 1, arbitrary n E Z+.

" p 2, arbitrary n E Z+.

" p = 3, n = 6,7 or 8.

" The dual of each above situations. That is, if the space of p-forms on V has an

open orbit, so does the space of (n - p)-forms.

In this section, we will focus on the case p = 3 and n = 6, 7. A more detailed

account of geometries associated to stable forms can be found in [75, 76, 77, 39j.

For p = 3 and n = 6, there are two open GL(V)-open orbits in A 3 V*. The one we

are interested in has stabilizer isomorphic to SL(3, C), which we denote by 06 (V).

For any Q, C O (V), it naturally defines a complex structure J on V such that Q 1

is the real part of a nowhere-vanishing (3,0)-form. With a suitable choice of basis

el, e 2 ,... e6 of V* such that ek+ 3 - ek for k = 1, 2, 3, our Q, can be expressed as

Q 1 el A e2 3 _ 3 1 e5 eG + e2 A e4 e6 _ e3 e4 e

=9qe (eI + ie4 ) A (e2 + ie5 ) A (e3 + ie6).

For p = 3 and n = 7, there are also two open GL(V)-orbits in A 3V*. We are

interested in one of them, denoted by O (V), whose stabilizer is isomorphic to the

compact exceptional Lie group G 2. For each p c O(V), it naturally defines a

28

Page 29: Sicgnature redacted

Riemannian metric on V. By a suitable choice of orthonormal basis e1 , ... , e 7 of V*,

we can express p as

1 2 3 1 6 7 2 + 7 3 5 6 12 44 6 3 4 7 po e Ae Ae - e Ae Ae +e Ae Ae - e Ae Ae +e Ae Ae e Ae Ae e Ae Ae.

Let W be any 6-dimensional subspace of V, then W w lies in the orbit 0- (W).

Moreover, pIw together with the induced metric on W defines an SU(3)-structure on

W.

Notice that for an oriented 7-manifold , giving a 3-form p lying in the orbit

O~ (TIM) for every x E A is equivalent to giving a G2 -structure on Al. Therefore

we have

Theorem 2.3.1 (Calabi [191, Gray [671).

Let I be a 7-manifold with a G 2 -structure p. For any immersed oriented hypersurface

M of Al, there is a natural SU(3)-structure induced by p.

Calabi-Gray's construction produces lots of almost complex 6-manifolds including

S6 . It is a natural question to ask when such almost complex structures are integrable.

The necessary and sufficient condition for integrability was derived in [19, 67]. In

particular, by making use of SU(2) c G2 , Calabi and Gray proved

Theorem 2.3.2 (Calabi [191, Gray [67]).

Let Af = T3 x N for N = T' or the K3 surface, equipped with a G 2 -metric. If

E9 C T3 is a minimal surface of genus g in flat T3 , then the almost complex structure

on M = E9 x N constructed above is integrable and M is non-Kiihler. Moreover, the

projection 7r : M -+ E9 is holomorphic, and the naturally induced metric on Al is

balanced.

According to Meeks 1951 and Traizet [1081, minimal surfaces in T3 (classically

known as triply periodic minimal surfaces in R3) exist for all g > 3. Using this

construction, Calabi gave the first example showing that c1 of a complex manifold

is not a smooth invariant, thus answering a question asked by Hirzebruch. It was

29

Page 30: Sicgnature redacted

noticed in [39] that such constructed M's have trivial canonical bundle, which follows

from a slightly more general proposition:

Proposition 2.3.3.

Let R be a 7-manifold with a G2-structure W such that dep = 0. If M C f is an

immersed oriented hypersurface such the induced almost complex structure on M is

integrable, then M has holomorphically trivial canonical bundle.

Proof. As M has an SU(3)-structure, we can choose Q = Q1 + iQ2 to be a nowhere

vanishing (3, 0)-form on M. By the construction above, we may assume that Q1 =

RIM, therefore

dQ = dQ1 + idQ 2 = idQ2-

Since the almost complex structure is integrable, we know that dQ is a (3, 1)-form.

Notice that dQ2 is real, so the only possibility is that dQ = 0.

We will call the non-Kiihler Calabi-Yau 3-folds in Theorem 2.3.2 the Calabi-Gray

manifolds. Their complex geometry will be studied in Chapter 4 in detail.

Roughly speaking, allowing nonzero flux in the superstring theory is equivalent to

allowing torsional G-structures on the space where strings are compactified. For this

reason, we are interested in SU(3) and G2 structures with torsion.

The idea of using representation theory to classify intrinsic torsions was first de-

veloped by Gray-Hervella [681, where they divided almost Hermitian geometries, i.e.

U(m)-structures, into 16 classes according to their torsion (see also [361). Similar

story was also carried out for G 2-structures [41, 151. The case of SU(3)-structures

and their relations to G2-structures can be found in [291. Now let us review the theory

of torsional SU(3) and G 2 structures.

Let us first consider a U(3)-structure on a 6-manifold M. The space T*M & u(3)I

decomposes as 4 irreducible U(3)-representations

T*M o u(3)I -V e V e V3V

of real dimension 2, 16, 12 and 6 respectively, where V4 is isomorphic to the standard

30

Page 31: Sicgnature redacted

representation of U(3) on C'= R'. It is well-known that both V and V2 components

of intrinsic torsion vanishes if and only if the almost complex structure is integrable;

while the V4 -component vanishes if and only if the metric is almost balanced, i.e.

d(w 2 ) = 0.

When we turn to SU(3)-structures, notice that su(3)' = u(3)- EDI R, so

T*M ®su(3)L =V1 ED V2 V3 ED V4 V,

where the extra component V is also isomorphic to the standard representation of

SU(3) on C3 - R6.

For the SU(3)-structure appearing in the Strominger system, we know from above

that both V and V2 components of intrinsic torsion vanish. Moreover, the conformally

balanced equation (3.4) tells us that [261

2V4 + V5 = 0 and both V4 and V5 are exact.

If in addition the metric is balanced, both V4 and V5 components vanish.

For G 2-structures on a 7-manifold MI, their intrinsic torsions can also be decom-

posed into 4 irreducible components

T*S & g2= W1 (D W2 ( W3 ( W4

of real dimension 1, 14, 27 and 7 respectively.

The relevant class of G2-structure is known as the class W3 (or cocalibrated G 2 -

structure of pure type W3 in some literature), meaning that all the other components

of intrinsic torsion except for W3 vanish. For a G2 -structure W of class W3 , it is

characterized [151 by

doAW=0, d(*,p)=0,

where *, is the Hodge star operator associated to p. Notice that the condition

dp A p = 0 is conformally invariant.

31

Page 32: Sicgnature redacted

2.4 Conifold Transition

The simplest kind of singularities in algebraic geometry is the so-called ordinary dou-

ble point (ODP), which is modelled on the affine quadric cone Z2 + - + z2 = 0.

Obviously such singularities can be resolved by blowing up once. However, Atiyah

[8] discovered that the behavior of ODPs in low dimensions is very special. In par-

ticular in dimension 3, there exist two small resolutions of ODP that are related by

a flop. These small resolutions can be interpreted as blowing up along Weil divisors

in algebraic geometry.

Let Q be the conifold, or in other words the standard affine quadric cone in C4.

That is,

Q= {(zi, z2, z3, z4) EC4 +: Z+ 4 = 0}.

It is clear that Q has an isolated ODP at the origin.

By a linear change of coordinates

W1 = Zl + iz 2

W2 = Z3 + ZZ4

W4 = Z1 - iZ2

we can identify Q as the zero locus of w1w 4 - w2 W 3 , or more suggestively,

det W 2= 0.

k W3 W4

Now let CP1 be parameterized by A = [A, A2]. Consider

Q=1 (w, A) E (C4 X (Cpl. -1 .2 A

W W4 A 0

32

Page 33: Sicgnature redacted

It is not hard to see that Q is smooth and the first projection

P1 : -* Q

is an isomorphism away from {O} x CP1 C Q. Therefore we shall call Q the resolved

conifold because p, : Q -+ Q is a small resolution of Q and the exceptional locus

{0} x CP' is of codimension 2. Moreover, the second projection P2 : U -+ CP1 allows

us to identify Q with the total space of 0(-1, -1) -+ CP. Therefore, we see that

the resolved conifold Q has trivial canonical bundle.

On the other hand, the ODP in conifold can be easily smoothed out to yield

smooth affine quadrics, or the deformed conifold

Qt := w E C4 : detW W2= t}

Clearly Qt is biholomorphic to the complex Lie group SL(2, C), which also has trivial

canonical bundle.

The geometric transformation

Q - Q "'- Qt

is the local model of conifold transition. Geometrically the conifold transition can be

interpreted as first shrinking a copy of S2 and then replacing it by a copy of 3.

In general, we can start with a Kihler Calabi-Yau 3-fold X with finitely many

disjoint (-1, -1)-curves, i.e., CPI's with O(-1, -1) as their normal bundles. By

blowing down these (-1, -1)-curves, we get a singular Calabi-Yau 3-fold X with

finitely many ODPs. Under mild assumptions, these ODPs can be smoothed out

simultaneously and we get smooth Calabi-Yau's Xt which are in general non-Kshler

[491. Assuming X is simply connected, by performing conifold transitions described

above, we may be able to kill all the H2 of X, hence the only nontrivial cohomology

group of Xt is H3. By a classification theorem of Wall [1141, these non-Kahler Calabi-

33

Page 34: Sicgnature redacted

Yau 3-folds are diffeomorphic to connected sum of S 3 x S 3 's. In this way, we can

construct non-Kiihler Calabi-Yau structures on Xk := #k(S 3 x S3) for k > 2 [50, 94].

These non-Kihler Calabi-Yau 3-folds are also known to satisfy the 00-lemma.

X and Xt are topologically distinct, however, the singular Calabi-Yau X sits

on the boundary of the moduli spaces of both X and Xt. In this way, Reid [102]

conjectured that any two reasonably nice Calabi-Yau 3-folds can be connected via

a sequence of conifold transitions, making the moduli space of all nice Calabi-Yau

3-folds connected and reducible.

2.5 Hyperkhhler Manifolds and Their Twistor Spaces

Let (N, g) be a Riemannian manifold. If in addition M admits three integrable

complex structures I, J and K with IJK = -id such that g is a Kdhler metric with

respect to any of {I, J, K}, then we call (N, g, I, J, K) a hyperkihler manifold. It

turns out that for any (a,,3, y) E R' satisfying a2 32 + _ 2 = 1, g is Kihler with

respect to the complex structure aI + 3J + 7K, therefore we get a CP'-family of

Kdhler structures on N.

Denote by w1 , wj and WK the associated Kdhler forms with respect to corre-

sponding complex structures. One can easily check that Wj + iWK is a holomorphic

symplectic (2, 0)-form with respect to the complex structure I, therefore (N, I) has

trivial canonical bundle. It also follows that the real dimension of a hyperkdhler

manifold must be a multiple of 4.

In the real 4-dimension case, if N is compact, then by the Enriques-Kodaira clas-

sification of complex surfaces, N must be either a complex torus or a K3 surface.

However, if we allow N to be noncompact, there are many more possibilities. An

extremely important class of them is the so-called ALE (asymptotically locally Eu-

clidean) spaces. These spaces were first discovered as gravitational (multi-)instantons

by physicists [35, 641 and finally classified completely by Kronheimer [87, 881.

It is well-known fact that a hyperkdhler 4-manifold is anti-self-dual, therefore

its twistor space Z is a complex 3-fold [101. Roughly speaking, the twistor space

34

Page 35: Sicgnature redacted

of N is the total space of the CP-family of Khler structures on N. Following

f781, the twistor space Z of hyperkAhler manifolds of arbitrary dimension can be

described geometrically as follows. Let ( parameterize CP'. We shall identify CP1

with S 2 = {(a,3, -y) E R3 : a 2 +'32 + y2 = 1} via stereographic projection

(a,)3 7) = ( 12 (+ ____(

1( 12 1 + (12' 1 + 1(12

The twistor space Z of N is defined to be the manifold Z = CP? x N with the almost

complex structure 3 given by

3 j ® (aI4 + /3J + -yKx)

at point ((, x) E CP' x N, where j is the standard complex structure on CP? with

holomorphic coordinate (. It is a theorem of [78] that 3 is integrable and the projec-

tion p : Z -+ CP1 is a holomorphic fibration (not a holomorphic fiber bundle), which

we shall call the holomorphic twistor fibration. Moreover the complex structure :1 is so

twisted that Z does not admit any Kihler structure if N is compact. Let T*F denote

the the relative cotangent bundle of the holomorphic twistor fibration p : Z -+ CP1 ,

an important fact is that there exists a global section of A 2T*F 0 p*0( 2 ) such that

it defines a holomorphic symplectic form on every fiber of p.

The twistor spaces of ALE spaces can be described in many other ways. For

instance, the twistor spaces of ALE spaces of type A were constructed very concretely

using algebraic geometry in [731. For later use, we shall present a different description

of the A-case here, i.e. the twistor space of the Eguchi-Hansen space, as Hitchin did

in [741.

