Non Perturbative Check of N=2, D=4 Heterotic/Type II Duality

TL;DR

This paper reviews non-perturbative checks of string duality between N=2 heterotic and Type II models in four dimensions, confirming the duality through matching low-energy theories and non-perturbative data.

Contribution

It demonstrates the non-perturbative equivalence of heterotic and Type II models, extending Seiberg-Witten results to string theory contexts.

Findings

Heterotic and Type II models reproduce each other's low-energy effective theories.

Non-perturbative information from Seiberg-Witten theory is recovered on the Type II side.

The work confirms the string-string duality beyond perturbation theory.

Abstract

We review here some of the checks of string-string duality between N=2, D=4 Heterotic and Type II models. The heterotic low energy field theory is reproduced on the type II side. It is also shown to be a generalization in the string context of the rigid $N=2$ Yang-Mills theory of Seiberg and Witten which is exactly known. The non perturbative information of this rigid theory is then recovered on the type II side. This talk is based on a work done in collaboration with I. Antoniadis.