Non-Abelian structures in compactifications of M-theory on seven-manifolds with SU(3) structure

TL;DR

This paper explores M-theory compactifications on seven-manifolds with SU(3) structure, revealing non-Abelian gauge groups and dualities with heterotic string compactifications involving fluxes.

Contribution

It demonstrates the emergence of non-Abelian gauge groups in M-theory on specific SU(3) structured manifolds and establishes duality with heterotic string compactifications with fluxes.

Findings

Non-Abelian gauge groups appear in the effective theory.

Compactifications are dual to heterotic string models with fluxes.

Manifolds are fibrations of Calabi-Yau threefolds over a circle.

Abstract

We study M-theory compactified on a specific class of seven-dimensional manifolds with SU(3) structure. The manifolds can be viewed as a fibration of an arbitrary Calabi-Yau threefold over a circle, with a U-duality twist around the circle. In some cases we find that in the four dimensional low energy effective theory a (broken) non-Abelian gauge group appears. Furthermore, such compactifications are shown to be dual to previously analyzed compactifications of the heterotic string on K3 x T^2, with background gauge field fluxes on the T^2.