Let Q and Q be the conifold and the resolved conifold described above. Consider

the map

p = z 4 o p1: 4 Q 14 C.

It is obvious that, when z4 $ 0, the fiber p-(z 4) is a smooth affine quadric in C3.

After a little work, we can see that p-'(0) is biholomorphically equivalent to Kcpl,

35

Page 36: Sicgnature redacted

the total space of the canonical bundle of CP'. It follows that p is a fibration.

Now let p' :' -+ C be another copy of p Q -+ C. We may glue these two

fibrations holomorphically by identifying p- 1 (CX) 4 C' with p'~1 (CX) + C' via

zI Z2 z3(z7,zz ,z)= ( , 2 'z2 ' 42 J

Z4 Z4 "4 Z4

As a consequence, we get a holomorphic fibration over CP', which is exactly the

holomorphic twistor fibration of Eguchi-Hansen space.

We conclude that, when performing hyperk~ihler rotations, there are exactly two

complex structures on the Eguchi-Hansen space up to biholomorphism. There is a

pair of two antipodal points on CP', over which the fibers of the holomorphic twistor

fibration are biholomorphic to Kcpi. We shall call these fibers special. All the other

fibers are biholomorphic to the smooth affine quadric in C3 . A key observation from

this construction is the following proposition.

Proposition 2.5.1 (Hitchin [74]).

If we remove a special fiber from the total space of the holomorphic twistor fibration

of the Eguchi-Hansen space, then what is left is biholomorphic to the resolved conifold

O(--1, -1).

36

Page 37: Sicgnature redacted

Chapter 3

The Geometry of the Strominger.

System

In this chapter, we will study the geometry of the Strominger system from a purely

mathematical point of view. Section 3.1 serves as a brief introduction to the Stro-

minger system, with an emphasis on known solutions. As an example, we will present

a class of left-invariant solutions to the Strominger system on the complex Lie group

SL(2, C) and its quotients by discrete subgroups in Section 3.2. This work is mo-

tivated by understanding the geometry of the deformed conifold. In Section 3.3 we

shall explore the relation between solutions to the Strominger system and manifolds

with special G2 -structure.

3.1 Introduction

Let X be a complex 3-fold with trivial canonical bundle. Being Kiihler or not, we

shall call such an X a Calabi- Yau 3-fold. Let w be a Hermitian metric on X and

let Q be a nowhere vanishing holomorphic (3, 0)-form trivializing Kx, the canonical

bundle of X. In addition, let (E, h) be a holomorphic vector bundle on X equipped

with a Hermitian metric.

As we have seen in Chapter 1, the original equations written down by Strominger

37

Page 38: Sicgnature redacted

[1031 are

(3.1) d*w = dclog IIQII,(3.2) FAw 2 = 0, FO,2 = F2,0 = 0,

(3.3) i06w= $-(Tr(R A R) - Tr(F A F)).4

In the above equations, a' is a positive coupling constant, while R and F are

curvature 2-forms of T"0 X and E respectively, computed with respect to certain

metric connections that we shall further explain. The relevant physical quantities are

the flux 3-form1

H = dcw2

and the dilaton field1

= -=log 11011, + constant.8

In [103], these equations are derived using local coordinate calculations by imposing

K = 1 supersymmetry and anomaly cancellation. For a coordinate-free treatment,

we refer to Wu's thesis [1151.

Equation (3.1) implies that the reduced holonomy of X with respect to the Bismut-

Strominger connection Vb is contained in SU(3). Indeed, by Equation (2.1), we know

that

cb (X) = -d (d log I||2tIw - d*w),27r

which vanishes identically by plugging in Equation (3.1).

The Strominger system was reformulated by Li-Yau [93], where they showed that

Equation (3.1) is equivalent to

(3.4) d(II&IIW . w2) = 0,

where IIQ is the norm of Q measured using the Hermitian metric w. Li-Yau's

38

Page 39: Sicgnature redacted

formulation reveals that if we modify our metric conformally by setting

then Equation (3.4) is saying that Cv is a balanced metric. Since X admits a balanced

metric, we can apply Theorem 2.1.6 when X is compact. Therefore there are mild

topological obstructions to the Strominger system and we can use these obstructions

to rule out some non-Kihler Calabi-Yau 3-folds, say certain T 2 -bundles over Kodaira

surface. For this reason, we shall call Equation (3.4) the conformally balanced equa-

tion. It is soluble if and only if X admits a balanced metric, which is completely

captured by Michelsohn's theorem.

Equation (3.2) is the Hermitina- Yang-Mills equation of degree 0. By a conformal

change, we can rewrite it as

F A 2 = 0.

Since & is balanced, it is also Gauduchon and we can apply Theorem 2.2.3 to conclude

that Equation (3.2) can be solved if and only if the holomorphic vector bundle E is

polystable of degree 0 with respect to the polarization &.

The geometry of X and E are coupled in the so-called anomaly cancellation equa-

tion (3.3), which is an equation of (2,2)-forms. The anomaly cancellation equation

(3.3) topologically restricts the second Chern class of E. In addition, if we use Chern

connection to compute F, it indicates that Tr(R A R) is a (2,2)-form. Hence from a

purely mathematical point of view, the most natural choice of connections on TlOX

is the Chern connection, as suggested in [1031. However there are physical arguments

[791 justifying the use of arbitrary Hermitian connections; while in other literatures

(for example [80, 43J), people also add the equation of motion into the system and

use the Hull connection to compute the Tr(R A R) term. In this thesis, we allow using

any Hermitian connection to solve Equation (3.3).

Physically, the Strominger system is derived from the lowest order a'-expansion

of K = 1 supersymmetry constraint, therefore a valid torsional heterotic compacti-

fication receives higher order a'-corrections. In this thesis, we will not touch higher

39

Page 40: Sicgnature redacted

order c/-corrections and treat the Strominger system as a closed system.

As a generalization of the flux-free case, solutions to the Strominger system should1

include Ricci-flat Kihler metrics. Indeed it is the case: by setting H = dcw = 0, we2

conclude that w is a Kahler metric and the right hand side of Equation (3.3) vanishes.

Then Equation (3.4) implies that IIII, is a constant so we have a Ricci-flat Kihler

metric. Moreover, we can choose E = T'0X so R = F, therefore Equation (3.3) is

satisfied and the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation (3.2) holds automatically. We will

refer to such solutions the Kdhler solutions.

In his original paper [1031, Strominger described orbifolded solutions and infinites-

imal deformations of Kdhler solutions. The first irreducible smooth solutions to the

Strominger system was constructed by Li and Yau [93]. They considered the case

where X is a Kifhler Calabi-Yau 3-fold and E is a deformation of the direct sum of

T1' 0X with trivial bundle. Li and Yau showed that when the deformation is suffi-

ciently small, one can perturb Kihler solutions on X to non-Kiihler solutions. Such

techniques were further developed in [5, 61 to deal with more general bundles and

perturbations.

A breakthrough was due to Fu and Yau. They observed that on the geometric

models described by Goldstein-Prokushkin [651 (this is essentially the same construc-

tion of Calabi-Eckmann 1221), a clever choice of ansatz reduces the whole Strominger

system to a complex Monge-Ampere type equation of a single dilaton function on the

Kahler Calabi-Yau 2-fold base. By solving this PDE, Fu and Yau were able to con-

struct mathematically rigorous non-perturbative solutions to the Strominger system,

on both compact backgrounds [11, 58, 59]' and local models [541. Such a method

can be further modified to yield more heterotic non-Khler geometries [12]. Fu-Yau's

work has inspired many developments in the analytic theory of the Strominger system,

including the form-type Calabi-Yau equations [55, 57], estimates on Fu-Yau equation

and its higher dimensional generalization [99, 100, 1011, geometric flows leading to

solutions of Strominger system [98] etc.

Solutions to the Strominger system have also been found on various nilmanifolds

'The same ansatz on certain T2-bundles over K3 surfaces was first discussed in 1321.

40

Page 41: Sicgnature redacted

and solvmanifolds [43, 66, 42, 109, 110, 97] and on the blow-up of conifold [27].

To solve the Strominger system, we first need to look for non-Khhler Calabi-Yau

3-folds with balanced metrics. As we have seen in Section 2.4, conifold transition

provides us lots of examples of non-Kiihler Calabi-Yau 3-folds including #k(S' x

S'). Moreover, Fu-Li-Yau 1531 showed that the balanced condition is preserved under

conifold transition, and the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation (3.2) is also well-behaved

according to the work of Chuan [30, 311. Therefore it is very tempting to solve the

Strominger system on these spaces, especially on #k(S 3 x S 3 ).

The first step in this direction is to understand the local model of conifold tran-

sition. In [24], Candelas-de la Ossa constructed explicit Ricci-flat Kdhler metrics on

both deformed and resolved conifolds and studied their asymptotic behavior in de-

tail. However, as conifold transitions generally take place in the non-Kiihler category,

it is desirable to construct non-Ksihler solutions to the Strominger system on both

deformed and resolved conifolds as well. In this thesis, we will present a class of solu-

tions on the deformed conifold SL(2, C) in the next section. Solutions on the resolved

conifold 0(-1, -1) will be constructed in Chapter 4.

To end this section, let us make a comparison between geometrical models in [25]

and [103].

Model Flux Metric (3,0)-form Holonomy

1 [251 H = 0 Ricci-flat Kdhler VLC2 = 0 Hol(VLC) c SU(3)2 [251 H # 0 balanced VbQ = 0 Hol(Vb) C SU(3)

3 [103] H $ 0 conformally balanced Vbq 4 0 Holo(Vb) C SU(3)

It is an interesting question to ask whether the existence of Model 2 and Model

3 are equivalent on a given X. In terms of Equation (3.4), it is to ask whether the

following statement is true or not: If X is a compact Calabi-Yau 3-fold with a balanced

metric wo, then there exists a balanced metric w (preferably in the same cohomology

class of wo) such that |IQJt, is a constant. This is a balanced version of Calabi

(Gauduchon) conjecture and it has been proved by Szekelyhidi-Tosatti-Weinkove in

[105] under the assumption that X also admits an astheno Kihler metric. Moreover,

on #k(S 3 x S'), these balanced metrics can be characterized as critical points of a

41

Page 42: Sicgnature redacted

Calabi-type functional [38] (cf. Appendix A).

3.2 An Example: Left-invariant Solutions on the De-

formed Conifold

In this section, we present a class of left-invariant solutions to the Strominger system

on the complex Lie group SL(2, C), which can also be identified with the deformed

conifold. This problem was first considered in [13],. where the authors claimed to have

constructed such a solution. However, it was pointed out in [7] that the aforemen-

tioned solution is not valid. By using the canonical 1-parameter family of Hermitian

connections defined in Section 2.2, we are able to construct left-invariant solutions

to the Strominger system on SL(2, C), thus answering a question asked by Andreas

and Garcia-Fernandez. Most part of this section has appeared in my joint work with

S.-T. Yau [401, with some calculation there simplified.

For simplicity, let us first consider the case where the holomorphic vector bundle

E is flat, i.e., F = 0. Under such an assumption, the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation

(3.2) is automatically satisfied, hence the Strominger system reduces to the following

equations

(3.5) i8ow = -Tr R A R,4

(3.6) d (IQI|W . w 2) = 0.

Let X be a complex Lie group and e c X be the identity element. Since X is

holomorphically parallelizable, it has trivial canonical bundle and we can choose Q

to be left-invariant. Given any Hermitian metric on TeX, we can translate it to get a

left-invariant Hermitian metric w on X. It follows that with respect to such a metric,

IIIV, is a constant and the conformal balanced equation (3.4) indicates that w is

balanced. The straightforward calculation in [1] shows that w is balanced if and only

if X is unimodular. In particular this property is independent of the choice of the

left-invariant metric w.

42

Page 43: Sicgnature redacted

Now let us assume that X is unimodular and w is left-invariant. So Equation (3.4)

holds and we only need to deal with the reduced anomaly cancellation equation (3.5).

Let g be the complex Lie algebra associated to X and let el.... , e, E g be an

orthonormal basis with respect to w. Let c7k E C be the structure constants of g

defined in the usual way

[ej, ekI = c kek.

Let {ej}'_I be the holomorphic 1-forms on X dual to {ei,...,e}. Then we can

express the Hermitian form w as

n

W = i>ej A .j=1

Furthermore, the Maurer-Cartan equation reads

(3.7) de3 = -E c-Lek Ae.k,l

Now we shall compute the canonical 1-parameter family of Hermitian connections

V*. We may trivialize the holomorphic tangent bundle T1 '0X by {e 3}> 1. Under such

trivialization, the Chern connection Vc is simply d and we thus get

Vt = d + t 1(dew + 93T(dcw)) _- d + At ,4

where we need to view A t as an End(T"'0 X)-valued 1-form.

By straightforward calculation, we have

(3.8) At = t - 1 e & ad(ej)T - 0ad(ej).

Consequently,

Rt = dAt A A At = t 1 d ad(e3 )T - dO 0 ad(ej)+ At A At.

