01239nas a2200169 4500008004100000022001400041245003900055210003900094260000800133300000700141490000900148520080000157100001900957700002500976700002401001856004401025 2017 eng d a1029-847900aReal topological string amplitudes0 aReal topological string amplitudes cMar a800 v20173 a

We discuss the physical superstring correlation functions in type I theory (or equivalently type II with orientifold) that compute real topological string amplitudes. We consider the correlator corresponding to holomorphic derivative of the real topological amplitude $\mathcal{G_\chi}$, at fixed worldsheet Euler characteristic $\chi$. This corresponds in the low-energy effective action to $\mathcal{N}=2$ Weyl multiplet, appropriately reduced to the orientifold invariant part, and raised to the power $g'= −\chi+ 1$. We show that the physical string correlator gives precisely the holomorphic derivative of topological amplitude. Finally, we apply this method to the standard closed oriented case as well, and prove a similar statement for the topological amplitude $\mathcal{F}_g$.

1 aNarain, K., S.1 aPiazzalunga, Nicolò1 aTanzini, Alessandro uhttps://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2017)08001454nas a2200157 4500008004100000245007300041210006900114260003500183300001100218490000700229520093500236100002201171700002501193700002201218856005601240 2016 eng d00aTowards a gauge theory interpretation of the real topological string0 aTowards a gauge theory interpretation of the real topological st bAmerican Physical SocietycMar a0660010 v933 a

We consider the real topological string on certain noncompact toric Calabi-Yau three-folds $\mathbb{X}$, in its physical realization describing an orientifold of type IIA on $\mathbb{X}$ with an O4-plane and a single D4-brane stuck on top. The orientifold can be regarded as a new kind of surface operator on the gauge theory with 8 supercharges arising from the singular geometry. We use the M-theory lift of this system to compute the real Gopakumar-Vafa invariants (describing wrapped M2-brane Bogomol’nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states) for diverse geometries. We show that the real topological string amplitudes pick up certain signs across flop transitions, in a well-defined pattern consistent with continuity of the real BPS invariants. We further give some preliminary proposals of an intrinsically gauge theoretical description of the effect of the surface operator in the gauge theory partition function.

1 aHayashi, Hirotaka1 aPiazzalunga, Nicolò1 aUranga, Angel, M. uhttps://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.06600101318nas a2200157 4500008004100000022001400041245005900055210005800114260000800172300000700180490000900187520087300196100002501069700002201094856004401116 2014 eng d a1029-847900aM-theory interpretation of the real topological string0 aMtheory interpretation of the real topological string cAug a540 v20143 a

We describe the type IIA physical realization of the unoriented topological string introduced by Walcher, describe its M-theory lift, and show that it allows to compute the open and unoriented topological amplitude in terms of one-loop diagram of BPS M2-brane states. This confirms and allows to generalize the conjectured BPS integer expansion of the topological amplitude. The M-theory lift of the orientifold is freely acting on the M-theory circle, so that integer multiplicities are a weighted version of the (equivariant subsector of the) original closed oriented Gopakumar-Vafa invariants. The M-theory lift also provides new perspective on the topological tadpole cancellation conditions. We finally comment on the M-theory version of other unoriented topological strings, and clarify certain misidentifications in earlier discussions in the literature.

1 aPiazzalunga, Nicolò1 aUranga, Angel, M. uhttps://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2014)054