S-duality and Topological Strings

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how S-duality in type IIB superstrings relates A and B model topological strings on the same Calabi-Yau, revealing new branes and connecting to melting crystal models.

Contribution

It establishes a concrete S-duality relation between A and B model topological strings, confirming the existence of new branes and linking to statistical models.

Findings

D-instantons of B-model correspond to A-model perturbative amplitudes

D-instantons of A-model capture perturbative B-model amplitudes

A-model topological strings are equivalent to melting crystal models

Abstract

In this paper we show how S-duality of type IIB superstrings leads to an S-duality relating A and B model topological strings on the same Calabi-Yau as had been conjectured recently: D-instantons of the B-model correspond to A-model perturbative amplitudes and D-instantons of the A-model capture perturbative B-model amplitudes. Moreover this confirms the existence of new branes in the two models. As an application we explain the recent results concerning A-model topological strings on Calabi-Yau and its equivalence to the statistical mechanical model of melting crystal.