2Ze43

Page 44: Sicgnature redacted

As Tr(At A At) = 0, it follows directly from unimodularity of X that the first Chern

form

cr (X) =Tr(Rt) = 0.27r

It agrees with our prediction since c(X) = cyb(X) when the metric is balanced.

Now we want to compute

Tr(R' A Rt) = Tr(dAt A dAt) + 2Tr(At A At A dAt) + Tr(At A At A At A At).

It is a well-known fact that the last term Tr(At A A' A At A At) vanishes.

compute the first two terms separately.

The first term is

Let us

Tr(dAt A dAt ) = (t -41) 2 E de' A dek - (ej, ek) - de A dek. Tr (ad(ej)Tad(ek))j,k

+ conjugate of the above line,

where , is the Killing form.

It is not hard to see that

E de A dek - K(ej, ek) = 0,

hence we conclude

Tr(dA' A dAt)2 E de A dek Tr (ad (ej)Tad(ek)) .

Similarly the second term can be calculated

2Tr(AtA At A dAt)= - ) 3 de A dekj,k

Tr (ad(ej)Tad(e k)),

hence

Tr(Rt A R') t(t - 1)2 E de A dk -Tr (ad(ej)Tad(ek).j,k

44

Page 45: Sicgnature redacted

As

i~gw= dej A die,

the anomaly cancellation equation (3.3) reduces to

(3.9) Zdei A de = 8 a' dei A de -k Tr (ad(ej)Tad(ek)) .

Let X = SL(2, C), so we have proved:

Theorem 3.2.1. Let w be the left-invariant Hermitian metric on X induced by the

Killing form, then Equation (3.9) is solvable. By picking t < 0, for instance the

Bismut-Strominger connection, we obtain valid solutions to the Strominger system

on SL(2, C).

Remark 3.2.2. Because our ansatz is invariant under left translations, solutions

to the Strominger system on X descend to solutions on the quotient F\X for any

discrete subgroup F. In particular we get compact models for heterotic superstrings

if we choose F to be cocompact. There are lots of such F coming from hyperbolic

3-manifolds.

Now let us turn to the case that E is not flat. We may also construct left-invariant

solutions to the Strominger system on SL(2, C) in a similar manner.

Let p : X -+ GL(n, C) be a faithful holomorphic representation, then X naturally

acts on C" from right by setting v -g := p(g) v for g e X which we abbreviate to gTv

Consider the following Hermitian metric H defined on the trivial bundle E = X x C':

at a point g E X, the metric is given by

(v W), = (v -g)T(w -g) = vT 9 TgW,

where v, w E Cn are arbitrary column vectors. Choose the standard basis for C' as a

holomorphic trivialization, then

Hg = (hj)g = gT.

45

Page 46: Sicgnature redacted

Let us compute its curvature F with respect to the Chern connection. By the formula

F = we get

F = [(gT)-1(g 1g)pT]

= (T)-1[(OpT _ (g T )- 1 )(g- 1 g) + (g-lag)(Og - (gT)-1)]gT .

Notice that g-&g is the Maurer-Cartan form

=-a 5&ei e.

Therefore

F = -(T)1 (E e A k0

and thus Tr(F) = 0. Moreover can compute

Tr(F A F) = 2 de A d" -k').j,k

Similar calculation shows that the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation (3.2) is equivalent

to

(3.10) [ee, E[] = 0.

For X = SL(2, C), if the Hermitian metric comes from the Killing form, then

(3.10) holds and all the three terms in (3.3) are proportional. For p is the fundamental

representation of SL(2, C), as along as t(t - 1)2+1 < 0, we obtain valid left-invariant

solutions to the Strominger system with non-flat E.

Remark 3.2.3. It is well-known that irreducible SL(2, C)-representations of any di-

mension can be constructed from taking algebraic operations on the fundamental

representation. Therefore using any solutions above, we can produce non-flat solu-

tions to the Strominger system on SL(2, C) with irreducible E of arbitrary rank.

46

Page 47: Sicgnature redacted

3.3 Relation with G2-structures

In this section, we shall give a geometric construction of 7-manifolds with G 2-structure

of class W3 (see Section 2.3) based on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold X satisfying the Hermitian-

Yang-Mills equation (3.2) and the conformally balanced equation (3.4). In some sense

this is a converse of Calabi-Gray's construction. Similar idea has already appeared

in the work of Chiossi-Salamon [291 and Fernandez-Ivanov-Ugarte-Villacampa [441.

Let (X, w, Q) be a Calabi-Yau 3-fold with Hermitian metric w and holomorphic

(3, 0)-form Q = Q1 + iQ2 satisfying the conformally balanced equation (3.4). From

Section 2.3, we may interpret these datum on X coming from a conformal change of

a U(3)-structure of class V3.

Let (L, h) be a Hermitian holomorphic line bundle over X such that its first Chern

form ci(L) is primitive, i.e.

(3.11) c1(L) A w2 = 0.

In particular, such an L can be taken to be the determinant line bundle of a holomor-

phic vector bundle E solving the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation (3.2). As we have

seen in Section 3.1, Equation (3.11) is equivalent to

(3.12) c1(L) A -2 = 0,

where E is a balanced metric conformal to w. As line bundles are always stable,

by the Donaldson-Uhlenbeck-Yau Theorem (2.2.3), we know that Equation (3.12) is

solvable if and only if

(3.13) [c,(L)] - [p2 = 0

as a de Rham cohomology class, which is topological in nature. There are many

examples such that Equation (3.13) is satisfied. For example, when [&2] is a rational

class and the Picard number of X is at least 2, one can always find such an L.

47

Page 48: Sicgnature redacted

Given such an L, let M be the total space of the principal U(1)-bundle over M

associated to L. The Chern connection on L gives rise to a globally defined real

1-form a on 11 such that

ci(L) = -.27r

We can cook up a G 2 -structure p on M given by

Q1 - a A w.

It follows that

deo A p = a A da A w= 02Vd

by Equation (3.11). Let1 1 - 1/4

be a conformal change of p, then

hence

d(*, 7)=0

by Equation (3.4) and we get a G 2 -structure of class W3 on M. It is easy to see that

(M, V~) has holonomy G2 if and only if X is Ricci-flat Kdhler and L is flat.

There are not many known constructions of compact 7-manifolds with G 2 -structures

of class W3. The other examples include special Aloff-Wallach manifolds of the form

SU(3)/U(1) [16], tangent sphere bundle (gwistor space) over hyperbolic 4-manifolds

[31 and geometric models in [441.

Suppose M is simply-connected and c1(L) E H2 (X; Z) is not zero, then the above

construction yields simply-connected fI with G2 -structure of class W3 . A natural

question to ask is whether such Mf admits torsion-free G 2 -structures. One possibility

is to look at the Laplacian coflow proposed by Grigorian [691.

In physics language, the above recipe transforms a solution to the 6-dimension

48

Page 49: Sicgnature redacted

Killing spinor equations on M with arbitrary dilaton to a solution to the 7-dimensional

Killing spinor equations on AI. This generalizes the construction presented in [44].

Our construction has the advantage that it transforms geometric objects in SU(3)-

geometry into nice geometric objects in G2-geometry. For example, the famous SYZ

conjecture [1041 predicts that any Calabi-Yau 3-fold can be realized as a special La-

grangian T3 -fibration with singularities. By pulling back such a SYZ fibration to NI,

we get a coassociative fibration of M, which plays an important role in M-theory

[701. Similarly, by pulling back Yang-Mills instantons on M, we get the so-called

G 2-instantons on fI.

49

Page 50: Sicgnature redacted

50

Page 51: Sicgnature redacted

Chapter 4

A Class of Local Models

The goal of this chapter to present the construction promised in Theorem A. To moti-

vate our construction, we first study the complex geometry of Calabi-Gray manifolds

(cf. Section 2.3) in Section 4.1 and construct degenerate solutions to the Strominger

system on them in Section 4.2. In order to understand the degeneracy, we give a new

geometrical interpretation of Calabi-Gray manifolds, which leads to a more general

construction of non-K~ihler Calabi-Yau manifolds. Section 4.3 is devoted to the proof

of Theorem A. Some of the materials in this chapter are taken from [371 and 138].

4.1 The Geometry of Calabi-Gray Manifolds

In order to get interesting compactification of heterotic superstrings with flux, as we

have seen, one first needs to look for non-Kiihler Calabi-Yau 3-folds with balanced

metrics. To my knowledge, there are not so many such examples besides those con-

structed from conifold transitions. For the explicitness of their geometry, Calabi-Gray

manifolds are ideal places to start our investigation. In this section, we will study

the complex geometry of Calabi-Gray manifolds M = E9 x N, where E9 C T3 is a

minimal surface of genus g > 3 and N is a hyperkiihler 4-manifold. For simplicity, we

will mostly restrict ourselves to the case N = T' = C2 /A, where A is a rank 4 lattice

in C2 .

In order to do explicit calculations on M, let us first introduce some notations.

51

Page 52: Sicgnature redacted

Let el, e2 , e3 be an orthonormal basis of parallel vector fields on T3 and let el, e 2 , e3

be the dual 1-forms. Fix I, J, K a set of pairwise anti-commuting complex structures

on the hyperkiihler manifold N, and denote the associated Khler forms by w1 , wj and

WK respectively. Let E9 -E S2 c R3 be the Gauss map and write its components

as

((z) = (a(z),/3(z), -y(z)) C R3 , z E Eg,,

where ( E CPI and (a, /, 7) E S2 are related by standard stereographic projection

(a, 1,1) =1 (12' 1 + 1(12' 1(|2

Notice that the fundamental 3-form on R = T3 x N is given by

1 2 3 1 2 3',o=e Aw 1 +e Awj+e AwK-e Ae Ae

It follows that the induced complex structure Jo on M = E9 x N is given by

Joe1 = -7e 2 + /e 3 ,

(4.1) Joe2 = ye 1 - ae3 ,

Joe3 = -0e 1 + ae2 ,

Jov = av +3Jv + 7Kv,

for arbitrary vector field v tangent to the fibers of 7r : M -+

The action of Jo on 1-forms can be obtained easily as follow

Joel = 'ye _-e

2 1 3JO e 2=-ye I+ ae,3

JOe 3 e3e1 - ae2

Joow = (2a2 - 1)wi + 2 a/3wj + 2 acWK,

Jowj = 2Mow, + (2#2 - 1)wj + 2 /#YWK,

JOWK = 2ayw1 + 2, 3 'wJ + (2y2 - 1)wK-

52

Page 53: Sicgnature redacted

Denote by wo the induced metric on M from M, then

(4.2) Wo = W + aWl + 3 wJ + YWK

is balanced according to Theorem 2.3.2, where w is the induced Kdhler metric on E9.

Up to now we have not used the fact that E9 is minimal. Let f : D -+ E9 C R3

given by

(u, v) '-+ (fi(u, v), f2(u, v), f3(u, v))

be an isothermal parametrization of E9 compatible with its orientation. Let z = u+iv

and

Of3 .&fy

for j = 1, 2, 3. It is a well-known fact that E9 is a minimal surface is equivalent to

that W, are holomorphic functions and

2 2 2SPi + S02 + V03 = 0

In addition, the Gauss map : E+ - CP1 = S2 is holomorphic.

Setting

2A = (Pl1 1 + P2S02 + p3993,

we can easily express a, #, y as

-2iAa = W2 3 - 93O2,

-2iA,3 = W301 - W1 P3,

-2iAy = (i 2 - (P2'P1.

Without too much effort, one can check that

1 a-& g

_1=P2 g

-10-=P3 a2-

53

Page 54: Sicgnature redacted

We also have the relations

.Oa 0y ao

az az az(4-3) .1093 = c a 0-Y

.i'7 8 (9a

Now let us assume that N = T4 and let e4 , e5 , e , e7 be a set of parallel orthonormal

1-forms on T4 such that

4 5 6 7w, = e Ae + e Ae,

w 4 = e5 Ae - e A e 7

4 7 5 6WK=e Ae +e Ae

In terms of this frame, it is straightforward to write down the holomorphic (3,0)-form

Q= 1 + iQ2 where

= el A w, + e2 A Wj + e3 AWK,

Q2 = (--ye 2 + ,3e) A wi + (7e' - ae3 ) A wj + (-3e' + ae2 ) A WK-

For later calculation of curvature form and Chern classes, it is convenient to solve

for a local holomorphic frame on (M, Jo). Compared to holomorphic vector fields, it

is easier to work with holomorphic 1-forms.

Consider a (1,0)-form 0 of the form

0 = Ldz + Ae4 + Be +Ce + De ,

where z is a local holomorphic coordinate on E9 and L, A, B, C, D are complex-valued

smooth functions to be determined.

54

Page 55: Sicgnature redacted

As JoO = iO, it follows that

iA =aB+#C+D,

iB = -aA +yC - OD,

iC=-,3A- 7B+aD,

iD = -- yA + B - aC.

Solving A and B from C, D, we get

A = - 32+2C + 3 2 D:= -C + o-D

32 + 2 32 +Y2 := UC + nD,

where

+ ( and o=a22 - il)32 +1/2

are (local) holomorphic functions on E9.

