On the existence of balanced metrics on six-manifolds of cohomogeneity one

We consider balanced metrics on complex manifolds with holomorphically trivial canonical bundle, most commonly known as balanced SU(n)-structures. Such structures are of interest for both Hermitian geometry and string theory, since they provide the ideal setting for the Hull–Strominger system. In this paper, we provide a non-existence result for balanced non-Kähler $$\text {SU}(3)$$ SU ( 3 ) -structures which are invariant under a cohomogeneity one action on simply connected six-manifolds.

Born sigma-models for para-Hermitian manifolds and generalized T-duality

We give a covariant realization of the doubled sigma-model formulation of duality-symmetric string theory within the general framework of para-Hermitian geometry. We define a notion of generalized metric on a para-Hermitian manifold and discuss its relation to Born geometry. We show that a Born geometry uniquely defines a worldsheet sigma-model with a para-Hermitian target space, and we describe its Lie algebroid gauging as a means of recovering the conventional sigma-model description of a physical string background as the leaf space of a foliated para-Hermitian manifold. Applying the Kotov–Strobl gauging leads to a generalized notion of T-duality when combined with transformations that act on Born geometries. We obtain a geometric interpretation of the self-duality constraint that halves the degrees of freedom in doubled sigma-models, and we give geometric characterizations of non-geometric string backgrounds in this setting. We illustrate our formalism with detailed worldsheet descriptions of closed string phase spaces, of doubled groups where our notion of generalized T-duality includes non-abelian T-duality, and of doubled nilmanifolds.

Algebroids, AKSZ Constructions and Doubled Geometry

We give a self-contained survey of some approaches aimed at a global description of the geometry underlying double field theory. After reviewing the geometry of Courant algebroids and their incarnations in the AKSZ construction, we develop the theory of metric algebroids including their graded geometry. We use metric algebroids to give a global description of doubled geometry, incorporating the section constraint, as well as an AKSZ-type construction of topological doubled sigma-models. When these notions are combined with ingredients of para-Hermitian geometry, we demonstrate how they reproduce kinematical features of double field theory from a global perspective, including solutions of the section constraint for Riemannian foliated doubled manifolds, as well as a natural notion of generalized T-duality for polarized doubled manifolds. We describe the L ∞-algebras of symmetries of a doubled geometry, and briefly discuss other proposals for global doubled geometry in the literature.

Integrable deformation of ℂPn and generalised Kähler geometry

We build on the results of [1] for generalised frame fields on generalised quotient spaces and study integrable deformations for ℂPn. In particular we show how, when the target space of the Principal Chiral Model is a complex projective space, a two-parameter deformation can be introduced in principle. The second parameter can however be removed via a diffeomorphism, which we construct explicitly, in accordance with the results stemming from a thorough integrability analysis we carry out. We also elucidate how the deformed target space can be seen as an instance of generalised Kähler, or equivalently bi-Hermitian, geometry. In this respect, we find the generic form of the pure spinors for ℂPn and the explicit expression for the generalised Kähler potential for n = 1, 2.