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N=2 supergravity, type IIB superstrings, and algebraic geometry

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Abstract

The geometry ofN=2 supergravity is related to the variations of Hodge structure for “formal” Calabi-Yau spaces. All known results in this branch of algebraic geometry are easily recovered from supersymmetry arguments. This identification has a physical meaning for a type IIB superstring compactified on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold. We give exact (non-perturbative) results for the string effective lagrangian. Our geometrical framework suggests a re-formulation of the Gepner conjecture about (2,2) superconformal theories as the solution to theSchottky problem for algebraic complex manifolds having trivial canonical bundle.

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  1. International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste

    S. Cecotti

  2. I.N.F.N. sez. di Trieste, I-34014, Trieste, Italy

    S. Cecotti

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Communicated by L. Alvarez-Gaumé

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Cecotti, S. N=2 supergravity, type IIB superstrings, and algebraic geometry. Commun.Math. Phys. 131, 517–536 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02098274

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