If 6 is a holomorphic (1,0)-form, then

dG = dL A dz + dA A e4 + dB A e5 + dC A e6 + dD A e7

is of type (2,0), which is equivalent to that

Jo(dO) = -dO.

As a consequence, we have

(dA + aJOdB + 3JOdC + -yJodD) A e4 + (dB - ceJodA + -yJodC - 3JodD) A e5

+(dC - 3JOdA - -yJodB + aJodD) A er + (dD - 1 JodA + #JOdB - aJodC) A e 7

+20L A dz

=0.

55

(4 4)

a- = =I82 + -12 2 2 (1

Page 56: Sicgnature redacted

Plugging in (4.4), we get

29L A dz + 26C A (-Ke4 + ore5 + e6) + 26D A (ae4 + ie5 + e7 )

+(C8o- + D~r.) A (iae4 + e5 - iye6 + i/e7)

+(C~, - D~O-) A (-e4 + iae5 + i3e6 + ie 7 )

=0.

Each term in the above equation is a (1,1) form. Notice that

{dz, -Ke + -e5 + e6, -e4 + ie5 + e7 }

form a basis for (1,0)-forms, so we deduce that &C =D = 0 and

20L =(Co-, + Drz)(iCee4 + e5 - i-e6 + i#e7)

+(Cnz - Do-z)(-e4 + iae5 + i#e6 + i7e7 ),

which is always locally solvable since the right hand side is -closed.

Therefore we conclude that

{dz, Lidz - 'e 4 + c-e5 + e6 , L 2dz + -e4 + Ke5 + e 7}

is a local holomorphic frame of (T*)l',M, where L1 and L2 are functions satisfying

26L1 = a-2(e" + iJoe") - Kz(e4 + iJoe4 ) = 2iaz (e7 + iJoe )'32 + -Y 2

l(Z (e7 + iJoe7 ),

20L2 = i-,(e5 iJoe5) + az(e 4 + iJoe 4)

=( (eZ(6 i-Joe 6).

-2ia, 2(e + iJoe6 )

After taking dual basis and rescaling, we obtain a holomorphic frame of T1'0M as

56

(4.5)

Page 57: Sicgnature redacted

follows

V = i,8e4 + i-ye5 + e6 - iae7 = e6 - iJoe6 ,

(4.6) V = i-ye4 - i/e5 + iae6 + e7 = e7 - iJoe7,

Vo = 2--LV 1 - L 2V2.az

Observe that V and V2 are globally defined and nowhere vanishing. Similarly e4 -

iJoe4 and e5 - iJoe5 are nowhere vanishing holomorphic vector fields on M. This

should not be surprising, since by our description of J, translations on T4 are holo-

morphic automorphisms of M, and they generate 4 linearly independent global holo-

morphic vector fields.

At point where (a,3,-y) = (1,0,0), we have V1+iV2 = 0. Similarly at point where

(a, 0, 7) = (-1, 0, 0), we see V - iV2 = 0. Notice that the Gauss map ( is surjective,

so we conclude that as holomorphic vector fields, both V + iV2 and V - iV2 have

zeroes.

In [911, LeBrun and Simanca proved that on a compact Kihler manifold, the set

of holomorphic vector fields with zeroes is actually a vector space. Hence we obtain

a different proof that M is non-Ksihler. In fact, we can prove a little more:

Proposition 4.1.1.

All the holomorphic (1, 0)-forms are pullbacks from E , therefore h"I(M) - hl'0(Eg)

9.

Proof. Let be a holomorphic (1,0)-form on M. Notice that ej -iJoej is a holomorphic

vector field on M for j = 4,5,6,7, so

cj := (ej - iJoe3 )

is a holomorphic function on M, hence a constant. On the other hand, since

e4 - iJoe4 + ia(e5 - iJoe5 ) + i#(e6 - iJoe6 ) + i'Y(e7 - iJoe7 ) = 0,

57

Page 58: Sicgnature redacted

we have

c4 + iac5 + ic 6 + iyc7 = 0.

The only possibility is that c4 = C5 = C6 = C7= 0, otherwise we have a nontrivial

relation between a, / and y, which contradicts the fact that the Gauss map ( is

surjective.

Now let z be a local holomorphic coordinate on U C E9. Then on U x T4 C l, M

can be written as = fdz for some smooth function f defined on U x T4 . Since is

holomorphic, we know that Of = 0 on U x T4 , hence f is a constant on each fiber of

p : M -+ E9. Consequently is a pullback of holomorphic (1, 0)-form from E. LI

Corollary 4.1.2.

M does not satisfy the 90-lemma, hence it is not of Fujiki class C.

Proof. On one hand we have seen that h1 '0 (M) = g. On the other hand, we know

that h1,0(M) + ho'1(M) > bi(M) = 2g + 4. Therefore ho'1(M) g + 4 > g = h1'0(M)

and the 00-lemma fails.

In fact a (g + 4)-dimension subspace of H0 1 (M) can be constructed explicitly as

the span of pullback of H01 (E,) and e + iJoe for j = 4, 5,6, 7. El

It was conjectured in [47] that if a compact complex manifold admits both bal-

anced and pluriclosed metrics (a priori they are different), then it must be Khhler.

This conjecture has been solved in a few cases, including connected sums of S3 x S3

[531, twistor spaces of anti-self-dual 4-manifolds [1121, manifolds of Fujiki class C [281,

nilmanifolds and certain solvmanifolds [47, 481.

To verify this conjecture for our M, we prove that

Theorem 4.1.3.

M does not admit any pluriclosed metrics. Notice that M is not of Fujiki class C, so

our theorem is not covered by Chiose's result [28].

Proof. Let pi = ei - iJe0 for j = 4,5,6,7. Clearly they are (1,0)-forms on M.

Observe that

dpl = -id(Joe)

58

Page 59: Sicgnature redacted

is purely imaginary. On the other hand, dpi is of type (2,0)+(1,1), therefore we

conclude that ap = 0 and

a = -id(JoeO).

Assume that M admits a pluriclosed metric w', then by integration by part, we have

/ (d(Jo Aw ))2 Jw) A &j A w = J A 6 A M ' = 0.m JM JM

On the other hand, explicit calculation shows that

(d(Jo))2 = -4d3 A dy A wj - 4dy A da A wj - 4da A d3 A WK-

j=4

Observe that

d,3 A dy dy A da da A d3 %d( A dC

a -y (1+1(12)2 ( UCPl

is the pullback of the Fubini-Study metric by the Gauss map (. Therefore we have

7

0 = (d(Jop)) 2 A w'= -4 IM(*wcpi A (awI + WJ + WK) A w'.j=4 M

This is in contradiction with the positivity of w', therefore M does not admit any

pluriclosed metrics, which answers a question of Fu-Wang-Wu [561. D

4.2 Degenerate Solutions on Calabi-Gray Manifolds

Recall from Equation (4.2) that the naturally induced metric

= w + awl + fWJ + -YWK

is balanced and 1 1G|W, = constant, therefore it solves the conformally balanced equa-

tion (3.4). However, this metric does not solve the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation

(3.2) and therefore some modifications are needed.

59

Page 60: Sicgnature redacted

Let f be any real-valued smooth function on E9 . We can cook up a new metric

Wf = e2 fW + ef (aw, + /3 wj + _yWK) -

Obviously

IIQIIw = -~2f IIQIIW

and

w = 2ew A (awI + 3wJ +wK) + 2e2f e4 Ae5 Ae6 Ae7

It follows that wf always solves the conformally balanced equation

Following the idea of [591, in order to solve the Strominger system on M, we can

use the ansatz Lf as our metric and we are allowed to vary f freely to solve the other

two equations.

Let us first look at the anomaly cancellation equation (3.3).

Since have worked out a local holomorphic frame of M in Section 4.1, we can

easily compute the term Tr(Rf A Rf) in (3.3), with respect to the Chern connection

associated to wf.

With respect to the local holomorphic frame {VO, V1, V2 }, the metric wf is given

by the matrix

efA + L112 + |L2 12 - ia(L1L 2 - L 2 L,) -L 1 - iaL2

H = 2ef _L, + ia2 1

-L2- iaLi ice

-L 2 + iaL1

-a -

1

The inverse matrix can be computed accordingly

1H 1

= 2e2f A

1

InikL 2

L,

L 1L2

L 2 0

L2L, + 2ef(1 - a 2) 0

|L2 12 }0

60

0

1

-ia

0

1)

Page 61: Sicgnature redacted

Let

p = e2f

R= 0

0

and set

-L2

0 1=

\\0 1

S =ef 1 -ia

ia 1

V= (2 = (T

L2

-Li ,

id]

We can express H and H-1 as

H = 2pR + 2UST T ,

H 1 -T 1 0= VV + -

2p 2

Direct computation shows that

fH-'aft =(p~'Op)

(0aL T

1 0

LT 0)

0

0

+ p- 1OL

L T(1( LT

o_ - 1 ) (L T id)

61

U-

Page 62: Sicgnature redacted

As a consequence, we have

Rf =(H -1 O)

=(D0 log p)

+p~ -

+

1

SLT

aoL

(LTaL) j0

-1 a) )

0)

0)

From this we see immediately that

Tr(Rf) = 400f.

An even more complicated calculation reveals that

Tr(Rf A Rf)

P 9p 2

Olo- P O - DLT + % O + - ALT - .A -9

p p2 p 2

+ OOLp

- L T

T 1o + __ - 1 S( - - bT+ DOL - SD(S'OS)DLp

1--OOL -(9g. LT

p+

L

pDLT + -L - X-hS .S LT

p- - - -9

p

Let W = L. 9LT. After a recombination of terms, we get a very simple expression

Tr(R1 A Rf)

- - [( a logp+ Ologp A Dlogp)W - Ologp A OW + Dlogp A OW - DOW]p

-20a ( .

Recall that 6L can be read off from (4.5), hence we are able to calculate this term

62

-O logp0 0\

AI -kL T 0/

P- L

- L~ T(LT-S)

OL

L T A T

(a(LT)

(-LT id) +( 0

9-1$ 9( DL

T

0

DOLT

00)

- OLT .

-09)

Page 63: Sicgnature redacted

explicitly as

W 2i Kf 12

p ef A (1 +1 2)2 4e

where 9: E -+ CP' is the Gauss map. Clearly this term is globally defined.

A crucial consequence of the lengthy calculation above is that Tr(Rf A Rf) is

00-exact. Therefore it is possible to set F = 0, i.e. E is flat, to solve the Hermitian-

Yang-Mills (3.2) without violating the cohomological restriction in (3.3).

We also observe that

iaowf = iOO(ef (aw, + /WJ + -YWK))-

Therefore by equating

e2f - ai|d( 112,8

we solve the whole Strominger system with F = 0.

Unfortunately C: E9 -+ CP1 is a branched cover of degree g - 1, therefore lid(11 2

vanishes at the ramification points. At these ramification points f goes to -oo, thus

the metric Wf is degenerate at the fibers of r : M -> Eg over these ramification points.

So what we really get is a degenerate solution to the Strominger system.

To understand the degeneracies, we have the following key observation.

Comparing the complex structures on M =E x N and the twistor space Z of N,

we observe that

(M, JO) (*Z (Z, 3)

E9 CP'

is a pullback square! In other words, Calabi-Gray manifolds can be identified with

the total space of pullback of the holomorphic twistor fibration of Z over CP1 via the

Gauss map of minimal surfaces E9 in T3 .

With the pullback picture understood, we can immediately generalize Calabi-

Gray's construction as follows.

63

Page 64: Sicgnature redacted

Let N be a hyperkihler manifold of complex dimension 2n and let p : Z -+ CP

be its holomorphic twistor fibration. Suppose h : Y -+ CP1 is a holomorphic map

and let f = h*Z be the total space of the holomorphic twistor fibration. By a simple

Chern class calculation, one deduce that

Kg - Ky 0 h*O(-2n).

Therefore we have

Theorem 4.2.1.

Given a compact complex manifold Y with h : Y -+ CP1 is a nonconstant holomorphic

map such that

(4.7) Ky h*0(2n),

then Y constructed above is a non-Kahler Calabi-Yau manifold. Moreover, Y admits

a balanced metric if and only if Y does so.

A similar construction was used by LeBrun [891 for different purposes.

Proof. The above calculations shows that once (4.7) is satisfied, then Kp is trivial.

Let us assume that Y is Kshler, then Y is also Kdhler since as a smooth manifold

= Y x N and Y x {pt} is a section of the holomorphic fibration 7r : Y -+ Y for any

{pt} E N. On one hand, by Yau's theorem [116, 1181, Y admits a Ricci-flat Kihler

metric. On the other hand, since h : Y -+ CP1 is not a constant, we know that Ky =

h*0(2n) is nonnegative and c1 (Y) can be represented by a negative semi-definite

(1, 1)-form which is not identically 0. By Yau's theorem again, Y admits a Kihler

metric whose Ricci curvature is nonpositive and negative somewhere. Therefore,

we have a nonconstant holomorphic map 7r Y -+ Y from a compact Ricci-flat

Kdhler manifold to a negatively-curved compact manifold, which contradicts with

Yau's generalized Schwarz lemma [117]. Therefore Y cannot be Kihler.

