Abstract
We study the duality between the Spin(32)/ℤ2 heterotic string without vector structure and F-theory with frozen singularities. We give a complete description in theories with 6d \( \mathcal{N} \) = (1, 0) supersymmetry and identify the duals of Spin(32)/ℤ2-instantons on ADE singularities without vector structure in the frozen phase of F-theory using an ansatz introduced by Bhardwaj, Morrison, Tachikawa, and Tomasiello. As a consequence, we obtain a strongly coupled description of orbifold phases of type I string theory without vector structure, substantially expanding the list of known examples of 6d F-theory compactifications with frozen singularities. Supergravity theories can be fused from these instanton theories, in a way that commutes with switching off vector structure, which we use to propose new consistency checks via neutral hypermultiplet counting. Finally, we describe various Higgsings of this duality, and comment on constraints on higher form symmetries.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank David Morrison, Yuji Tachikawa and Alessandro Tomasiello for helpful discussions. The work of FR is supported by the NSF grants PHY-2210333 and PHY-2019786 (The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions). The work of FR and PKO is also supported by startup funding from Northeastern University. PKO and BS would like to thank the KITP and the program “What is String Theory? Weaving Perspectives Together” during the completion of this work. This research was supported in part by grant NSF PHY-2309135 to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP).
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Oehlmann, PK., Ruehle, F. & Sung, B. The frozen phase of heterotic F-theory duality. J. High Energ. Phys. 2024, 295 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2024)295
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2024)295