Speaker
Washington Taylor
Description
The geometrical formulation of string theory through "F-theory" provides a nonperturbative framework that connects geometry with the physics of gauge theories and matter fields coupled to supergravity. In six dimensions, this has led to new insights into the global structure of the "landscape" of supergravity theories and string theory vacua, has provided new mathematical results on Calabi-Yau geometries and mirror symmetry, and shows that certain gauge groups and matter content are "generic" in physical theories, and that while some exotic matter structures can be fine tuned in string theory, most gauge groups and matter representations cannot arise in string vacua. This talk describes many of these developments and some of their implications for four dimensional physics, the standard model and dark matter.