If Y is balanced, it follows from a theorem of Michelsohn [96] that Y must be

balanced. Conversely, if w is a balanced metric on Y, then we can write down an

64

Page 65: Sicgnature redacted

explicit balanced metric wo on Y, using the expression (4.2).

If (4.7) is satisfied, then L = h*O(n) is a square root of Ky, which corresponds

to a spin structure on Y according to Atiyah [9]. L is known as a theta characteristic

in the case that Y is a complex curve. The minimal surface E9 in a Calabi-Gray

manifold is a special case of the above construction with n = 1. For Y a curve and

n = 1, such an h exists if and only if there is a theta characteristic L on Y such that

h0 (Y, L) > 2, i.e., L is a vanishing theta characteristic.

Example 4.2.2. For every hyperelliptic curves Y of genus g > 3, vanishing theta

characteristics exist, so Theorem 4.2.1 can be used to construct non-Kihler balanced

Calabi-Yau 3-folds. However, it is a theorem of Meeks [951 that if g is even, Y can not

be minimally immersed in T3 . From this we see that Theorem 4.2.1 yields examples

not covered by Calabi-Gray.

Actually, the set of genus g curves with a vanishing theta characteristic defines a

divisor in the moduli space of genus g curves. More refined results of this type can

be found in [71] and [106].

Example 4.2.3. If we allow Y to be of higher dimension, then Theorem 4.2.1 can

be used to construct simply-connected non-Kiihler Calabi-Yau manifolds of higher

dimension. For instance, we can take Y c CPI x CPr to be a smooth hypersurface

of bidegree (2n + 2, r + 1), then (4.7) is satisfied, where h is the restriction of the

projection to CP1 . There are also numerous examples of elliptic fibrations over CP1

without multiple fibers such that (4.7) holds.

4.3 Construction of Local Models

In last section, we constructed degenerate solutions to the Strominger system on

Calabi-Gray manifolds and we see that the degeneracy occurs exactly at the fibers over

branching locus of the Gauss map. Since Calabi-Gray manifolds can be identified with

the pullback of the holomorphic twistor fibration via the Gauss map, if we consider

the Strominger system on the twistor space itself, then we no longer have the problem

65

El

Page 66: Sicgnature redacted

of degeneracies. However, a twistor space can never have trivial canonical bundle,

therefore for the Strominger system to make sense, we need to remove a divisor from

the twistor space to make it a noncompact Calabi-Yau.

Let N be a hyperkAhler 4-manifold and p : Z -+ CP1 be its holomorphic twistor

fibration. Let F be an arbitrary fiber of p. Without loss of generality, we may assume

that F is the fiber over oo C CP'. Let X = Z\F, then X is a noncompact Calabi-Yau

3-fold, since we can write down a holomorphic (3, 0)-form explicitly as

Q := (-2(w + (1 - ( 2 )Wj + i(1 + 2 )OWK) A d(,

where as before, w1 , Wi and WK are Kdhler forms on N and ( E C parameterizes

C = CP' \ {oo}.

In this case, we still have a fibration structure over C:

X =Z\F( Z

cc > CP1

When N is C2 with standard hyperkdhler metric, X constructed above is biholo-

morphic to C3 . If N is the Eguchi-Hansen space with F chosen to be special, then

according to Hitchin (see Section 2.5), X is biholomorphic to the resolved conifold

O(-1, -1).

In this section, we shall present explicit solutions to the Strominger system on

above constructed X for any hyperkihler 4-manifold N. In particular, we get impor-

tant local models of solutions on C3 and O(-1, -1). Hopefully these solutions can

be used for gluing in future investigations.

Our strategy will be very similar to what we did in the Calabi-Gray case. We will

first write down an ansatz solving the conformally balanced equation (3.4), which de-

pends on certain functions. Then we tune the functions to solve the whole Strominger

system. Notice that the curvature of N plays an important role in this section, which

guides us to a natural choice of the holomorphic vector bundle E. However, the price

66

Page 67: Sicgnature redacted

to pay is that all the calculations are much more complicated.

Again, let us start with the conformally balanced equation (3.4). Observe that X

is diffeomorphically a product C x N with twisted complex structure. Let h : N -+ R

and g : C -+ R be arbitrary smooth functions. In addition, we use

2iWCP1 = (1+1(2)2d( A d(

to denote the round metric of radius 1 on CP1 and its restriction on C = CP1 \ {oo}.

Now consider the Hermitian metric

(4.8) W= e W+ew2h+g 2gW

(1 + 1(2)2(a"I + 1'j + 7WK) + C

on X = C x N. One can check that

Lo=C-(1 + 1(12)4(4.9) |W= c eC2h+2g

for some positive constant c and

e 4h+ 29 2h+ 39(4.10) = 2(1 + 24 volN -(1+ 1 12)2(QWI + &3 J + 'WK) A wCP1,

where volN is the volume form on N. It follows that w solves the conformally balanced

equation (3.4) for arbitrary g and h by direct computation.

Now we proceed to solve the anomaly cancellation equation (3.3) using ansatz

(4.8). The first step would be to compute the curvature term Tr(R A R), using the

Chern connection, with respect to the metric (4.8). To do so, following the method

we used in last section, it is convenient to first solve for a local holomorphic frame of

(1, 0)-forms on X.

We fix I to be the background complex structure on the hyperkhler 4-manifold

N. Locally, there exist holomorphic coordinates {z 1 , z2} such that the holomorphic

67

Page 68: Sicgnature redacted

(2, 0)-form on N can be expressed as

WJ + iJK = dzi A dz 2 -

Let K be the Kdhler potential, i.e., we have

W, = ON = i(, 11dzi A d 1 + r,,dzi A d, 2 + K2 1dz2 A d, 1 + ,22dz 2 A d 2 ),

where lower indices represent partial derivatives with respect to holomorphic or anti-

holomorphic coordinates. As N is hyperkihler hence Ricci-flat, we must have

1rv1IK22 - r1AK21= -4

For the convenience of calculation, it is useful to list the following equations

Idzi = idzi, Idz 2 = idz 2 ,

Jdz = -2(K 21d 1 + K22d 2 ),

Jdz 2 = 2(K1d 1 + j12d&2),

Kdzi = -2i(21d2 1 + K22d&2),

Kdz 2 = 2i( 1 1d,1 + Kigd, 2),

Id, 1 = -idf 1 , Id 2 = -id&2

Jd 1 = -2(ridzi + K22dz2 ),

Jd&2 = 2(r1idzi + K2 1dz2),

Kd, 1 = 2i(idzi + K22dz 2 ),

Kd, 2 = -2i(r1jdzi + , 2 1dz2 ),

which tell us how I, J and K act on 1-forms on N.

By noticing that X is naturally diffeomorphic to C x N, we may think of zi as

functions locally defined on X, though they are no longer holomorphic. In the same

68

Page 69: Sicgnature redacted

manner, we shall record how the complex structure 3 on X acts on 1-forms

3dC = id,

3dzi = iadzi - 2(0 + iy)(K21dZ-1 + K22d, 2 ),

3dz2 = iadz2 + 2(0 + i-y)(r1 1d. 1 + r.12d2 2),

3d(= -id(,

3d21 = -iad21 - 2(3 - iy)(rigdzi + ri22dz2 ),

3dZ2 = -iad 2 + 2(3 - i-y)(nidzi + K2 jdz2 ).

Now consider a 1-form

0 = Ld( + Adz1 + Bdz 2 + Cd&1 + Dd22 .

If 9 is of type (1,0), i.e., 30 = i9, then we have

A = 2 iK1C -

B = 2iK22C -

2i.11D

2i'21D.

Let

01 = 2i!1 dz1 + 2i-2dz 2 + d21 , 02 = 2i dzi + 2iK1 dz 2 - dZ2.

It is easy to see that they are (1,0)-forms. Moreover, we have

9 = LdC + CO1 - D0 2.

Lemma 4.3.1.

9 is a holomorphic (1, 0)-form if and only if

(4.11) 2(CL = -C((1 - a)01 - 2d21 ) + D((1 - a)02 + 2&2)

69

Page 70: Sicgnature redacted

holds, where C and D satisfy

(C = i(3 - i'-y)[C(K 1j201 - K21202) - D(i 11 015 - K2ii02)](4.12)

D = i(/ - iy)[C(i'21 - K2220 2) - D(K 1120 1 - K202).

Proof. The proof follows from straightforward calculation. It is quite clear that 0 is

holomorphic if and only if

0L A d( + C A 01 - aD A 02 +C60 1 - D6 2 = 0.

One can compute directly that

90, = -1 + a ( A 0 1 ,2(

61 = - d(A (1 -a6 - d, 1

2i22(K112dzi A d, i + K122dzi

022= 2 d( A0 2 ,

6 2 = - A 1 a2 +

A dz2 + K21 dz2 A dzi + K22dz2 A df2 ),

dz2 )

- i(Ki1 1 dzi A dj + K11 dzi A df2 + K2 1 1dz2 A d 1 + K2j2dz 2 A d. 2 ).

Therefore the holomorphicity of 0 is equivalent to (4.11) and

S(C A 0 1 - OD A0 2 )

(4.13) =C( 112dzi A d 1 + Ki2dzi A d 2 + K2i2dz 2 A d51 + 222dz 2 A d. 2 )

-D(1iidzi A d 1 + , 112dz1 A d, 2 + K2 11dz 2 A d.i + K212dz 2 A d. 2 ).

Observe that Equation (4.11) is (locally) solvable if and only if

OC A ((I - ai)01 - 2dzj) = OD A ((1 - f) 02 + 2dz2).

70

Page 71: Sicgnature redacted

Or in other words, there exists functions P, Q and R such that

C = P((1 - a)01 - 2d 1 ) + Q((1 - a)6 2 + 2d22),

OD = -Q((1 - a)01 - 2d 1) + R((1 - a)6 2 + 2d 2 ).

Plugging them in Equation (4.13) we get

2PK12 + 2QK11 = Cr112 - DK11I,

2RK1p - 2QKi1 = CKi22 - Dni2,

2P'22 + 2QK2 1 = CK 212 - Dr211,

2RK2!- 2Qn22 = CK222- DK2 2

These equations can be solved explicitly

P = 2C(r1jK2i2 - K2ir112) +

Q = 2C(K2 K1i2 - r-i- 2 12) +

= 2C(K21KI22 - rqi- 2 2 ) +

R = 2C(22K12 - r.12K 2 22 ) +

Substituting

the lemma.

P, Q and R above back into (4.13), we get exactly (4.12) and prove

F1

Now we are ready to compute the curvature term Tr(R A R) with respect to the

metric (4.8). For the simplicity of notations, we shall let s = 1+1(12 and use K = (, jk)

to denote the inverse matrix of (Kjk). In addition, (-,-) is to be understood as the

Hermitian metric associated to w.

Let Lid( + C101 - D102 and L2d( + C20 1 - D2 62 be locally defined linearly inde-

71

2D(K2!11iH - Klir-211),

2D(r1Kii1 - K22K1II),

2D(K11r-212 - K21K112),

2D(r.i2K212 - K22rilH).

Page 72: Sicgnature redacted

pendent holomorphic (1,0)-forms. It is not hard to compute that

(d(,d) =2e 2 ,

(01,1) = S21+( +

(01, 02) =- Ie 2 hg K

S3________22

(02,02) =I 2e 2h+9 K

If we consider the local frame

{d(, ((L1 )d( + C1 ((C 1 ) + D1 (-( 2 ), ((L 2)d( + C2((O) + D2 (-(02)},

then the Gram matrix H is given by

H -s2 1 (2e2g (L )

and

Let U = AKAT, notice tha

so we can compute that

2e2 9H-1= 2s 2

1

0

0

L =(L1(L2

A =C 1 D,

C2 D2

det H = det U,2e4g 4h

0 0

0 00 0

e 2h+g+ 3

72

112

S 2 +

K(2~~

where

0

0LT +

P-2h+g

0

AKAT

U1 (-L I2),12 )

Page 73: Sicgnature redacted

where 12 is the 2 x 2 identity matrix. Write

A = and B = g

It follows that

OR = aA 1

0 0+ aB_

(0 U)

ft-'of = o log A ( 10

+ a log B(0

As a consequence,

R = O(H -10H)

_ Oo1A LT)= 0log A (L0 0

+ 0 A)- U

A

12)

+ A9 log B

LT) + A (

LT 0 OLT\

0) 0

-LT -L

I2 ( 2

LT )

A

(0

+CA 0

-LT

I2 J

U-ioU) -

0 ftLT 0 60L T- OlogA +

1 0 0 ) 0 0

~1Is( )L - B ~0 I 1

(U 1 ) (I LT) - B (1 U-L (0

-LT) + o log B (0 LT) (LT0 (

a(U 1OU)) -

OLT )

U~ 1o LT)

LT)

LT)

U-10u

-LT

I2)

(0

73

Page 74: Sicgnature redacted

A lengthy calculation shows that

(4.14)

and

Tr(R) = 68 log A + 26 log B + Tr(0(U 1 9U))

Tr(R A R)

=200 ( W) + 2(6a log B) 2

+26alog B A Tr(6(U-9U)) + Tr((U1 9U)2),

(4.15)

where W =LTU-l9A and we have used the fact that (0 log A) 2 = 0.

