Lectures on F-theory compactifications and model building

Timo Weigand (1)

1 ITP Heidelberg

These lecture notes are devoted to formal and phenomenological aspects of F-theory. We begin with a pedagogical introduction to the general concepts of F-theory, covering classic topics such as the connection to Type IIB orientifolds, the geometry of elliptic fibrations and the emergence of gauge groups, matter and Yukawa couplings. As a suitable framework for the construction of compact F-theory vacua we describe a special class of Weierstrass models called Tate models, whose local properties are captured by the spectral cover construction. Armed with this technology we proceed with a survey of F-theory GUT models, aiming at an overview of basic conceptual and phenomenological aspects, in particular in connection with GUT breaking via hypercharge flux.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Timo Weigand. Lectures on F-theory compactifications and model building. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 2010, 27 (21), pp.214004. ⟨10.1088/0264-9381/27/21/214004⟩. ⟨hal-00638670⟩