PHYSICS PHD DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Max Zimet

Ph.D. Candidate: Max Zimet

Research Advisor: Shamit Kachru

Date: Friday, June 7, 2019
Time: 10 am
Location: Hewlett 101

Title: BPS States from Geometry and Geometry from BPS States

Abstract: Some of the most-studied vacua of string theory are obtained by compactification of the 10d perturbative theories on a compact Calabi-Yau manifold. Such vacua play a central role in our understanding of string dualities, have provided a setting for the development of black hole statistical mechanics, and provide starting points for quasi-realistic string phenomenology. However, in spite of the importance of these manifolds, their defining characteristic — their Ricci-flat metrics — has never been determined (except for tori). This is the case even for the simplest of these manifolds — K3 — and until recently this provided a significant obstacle to the study of black hole statistical mechanics for many 4d string vacua with half-maximal (N=4) supersymmetry. I will explain how the phenomenon of ‘wall crossing’ can be exploited to solve these problems.