Recall from (4.9) that if ||Q||m is a constant, or equivalently, eh+9 - S2, then

Tr(R) = 0. From this and (4.14) we can deduce that

(4.16) Tr(O(U19U)) = 0.

From the (restricted) holomorphic twistor fibration p : X -+ C, we have a short

exact sequence of holomorphic vector bundles

0 -+ p*(T*)l.OC -+ (T*) 0 X -4+ E' = (T*)l1oX/p*(T*)10(C -+ 0.

Moreover, the matrix U is the Gram matrix of the holomorphic frame of the relatively

cotangent bundle E' induced by

{(CL 1)d( + C1((01) + D1 (- 6 2 ), ((L2 )d( + C2(((1) + D2 (-(02)}

with respect to the natural metric scaled by s. Let F' be the curvature form of E'

with respect to this metric, then we have

(4.17) F' = 6(U-19U).

74

Page 75: Sicgnature redacted

By making use of (4.16) and (4.17), we can simplify (4.15) to

(4.18) Tr(R A R) = 20 ( W) + 2(Oa log B)2 + Tr(F' A F').

The quantity W can be computed explicitly using (4.11). Notice that

20LT = (2d, 1 - (1 - a)01 2d&2 + (1 - a)02) A ,

it follows that

2d1+1-)O ) (2dzl - (1- !)9i)W = - (2dz1 - (1 - a)01 2d,&2 + (1 - a)02 K-1 (4 2dz 2 + (1 - a)#2

2i= -(aw + /WJ + 7WK)-

S

Consequently, the anomaly cancellation equation (3.3) reduces to

ia e 32h eg - a- a + w 7K

(4.19) (2 ( (aw, +,/w, + YWK))

4 [2(00 log B) 2 Tr(F' A F') - Tr(F A F)]

and we are free to choose functions g and h.

1 &'The simplest way to let (4.19) hold is to set g = 1 log , F = F' and choose

2 2'appropriate h such that

(4.20) (Oa log B)2 = 0.

Recall that B = s3/e 2h+9, hence (4.20) holds trivially if h is a constant say h = 0.

In this case, the metric (4.8) is conformal to the product of hyperkiihler metric on N

and the Euclidean metric on C, hence conformally Ricci-flat. It should be pointed

out that this metric is not complete, however this does not raise any problem for

the use of gluing. Intuitively we can think of w as a metric on the singular space

CP1 x N/{oo} x N. Therefore we have demonstrated that the anomaly cancellation

75

Page 76: Sicgnature redacted

equation (3.3) can be solved by choosing both g and h to be constant and E to be

the relative cotangent bundle of p : X -+ C.

It is also possible that (4.20) holds for nonconstant h. To find such h, one usually

needs to know the explicit hyperkahler metric on N. We will give an example later

in this section.

In our last section, N is taken to be flat T4 hence F' = 0 and the Hermitian-Yang-

Mills equation (3.2) holds automatically. In general, neither N is flat nor F' trivial.

Therefore in order to solve the whole Strominger system, we need to prove

Theorem 4.3.2.

F' solves the Hermitian-Yang-Mills equation (3.2), i.e.,

F' A w2 = 0

for arbitrary g and h.

By the product structure X = C x N, we can decompose the space of 2-forms on

X as

Q2(X) = Q2 (C) E Q'(C) ® Q1(N) E q2(N).

Moreover the complex structure 3 is compatible with this decomposition, so we have

Ql,'(X) = Q1'1(C) E fiO'0 (C) 9 Q0'1(N) D Qo0'1(C) 0 Q' 0 (N) E l"(N).

We first prove the following lemma

Lemma 4.3.3.

Every entry of F' is contained in the space

Q1'0(C) 0 0'(N) f Q0'1(C) 0 Q 1'0(N) E Q1'l(N).

Proof. Recall that U = AKAT, so we have

F' = O(U-10U) = 6((AT)-1k-A-8X-kAT)+6((AT)-Ik~1 -AT)+O((AT)-1 AT)).

76

Page 77: Sicgnature redacted

Observe that (4.12) can be rewritten as

A =i(-i)A. K1121 - 22 K1221 - K22202

K2 1 2 - K1II1 K229 2 - K1101

which does not contain any component from Q (C). Similarly Ok contains only

components in Q 1'0 (N). The lemma follows directly from these two observations. E

Now we proceed to prove Theorem 4.3.2

Proof. From (4.10), we see that w2 lives in the space

Q2 (C) ® Q 2 (N) ( Q4(N).

Therefore the only component of F' that would contribute in F' A w 2 is its Ql"'(N)-

part. The key point is that the Q1'1(N)-part of F' can be computed fiberwise.

Fix ( E C and let N be the fiber of the holomorphic twistor fibration over C.Notice that (NC, w) : -awl + 8WJ + 7WK) is hyperkhler. Moreover, E'IN is the

cotangent bundle of NC with its hyperkiihler metric. It is a well-known fact that

hyperkihler 4-manifolds are anti-self-dual, thus

F61,1(N) A wC = 0.

The theorem follows directly. l

In summary, the main theorem we have proved is the following:

Theorem A.

Let N be a hyperkshler 4-manifold and let p : Z -+ CP1 be its holomorphic twistor

fibration. By removing an arbitrary fiber of p from Z, we get a noncompact 3-fold

X which has trivial canonical bundle. It is worth mentioning that the holomorphic

structure of X depends on the choice of fiber. For such X's, we can always construct

explicit solutions to the Strominger system on them. These spaces include C3 and

the resolved conifold 0(-1, -1) as special examples.

77

Page 78: Sicgnature redacted

Now let us take a closer look at the the solutions constructed above for N - R4

Identify R' with the space of quaternions H, then left multiplication by i, j and

k defines the standard hyperkhiler structure on R'. We can construct the space X

by removing the fiber with complex structure -I at infinity. Actually, X is biholo-

morphic to C3 . An explicit biholomorphism V : C' = C x C2 -+ X = C x R4 can be

written down as

(1( - ZiC2 W 2 + i4W 11, U,2) = W, , 12) = + 1 + 112

Or conversely,

W2 = :U2 - k

where u1 = xi +jx2, U2 = X3 +iX 4 and U1 + 2j = x1 +x 2 ij+ X3+ x 4 k parameterizes

H = R4 . In terms of the holomorphic coordinates {(, w 1 , w 2 } on C3 , the 2-form

awI + 3 Wj + 'WK can be expressed explicitly as

OWI +/3CvJ + 7WK

(4.21) - (dw, A diD + dW2 A detY2 + (Iu11 2 + Iu2 12 )d( A d2s

+iu2dw1 A d - iuidw2 A d( - ifi 2d( A dfvi + ilid( A dCV 2 ).

Now let us consider Equation (4.20)

(00 log B)2 = 0.

Notice that

aO log B = (30 logs - aag) - 20ah,

hence (4.20) is equivalent to that

(4.22) (aah)2 = 0ah A (36a log s - D9g).

78

Page 79: Sicgnature redacted

For simplicity, let us assume that h : R4 -+ R is a radial function, i.e., h = h(p)

where

p == JU12 + 1u2 12 = (X) 2 + (x2) 2 + (X3 )2 + (x4)2 .

Therefore

dh = h'dp

and

2iO0h =d3dh

=h"dp A (aI +/3J + yK)dp + h'(da A Idp + do A Jdp + dy A Kdp)

-4h'(aw, + 3 WJ + IWK).

One can verify that

=2(h')2 (aJdp A Kdp + 3Kdp A Idp + -yIdp A Jdp) A WcP 1 - 32h'(ph')'voR4

-8h'(ph')' ((ad3 - 3da) A *Kdp + (Od3 y - -yd/3) A *Idp + (-yda - ad'y) A *Jdp),

where * is the standard Hodge star operator on R 4. In addition we have

490h A (300 log s - &Og)

=(h"dp A (al + J + -yK)dp - 4h'(aw, + 3 WJ + YWK)) A (200 log g + 3wcpl).

By using the identity

dp A Idp + 4p -wi = Jdp A Kdp,

and assuming g is a constant, it follows that (4.22) holds if and only if h' = 0 or

h' = 2. In both cases we solve the Strominger system.2p

(a). The case h' = 0.

The metric on X = C x R4 is essentially of the form

1(cx i+ WJ +-WK +dC A

79

Page 80: Sicgnature redacted

which is conformal to the Euclidean metric on X. However this metric has rather

complicated expression in terms of standard complex coordinates ((, wi, w 2 ) on

C3:

2iW )d( A d( + 2 (dwi A dffi + dW 2 A dfV 2

(1 + 1(12)2 2(1 +1(|2)3

+iu 2dwj A dC - iuidw2 A dC - ifl2d( A dfb1 + ifild( A dff'2

+ (Iui|2 + 1u2 12)d( A d)

where

W1 -i(iV2 W2 + i(W-1(Ul, U2) - ( 1(12 ' + 1(2)

Direct calculation shows that though its sectional curvature is not bounded

from below, however it is bounded from above by a positive constant. Same

conclusion applies to Ricci and scalar curvatures as well.

(b). The case h' .

2p

In this case eh ~ P3/2, so the metric w is only defined on C x (R4 \ {0}) e

C x (C2 \{0}). On each copy of R'\ {0}, the restricted metric is conformally flat,

with non-positive sectional curvature. The curvature properties of C x (R4 \ {0})

behave in the same way as what we have seen in the h' = 0 case.

80

Page 81: Sicgnature redacted

Appendix A

On Chern-Ricci-Flat Balanced

Metrics

Let X be a Kdhler manifold with trivial canonical bundle. A fundamental question

is whether M admits a (complete) Ricci-flat Ksihler metric or not. For X compact,

this was answered affirmatively by Yau's famous solution to the Calabi conjecture

[116, 1181. However, when X is noncompact, the same problem is far from being

solved.

For instance, let M be any Kdhler manifold, then we know that the total space of

the canonical bundle of M, denoted by KA, is Kdhler and has itself trivial canonical

bundle. Therefore we may ask when does KM support a Kdhler Ricci-flat metric.

This problem was first studied by Calabi [20], where he showed that if M admits a

Kdhler-Einstein metric, then one can write down a Kihler Ricci-flat metric on Kk.

A relative recent progress in this direction was made by Futaki [601, where he proved

that such a metric exists if M is toric Fano.

The Calabi ansatz can be rephrased as follows. Let (M, w) be a Kdhler manifold.

By choosing a set of holomorphic coordinates {zI, .. . , z} on M, we can trivialize Km

by dzA ... A dz" locally. Let t parameterizes the fiber of KMI under this trivialization,

then {z, ... , zn, t} forms a set of holomorphic coordinates on KM and

Q = dz' A .. -A dzn A dt

81

Page 82: Sicgnature redacted

is a globally defined nowhere vanishing holomorphic volume form.

In terms of coordinates {z1 ,...,z}, the Kdhler form w can be written as

W = ihjkdz A dzk.

It follows that h = det(hjk) is a positive function. Notice that the Khhler metric on

M naturally induces an Hermitian metric on KN, which can be expressed as

wo = w + L(dt - tO log h) A (di - fa log h).h

Let R : KAI -* R be the norm square function of fibers of KM -+ M. Clearly R th

and the metric wo has the form

wo W .i R A OR

R

In general, wo is not a Kdhler metric. It turns out that wo is Kdhler if and only if

O log R = -00 log h = 0,

i.e., (M, w) is Kihler Ricci-flat.

To get a better behaved metric, we can modify wo by some conformal factors. Let

u, v be smooth functions on M, and f, g be smooth functions of R. Then one can

cook up a new Hermitian metric

WUVfg = eu+fw + ie+g OR A ORR

It is not hard to check that Q is of constant length if and only if

(A.1) v=-nu and g=-nf+c

for some constant c. Assuming this, if we further want the metric Ju,v,fg to be Kdhler,

then u must be a constant. Without loss of generality we may assume that u = 0,

82

Page 83: Sicgnature redacted

and we still need

e1Of A w - ie-nf+COR A O0 log R =0.

In other words,

e(n+l)f-cfw = iO log R = -iO log h = Ric(w).

We see immediately that this equation has a solution if and only if w is Kdhler-

Einstein, in which case we get the Calabi ansatz.

In this appendix, we shall consider the case that w,,,f,, is balanced and Chern-

Ricci-flat, i.e.,

d(W",vf,g) = 0 and ||0C,~ =- constant.

As we have seen, such metric appears naturally in compactification of heterotic super-

strings in the metric product model (cf. Model 2 in Section 3.1). Geometrically this

condition is interpreted as that Q is parallel under the Bismut-Strominger connection.

