We analyze three aspects of N = 1 heterotic string compactifications on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds: stability of vector bundles, five-brane instanton transitions and chiral matter. First we show that relative Fourier-Mukai transformation preserves absolute stability. This is relevant for vector bundles whose spectral cover is reducible. Then we derive an explicit formula for the number of moduli which occur in (vertical) five-brane instanton transitions provided a certain vanishing argument applies. Such transitions increase the holonomy of the heterotic vector bundle and cause gauge changing phase transitions. In a M-theory description the transitions are associated with collisions of bulk five-branes with one of the boundary fixed planes. In F-theory they correspond to three-brane instanton transitions. Our derivation relies on an index computation with data localized along the curve which is related to the existence of chiral matter in this class of heterotic vacua. Finally, we show how to compute the number of chiral matter multiplets for this class of vacua allowing to discuss associated Yukawa couplings.

We give a general framework for constructing supersymmetric solutions in the presence of non-trivial fluxes of tensor gauge fields. This technique involves making a general Ansatz for the metric and then defining the Killing spinors in terms of very simple projectors on the spinor fields. These projectors and, through them, the spinors, are determined algebraically in terms of the metric Ansatz. The Killing spinor equations then fix the tensor gauge fields algebraically, and, with the Bianchi identities, provide a system of equations for all the metric functions. We illustrate this by constructing an infinite family of massive flows that preserve eight supersymmetries in M-theory. This family constitutes all the radially symmetric Coulomb branch flows of the softly broken, large N scalar-fermion theory on M2-branes. We reduce the problem to the solution of a single, non-linear partial differential equation in two variables. This equation governs the flow of the fermion mass, and the function that solves it then generates the entire M-theory solution algebraically in terms of the function and its first derivatives. While the governing equation is non-linear, it has a very simple perturbation theory from which one can see how the Coulomb branch is encoded.

In [1], a new approach was suggested for finding quantum structures that might, in particular, be used in potential approaches to quantum gravity that involve non-manifold models for space and/or space-time (for example, causal sets). This involved developing a procedure for quantising a system whose configuration space--or history-theory analogue--is the set of objects in a (small) category Q. In the present paper, we show how this theory can be applied to the special case when Q is a category of sets.

Direct evaluation of the Seiberg-Witten prepotential is accomplished following the localization programme suggested in [1]. Our results agree with all low-instanton calculations available in the literature. We present a two-parameter generalization of the Seiberg-Witten prepotential, which is rather natural from the M-theory/five dimensional perspective, and conjecture its relation to the tau-functions of KP/Toda hierarchy.

We construct dual descriptions of (0, 2) gauged linear sigma models. In some cases, the dual is a (0, 2) Landau-Ginzburg theory, while in other cases, it is a non-linear sigma model. The duality map defines an analogue of mirror symmetry for (0, 2) theories. Using the dual description, we determine the instanton corrected chiral ring for some illustrative examples. This ring defines a (0, 2) generalization of the quantum cohomology ring of (2, 2) theories.