On mirror maps for manifolds of exceptional holonomy

Abstract

Abstract We study mirror symmetry of type II strings on manifolds with the exceptional holonomy groups G 2 and Spin(7). Our central result is a construction of mirrors of Spin(7) manifolds realized as generalized connected sums. In parallel to twisted connected sum G 2 manifolds, mirrors of such Spin(7) manifolds can be found by applying mirror symmetry to the pair of non-compact manifolds they are glued from. To provide non-trivial checks for such geometric mirror constructions, we give a CFT analysis of mirror maps for Joyce orbifolds in several new instances for both the Spin(7) and the G 2 case. For all of these models we find possible assignments of discrete torsion phases, work out the action of mirror symmetry, and confirm the consistency with the geometrical construction. A novel feature appearing in the examples we analyse is the possibility of frozen singularities.

Keywords

• String Duality
• Conformal Field Models in String Theory
• Superstring Vacua