Now let us impose the balanced Chern-Ricci-flat

"Chern-Ricci-flat" part, i.e., =_G||W f constant,

Plugging this in and we can compute that

Wn _ n(u+f) Wn + --- fWn-1u,,f, w

condition on w,,vf,g. For the

we still need (A.1) as before.

OR AORA R

Hence

= en(u+f)Of n - iec-u-fwn-1 A OR A ac log R - ine'-fwn-1 A O9 A RR

As there are no other terms to cancel the last term in the above equation, so we need

au = 0 to make wu,,,f,g balanced. By choosing u = 0, the balancing condition is

reduced to

e"fOf A w" = inec-fwn-' A OR A 0 log R,

83

Page 84: Sicgnature redacted

or equivalently,

e(n~lw-cf'w"l = -inw"i4 & log h = s - "

where s is the scalar curvature function of M up to a positive constant. From the

calculation we conclude that this is possible if and only if (M, w) has constant scalar

curvature.

Constant scalar curvature Kdhler metrics (cscK) has been studied extensively as a

special case of extremal Kihler metrics [211. It is believed that the existence of cscK

metrics is equivalent to certain stability condition in the sense of algebraic geometry.

Notice that in the derivation of Chern-Ricci-flat balanced metric on Km, what

we actually need is that w is balanced instead of being KAhler. In such a case, s

is known as the Chern scalar curvature, which is in general different from the scalar

curvature in Riemannian geometry. Thus we have proved the following generalization

of Calabi's result.

Theorem A.0.4.

If M admits a balanced metric with constant Chern scalar curvature, then KM admits

a Chern-Ricci-flat balanced metric.

Recall that on a complex n-fold X, a balanced metric w defines the so-called

balanced class

W"n-1 ~ _1,_- I X d-closed (n - 1, n - 1)-forms[(T Z HZj~1 X C ----(n - 1)!] 0 i-exact (n - 1, n - 1)-forms'

The balanced version of Calabi (Gauduchon) conjecture [107] in general case is still

open. In particular, for balanced manifolds with trivial canonical bundle, this conjec-

ture implies the existence of Chern-Ricci-flat balanced metrics in any given balanced

class. We refer to [105] for recent progresses on this problem.

Theorem A.0.4 implies that Chern-Ricci-flat balanced metrics should be viewed

as a balanced analogue of extremal Khhler metrics. We shall justify this claim by the

following consideration.

On a compact balanced manifold (X,w), a very useful property is that the total

84

Page 85: Sicgnature redacted

Chern scalar curvature

s-- p n-1

x n! i (n -1)!

depends only on the complex structure of X and the balanced class. Here p =

-iO log h is the Chern-Ricci form. As an analogue of Kdhler case, it is natural to

consider the variational problem associated to the Calabi-type functional [211

S(w)= s2. W

n-1

where varies in the given balanced class. Since we can modify w by i00a,(n -i)!

where a is any (n - 2, n - 2)-form, we expect the associated Euler-Lagrange equation

is an equation of (n - 2, n - 2)-forms, or dually, a (2,2)-form equation.

Indeed, it is not hard to derive the following

Theorem A.0.5.

A balanced metric w is a critical point of S(w) if and only if it satisfies

(A.2) 2(n - 1)i&Os A p =i 0((2As + s2)W),

where A, is the complex Laplacian defined by

Af = A(i0Of) = hk 2

As an analogue of Kdhler case, we shall call such balanced metrics extremal.

From Equation (A.2), we have the following observations:

(a). If the background metric is non-Kihler, one can easily show that 0Ow 7 0.

Hence s = constant is an extremal balanced metric if and only if s = 0. In par-

ticular, Chern-Ricci-flat balanced metrics are extremal. An intuitive reason is

that there is no analogue of Kifhler-Einstein metrics with nonzero Einstein con-

stant on non-Ksihler balanced manifolds. Indeed, if there is a smooth function

f such that

p = f ,

85

Page 86: Sicgnature redacted

one can deduce that p = 0.

(b). If there exists a (1,0)-form p such that

(A.3) 2(n - 1)s - p = (2s + s)w +p + a,

then (A.2) holds. On the other hand, if (A.2) holds, then condition (A.3) is

automatically satisfied if HA' (X) = 0, where H*4(X) is the Aeppli cohomology

group of X. In this case, by taking trace of (A.3), we get

2(n - 1)s2 = 2nAs + ns 2 + A(a + Of).

Since the last term is of divergence form, by integration over X, we get

(n - 2) s 2. W = 0.fjx n!

As we always assume that n > 2 (otherwise w is Kdhler), we conclude that

s 0.

(c). Assuming s = 0, if we further assume that 0 = c1 (X) E HBi,(X), then p = iaf

for some globally defined real function f. Therefore

0 = s = Ap = Af.

Hence by maximal principle f is a constant and p = 0.

A very important class of non-Kiihler Calabi-Yau 3-folds is of the form Xk = #k(S x

S 3) for k > 2 [50, 941, which can be constructed from projective Calabi-Yau 3-folds

by taking conifold transitions (cf. Section 2.4). Moreover, these manifolds satisfy the

00-lemma and admit balanced metrics [53]. Therefore conditions in (b) and (c) above

are satisfied. Consequently we have

Corollary A.0.6.

Extremal balanced metrics on Xk are exactly those Chern-Ricci-flat balanced metrics.

86

Page 87: Sicgnature redacted

Hopefully this point of view will be useful in proving the balanced version of Calabi

(Gauduchon) conjecture for Xk's.

87

Page 88: Sicgnature redacted

88

Page 89: Sicgnature redacted

Bibliography

[1] E. Abbena and A. Grassi. Hermitian left invariant metrics on complex Liegroups and cosymplectic Hermitian manifolds. Bollettino della Unione Matem-atica Italiana-A, 5(6):371-379, 1986.

[2] A. Aeppli. On the cohomology structure of Stein manifolds. In Proceedings ofthe Conference on Complex Analysis, pages 58-70. Springer, 1965.

[31 R. Albuquerque and I.M.C. Salavessa. The G2 sphere of a 4-manifold. Monat-shefte fur Mathematik, 158(4):335-348, 2009.

[4] L. Alessandrini and G. Bassanelli. Smooth proper modifications of compactKdhler manifolds. In Complex Analysis, volume 1 of Aspects of Mathematics,pages 1-7. Vieweg, 1991.

[51 B. Andreas and M. Garcia-Fernandez. Heterotic non-Kiihler geometries viapolystable bundles on Calabi-Yau threefolds. Journal of Geometry and Physics,62(2):183-188, 2012.

[6] B. Andreas and M. Garcia-Fernandez. Solutions of the Strominger system viastable bundles on Calabi-Yau threefolds. Communications in MathematicalPhysics, 315(1):153-168, 201 .

[71 B. Andreas and M. Garcia-Fernandez. Note on solutions of the Stromingersystem from unitary representations of cocompact lattices of SL(2, C). Com-munications in Mathematical Physics, 332(3):1381-1383, 2014.

[81 M.F. Atiyah. On analytic surfaces with double points. Proceedings of the RoyalSociety of London A, 247(1249):237-244, 1958.

[91 M.F. Atiyah. Riemann surfaces and spin structures. Annales Scientifiques del'Zcole Normale Supirieure, 4(1):47-62, 1971.

[101 M.F. Atiyah, N.J. Hitchin, and I.M. Singer. Self-duality in four-dimensionalRiemannian geometry. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A,362(1711):425-461, 1978.

[111 K. Becker, M. Becker, J.-X. Fu, L.-S. Tseng, and S.-T. Yau. Anomaly can-cellation and smooth non-Kshler solutions in heterotic string theory. NuclearPhysics B, 751(1):108-128, 2006.

89

Page 90: Sicgnature redacted

[12] M. Becker, L.-S. Tseng, and S.-T. Yau. New heterotic non-Kiihler geometries.Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 13(6):1815-1845, 2009.

[131 I. Biswas and A. Mukherjee. Solutions of Strominger system from unitary repre-sentations of cocompact lattices of SL(2, C). Communications in MathematicalPhysics, 322(2):373-384, 2013.

[141 R. Bott and S.-S. Chern. Hermitian vector bundles and the equidistributionof the zeroes of their holomorphic sections. Acta Mathematica, 114(1):71-112,1965.

[15] F.M. Cabrera. On Riemanniam manifolds with G2 -structure. Bollettino dellaUnione Matematica Italiana-A, 10(1):99-112, 1996.

[161 F.M. Cabrera, M.D. Monar, and A.F. Swann. Classification of G2 -structures.Journal of the London Mathematical Society, 53(2):407-416, 1996.

[171 E Calabi. The space of Kdhler metrics. In Proceedings of the InternationalCongress of Mathematicians (Amsterdam, 1954) Vol. II, pages 206-207. No-ordhoff, 1954.

[18] E. Calabi. On Kdhler manifolds with vanishing canonical class. In AlgebraicGeometry and Topology. A Symposium in Honor of S. Lefschetz, volume 12 ofPrinceton Mathematics Series, pages 78-89. Princeton University Press, 1957.

[19] E. Calabi. Construction and properties of some 6-dimensional almost complexmanifolds. Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, 87(2):407-438,1958.

[20] E. Calabi. M6triques kahl6riennes et fibr6s holomorphes. Annales Scientifiquesde l'Ecole Normale Supirieure, 12(2):269-294, 1979.

[21] E. Calabi. Extremal Kahler metrics. In Seminar on Differential Geometry, vol-ume 102 of Annals of Mathematics Studies, pages 259-290. Princeton UniversityPress, 1982.

[221 E. Calabi and B. Eckmann. A class of compact, complex manifolds which arenot algebraic. Annals of Mathematics, 58(3):494-500, 1953.

[23] F. Campana. The class C is not stable by small deformations. MathematischeAnnalen, 290(1):19-30, 1991.

[241 P. Candelas and X.C. de la Ossa. Comments on conifolds. Nuclear Physics B,342(1):246-268, 1990.

[251 P. Candelas, G.T. Horowitz, A. Strominger, and E. Witten. Vacuum configu-rations for superstrings. Nuclear Physics B, 258(1):46-74, 1985.

90

Page 91: Sicgnature redacted

[26] G.L. Cardoso, G. Curio, G. Dall'Agata, D. Lust, P. Manousselis, andG. Zoupanos. Non-Khhler string backgrounds and their five torsion classes.Nuclear Physics B, 652:5-34, 2003.

[27] L. Carlevaro and D. Isra81. Heterotic resolved conifolds with torsion, fromsupergravity to CFT. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2010(1):1-57, 2010.

[281 I. Chiose. Obstructions to the existence of Kiihler structures on com-pact complex manifolds. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society,142(10):3561-3568, 2014.

[291 S.G. Chiossi and S. Salamon. The intrinsic torsion of SU(3) and G2 structures.In Differential Geometry, Valencia 2001, pages 115-133. World Scientific, 2002.

[30] M.-T. Chuan. Existence of Hermitian- Yang-Mills metrics under conifold tran-sitions. PhD thesis, Harvard University, 2011.

[311 M.-T. Chuan. Existence of Hermitian-Yang-Mills metrics under conifold tran-sitions. Communications in Analysis and Geometry, 20(4):677-749, 2012.

[32] K. Dasgupta, G. Rajesh, and S.S. Sethi. M-theory, orientifolds and G-flux.Journal of High Energy Physics, 1999(08), 1999.

[33] P. Deligne, P. Griffiths, J. Morgan, and D. Sullivan. Real homotopy theory ofKihler manifolds. Inventiones Mathematicae, 29:245-274, 1975.

[341 S.K. Donaldson. Anti self-dual Yang-Mills connections over complex algebraicsurfaces and stable vector bundles. Proceedings of the London MathematicalSociety, 50(1):1-26, 1985.

[351 T. Eguchi and A.J. Hanson. Asymptotically flat self-dual solutions to Euclideangravity. Physics Letters B, 74(3):249-251, 1978.

[36] M. Falcitelli, A. Farinola, and S. Salamon. Almost-Hermitian geometry. Dif-ferential Geometry and Its Applicationst, 4(3):259-282, 1994.

[37] T. Fei. A construction of non-Kiihler Calabi-Yau manifolds and new solutionsto the Strominger system. arXiv: 1507.00293, 2015.

[38] T. Fei. Some torsional local models of heterotic strings. arXiv: 1508.05566,2015.

[39] T. Fei. Stable forms, vector cross products and their applications in geometry.arXiv: 1504.02807, 2015.

[40] T. Fei and S.-T. Yau. Invariant solutions to the Strominger system on com-plex Lie groups and their quotients. Communications in Mathematical Physics,338(3):1-13, 2015.

91

Page 92: Sicgnature redacted

[41] M. FernAndez and A. Gray. Riemannian manifolds with structure group G2 .Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata, 132(1):19-45, 1982.

[421 M. FernAndez, S. Ivanov, L. Ugarte, and D. Vassilev. Non-Kaehler heteroticstring solutions with non-zero fluxes and non-constant dilaton. Journal of HighEnergy Physics, 2014(6):1-23, 2014.

