Geodesics on Calabi-Yau manifolds and winding states in nonlinear sigma models

Abstract

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We conjecture that a non-flat D-real-dimensional compact Calabi-Yau manifold, such as a quintic hypersurface with D=6, or a K3 manifold with D=4, has locally length minimizing closed geodesics, and that the number of these with length less than L grows asymptotically as L^{D}. We also outline the physical arguments behind this conjecture, which involve the claim that all states in a nonlinear sigma model can be identified as 'momentum' and 'winding' states in the large volume limit.

Keywords

• string theory
• Calabi-Yau manifolds
• sigma model
• nonlinear sigma model
• modular invariance