[431 M. FernAndez, S. Ivanov, L. Ugarte, and R. Villacampa. Non-Kaehler heteroticstring compactifications with non-zero fluxes and constant dilaton. Communi-cations in Mathematical Physics, 288(2):677-697, 2009.

[441 M. FernAndez, S. Ivanov, L. Ugarte, and R. Villacampa. Compact supersym-metric solutions of the heterotic equations of motion in dimensions 7 and 8.Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 15(2):245-284, 2011.

[45] A. Fino and A. Tomassini. A survey on strong KT structures. Bulletin Math-6matique de la Sociit6 des Sciences Mathimatiques de Roumanie, 52(100):99-116, 2009.

[461 A. Fino and A. Tomassini. On astheno-Kiihler metrics. Journal of the LondonMathematical Society, 83(2):290-308, 2011.

1471 A. Fino and L. Vezzoni. Special Hermitian metrics on compact solvmanifolds.Journal of Geometry and Physics, 91:40-53, 2015.

[48] A. Fino and L. Vezzoni. On the existence of balanced and SKT metrics onnilmanifolds. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 144(6):2455-2459, 2016.

[49] R. Friedman. Simultaneous resolution of threefold double points. Mathematis-che Annalen, 274(4):671-689, 1986.

[501 R. Friedman. On threefolds with trivial canonical bundle. In Complex Geometryand Lie Theory (Sundance, UT, 1989), volume 53 of Proceedings of Symposiain Pure Mathematics, pages 103-134. AMS, 1991.

[511 A. Frdlicher. Relations between the cohomology groups of Dolbeault and topo-logical invariants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the UnitedStates of America, 41(9):641-644, 1955.

[521 J.-X. Fu. Balanced metrics. In Su Buqing Memorial Lectures, volume 35 ofToh6ku Mathematical Publications, pages 1-29. Toh6ku University, 2011.

[53] J.-X. Fu, J. Li, and S.-T. Yau. Balanced metrics on non-Kihler Calabi-Yauthreefolds. Journal of Differential Geometry, 90(1):81-129, 2012.

[54] J.-X. Fu, L.-S. Tseng, and S.-T. Yau. Local heterotic torsional models. Com-munications in Mathematical Physics, 289(3):1151-1169, 2009.

92

Page 93: Sicgnature redacted

[55] J.-X. Fu, Z.-Z. Wang, and D.-M. Wu. Form-type Calabi-Yau equations. Math-

ematical Research Letters, 17(5):887-903, 2010.

[56] J.-X. Fu, Z.-Z. Wang, and D.-M Wu. Semilinear equations, the 'Yk function, and

generalized Gauduchon metrics. Journal of the European Mathematical Society,15(2):659-680, 2013.

[57] J.-X. Fu, Z.-Z. Wang, and D.-M. Wu. Form-type equations on Ksihler manifoldsof nonnegative orthogonal bisectional curvature. Calculus of Variations andPartial Differential Equations, 52(1-2):327-344, 2015.

[58] J.-X. Fu and S.-T. Yau. A Monge-Ampere-type equation motivated by stringtheory. Communications in Analysis and Geometry, 15(1):29-76, 2007.

[59] J.-X. Fu and S.-T. Yau. The theory of superstring with flux on non-Kdhlermanifolds and the complex Monge-Ampere equation. Journal of DifferentialGeometry, 78(3):369-428, 2008.

[601 A. Futaki. Complete Ricci-flat Kihler metrics on the canonical bundles of toricFano manifolds. arXiv: math/0703138, 2007.

[61] P. Gauduchon. Le th6oreme de l'excentricit6 nulle. Comptes Rendus del'Academie des Sciences. S&ries A et B, 285(5):387-390, 1977.

[621 P. Gauduchon. La 1-forme de torsion d'une varit6 hermitienne compacte.Mathematische Annalen, 267(4):495-518, 1984.

[631 P. Gauduchon. Hermitian connections and Dirac operators. Bollettino della

Unione Matematica Italiana-B, 11(2, Suppl.):257-288, 1997.

[64] G.W. Gibbons and S.W. Hawking. Gravitational multi-instantons. PhysicsLetters B, 78(4):430-432, 1978.

[651 E. Goldstein and S. Prokushkin. Geometric model for complex non-Kiihlermanifolds with SU(3) structure. Communications in Mathematical Physics,251(1):65-78, 2004.

[661 G. Grantcharov. Geometry of compact complex homogeneous spaces with van-ishing first Chern class. Advances in Mathematics, 226(4):3136-3159, 2011.

[671 A. Gray. Vector cross products on manifolds. Transactions of the American

Mathematical Society, 141:465-504, 1969.

[681 A. Gray and L.M. Hervella. The sixteen classes of almost Hermitian manifoldsand their linear invariants. Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata, 123(1):35-58, 1980.

[69] S. Grigorian. Short-time behaviour of a modified Laplacian coflow of G2-structures. Advances in Mathematics, 248:378-415, 2013.

93

Page 94: Sicgnature redacted

[70] S. Gukov, S.-T. Yau, and E. Zaslow. Duality and fibrations on G 2 manifolds.Turkish Journal of Mathematics, 27(1):61-97, 2003.

[71J J.D. Harris. Theta-characteristics on algebraic curves. Transactions of theAmerican Mathematical Society, 271(2):611-638, 1982.

[72] R. Harvey and H.B Lawson. An intrinsic characterization of Kdhler manifolds.Inventiones Mathematicae, 74(2):169-198, 1983.

[73] N.J. Hitchin. Polygons and gravitons. Mathematical Proceedings of the Cam-bridge Philosophical Society, 85(3):465-476, 1979.

[741 N.J. Hitchin. Kihlerian twistor spaces. Proceedings of the London MathematicalSociety. Third Series, 43(1):133-150, 1981.

[75] N.J. Hitchin. The geometry of three-forms in six dimensions. Journal of Dif-ferential Geometry, 55(3):547-576, 2000.

[761 N.J. Hitchin. Stable forms and special metrics. In Global Differential Geom-etry: The Mathematical Legacy of Alfred Gray (Bilbao, 2000), volume 288 ofContemporary Mathematics, pages 70-89. AMS, 2001.

[771 N.J. Hitchin. Special holonomy and beyond. In Strings and Geometry, volume 3of Clay Mathematics Proceedings, pages 159-175. AMS, 2004.

[78] N.J. Hitchin, A. Karlhede, U. Lindstr6m, and M. Ronek. Hyperkihler metricsand supersymmetry. Communications in Mathematical Physics, 108(4):535-589, 1987.

[791 C.M. Hull. Anomalies, ambiguities and superstrings. Physics Letters B,167(1):51-55, 1986.

[80] C.M. Hull. Compactifications of the heterotic superstring. Physics Letters B,178(4):357-364, 1986.

[811 D. Huybrechts. Complex Geometry: An Introduction. Universitext. Springer,2006.

[82] J. Jost and S.-T. Yau. A nonlinear elliptic system for maps from Hermitianto Riemannian manifolds and rigidity theorems in Hermitian geometry. ActaMathematica, 170(2):221-254, 1993.

[831 D.D. Joyce. Compact Riemannian 7-manifolds with holonomy G 2 . I. Journalof Differential Geometry, 43(2):291-328, 1996.

[84j K. Kodaira and D.C. Spencer. On deformations of complex analytic structures,III. Stability theorems for complex structures. Annals of Mathematics, 71(1):43-76, 1960.

94

Page 95: Sicgnature redacted

[85] J.-L. Koszul and B. Malgrange. Sur certaines structures fibr6es complexes.Archiv der Mathematik, 9(1):102-109, 1958.

[861 A. Kovalev. Twisted connected sums and special Riemannian holonomy. Journalfur die reine und angewandte Mathematik, 565:125-160, 2003.

[87] P.B. Kronheimer. The construction of ALE spaces as hyper-Khhler quotients.Journal of Dfferential Geometry, 29(3):665-683, 1989.

1881 P.B. Kronheimer. A Torelli-type theorem for gravitational instantons. Journalof Differential Geometry, 29(3):685-697, 1989.

[891 C. LeBrun. Topology versus Chern numbers for complex 3-folds. Pacific Journalof Mathematics, 191(1):123-131, 1999.

[90] C. LeBrun and Y.-S. Poon. Twistors, Kdhler manifolds, and bimeromorphicgeometry. II. Journal of the American Mathematical Society, 5(2):317-325,1992.

[91] C. LeBrun and S.R. Simanca. Extremal KAhler metrics and complex deforma-tion theory. Geometric and Functional Analysis, 4(3):298-336, 1994.

[92] J. Li and S.-T. Yau. Hermitian-Yang-Mills connection on non-Khhler mani-folds. In Mathematical Aspects of String Theory, volume 1 of Advanced Seriesin Mathematical Physics, pages 560-573. World Scientific, 1987.

[93] J. Li and S.-T. Yau. The existence of supersymmetric string theory with torsion.Journal of Differential Geometry, 70(1):143-181, 2005.

[94] P. Lu and G. Tian. The complex structures on connected sums of S3 x S3.In Manifolds and Geometry (Pisa, 1993), volume 36 of Symposia Mathematica,pages 284-293. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

[95] W.H. Meeks III. The theory of triply periodic minimal surfaces. Indiana Uni-versity Mathematics Journal, 39(3):877-936, 1990.

[96] M.-L. Michelsohn. On the existence of special metrics in complex geometry.Acta Mathematica, 149(1):261-295, 1982.

[97] A. Otal, L. Ugarte, and R. Villacampa. Invariant solutions to the Stro-minger system and the heterotic equations of motion on solvmanifolds.arXiv:1604.02851, 2016.

[98] D.H. Phong, S. Picard, and X.-W. Zhang. Geometric flows and Stromingersystems. arXiv:1508.03315, 2015.

[99] D.H. Phong, S. Picard, and X.-W. Zhang. On estimates for the Fu-Yau gener-alization of a Strominger system. arXiv:1507.08193, 2015.

95

Page 96: Sicgnature redacted

[1001 D.H. Phong, S. Picard, and X.-W. Zhang. A second order estimate for generalcomplex Hessian equations. arXiv:1508.03254, 2015.

[101] D.H. Phong, S. Picard, and X.-W. Zhang. The Fu-Yau equation with negativeslope parameter. arXiv:1 602.08838, 2016.

[102] M.A. Reid. The moduli space of 3-folds with K = 0 may nevertheless beirreducible. Mathematische Annalen, 278(1-4):329-334, 1987.

[103] A.E. Strominger. Superstrings with torsion. Nuclear Physics B, 274(2):253-284,1986.

[1041 A.E. Strominger, S.-T. Yau, and E. Zaslow. Mirror symmetry is T-duality.Nuclear Physics B, 479(1):243-259, 1996.

[105] G. Sz6kelyhidi, V. Tosatti, and B. Weinkove. Gauduchon metrics with pre-scribed volume form. arXiv: 1503.04491, 2015.

[106] M. Teixidor i Bigas. Half-canonical series on algebraic curves. Transactions ofthe American Mathematical Society, 302(1):99-115, 1987.

[107] V. Tosatti. Non-K~ihler Calabi-Yau manifolds. In Analysis, Complex Geome-try, and Mathematical Physics: In Honor of Duong H. Phong, volume 644 ofContemporary Mathematics, pages 261-277. AMS, 2015.

[108] M. Traizet. On the genus of triply periodic minimal surfaces. Journal of Dif-ferential Geometry, 79(2):243-275, 2008.

[109] L. Ugarte and R. Villacampa. Non-nilpotent complex geometry of nilmanifoldsand heterotic supersymmetry. Asian Journal of Mathematics, 18(2):229-246,2014.

11101 L. Ugarte and R. Villacampa. Balanced Hermitian geometry on 6-dimensionalnilmanifolds. Forum Mathematicum, 27(2):1025-1070, 2015.

[1111 K. Uhlenbeck and S.-T. Yau. On the existence of Hermitian-Yang-Mills con-nections in stable vector bundles. Communications on Pure and Applied Math-ematics, 39(S1):257-293, 1986.

[112] M. Verbitsky. Rational curves and special metrics on twistor spaces. Geometry& Topology, 18(2):897-909, 2014.

[113] C. Voisin. Hodge Theory and Complex Algebraic Geometry I, volume 76 of Cam-bridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

[114] C.T.C. Wall. Classification problems in differential topology. V. InventionesMathematicae, 1(4):355-374, 1966.

[115] C.-C. Wu. On the geometry of superstrings with torsion. PhD thesis, HarvardUniversity, 2006.

96

Page 97: Sicgnature redacted

[116] S.-T. Yau. Calabi's conjecture and some new results in algebraic geometry.Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, 74(5):1798-1799, 1977.

[117] S.-T. Yau. A general Schwarz lemma for Kahler manifolds. American Journalof Mathematics, 100(1):197-203, 1978.

[1181 S.-T. Yau. On the Ricci curvature of a compact Khhler manifold and thecomplex Monge-Ampere equation, I. Communications on Pure and AppliedMathematics, 31(3):339-411, 1978.

97