Some irrational Generalised Moonshine from orbifolds

We verify the Generalised Moonshine conjectures for some irrational modular functions for the Monster centralisers related to the Harada–Norton, Held, M₁₂ and L₃(3) simple groups based on certain orbifolding constraints. We find explicitly the fixing groups of the hauptmoduls arising in each case.     

On the relationship between Monstrous Moonshine and the uniqueness of the Moonshine Module

We consider the relationship between the conjectured uniqueness of the Moonshine Module,, and Monstrous Moonshine, the genus zero property of the modular invariance group for each Monster group Thompson series. We first discuss a family of possibleZ _n meromorphic orbifold constructions of based on automorphisms of the Leech lattice compactified bosonic string. We reproduce the Thompson series for all 51 non-Fricke classes of the Monster groupM together with a new relationship between the centralisers of these classes and 51 corresponding Conway group centralisers (generalising a well-known relationship for 5 such classes). Assuming that is unique, we consider meromorphic orbifoldings of and show that Monstrous Moonshine holds if and onlyZ _r if the only meromorphic orbifoldings of are itself or the Leech theory. This constraint on the meromorphic orbifoldings of therefore relates Monstrous Moonshine to the uniqueness of in a new way.     

Rational Generalised Moonshine from abelian orbifoldings of the Moonshine Module

We consider orbifoldings of the Moonshine Module with respect to the abelian group generated by a pair of commuting Monster group elements with one of prime order p=2,3,5,7 and the other of order pk for k=1 or k prime. We show that constraints arising from meromorphic orbifold conformal field theory allow us to demonstrate that each orbifold partition function with rational coefficients is either constant or is a hauptmodul for an explicitly found modular fixing group of genus zero. We thus confirm in the cases considered the Generalised Moonshine conjectures for all rational modular functions for the Monster centralisers related to the Baby Monster, Fischer, Harada-Norton and Held sporadic simple groups. We also derive non-trivial constraints on the possible Monster conjugacy classes to which the elements of the orbifolding abelian group may belong.     

Monstrous Branes

 We study D-branes in the bosonic closed string theory whose automorphism group is the Bimonster group (the wreath product of the Monster simple group with ℤ₂). We give a complete classification of D-branes preserving the chiral subalgebra of Monster invariants and show that they transform in a representation of the Bimonster. Our results apply more generally to self-dual conformal field theories which admit the action of a compact Lie group on both the left- and right-moving sectors. Received: 20 February 2002 / Accepted: 17 August 2002 Published online: 19 December 2002 Communicated by R.H. Dijkgraaf     

Degenerate orbifolds

We present evidence for the existence of new four-dimensional string theories, obtained from a smooth variation of background fields in the twisted sectors of symmetric and asymmetric orbifolds. Flat directions only in the untwisted sector are shown to reproduce previously constructed models in terms of Wilson lines, exhibiting a Three-Higgs-Rule (THR). The new models provide a mechanism to lower the rank of the gauge group, lead to more flexible Yukawa couplings and give a strict separation of hidden and observable sectors, which are usually mixed in (2, 0)-models. Even though Fayet-Iliopoulos terms are induced in some of the models due to the presence of anomalous U(1)'s supersymmetry remains, in general, unbroken. Particular examples of the new models correspond to “blown up” versions of (2, 0)-orbifolds.     

Permutation orbifolds

A general theory of permutation orbifolds is developed for arbitrary twist groups. Explicit expressions for the number of primaries, the partition function, the genus one characters, the matrix elements of modular transformations and for fusion rule coefficients are presented, together with the relevant mathematical concepts, such as Λ-matrices and twisted dimensions. The arithmetic restrictions implied by the theory for the allowed modular representations in CFT are discussed. The simplest nonabelian example with twist group S₃ is described to illustrate the general theory.     

Sphalerons on orbifolds

In this work, we study the electroweak sphalerons in a 5D background, where the fifth dimension lies on an interval. We consider two specific cases: flat space-time and the anti-de Sitter space-time compactified on S ¹/Z ₂. In our work, we take the SU(2) gauge–Higgs model, where the gauge fields reside in the 5D bulk; but the Higgs doublet is confined in one brane. We find that the results in this model are close to those of the 4D Standard Model (SM). The existence of the warp effect, as well as the heaviness of the gauge Kaluza–Klein modes make the results extremely close to the SM ones.     

Duality and orbifolds

We construct several examples where duality transformation commutes with the orbifolding procedure even when the orbifolding group does not act freely, and there are massless states from the twisted sector at a generic point in the moduli space. Often the matching of spectrum in the dual theories is a result of nontrivial identities satisfied by the coefficients on one loop tadpoles in the heterotic, type II and type I string theories.     

Orbifolds,Hopf algebras,and the Moonshine

We describe the modular properties and fusion rules of holomorphic orbifold models by Hopf algebraic techniques, using the representation theory of the orbifold quantum group. We apply this theory to the construction of generalized Thompson series, and discuss its connections with Moonshine.     

Cosmic strings as orbifolds

We construct string theory versions of cosmic strings by considering orbifold compactifications of spacetime down to two dimensions.     

Global anomalies on orbifolds

Communicated by A. Jaffe     

Equivariant quantization of orbifolds

Equivariant quantization is a new theory that highlights the role of symmetries in the relationship between classical and quantum dynamical systems. These symmetries are also one of the reasons for the recent interest in quantization of singular spaces, orbifolds, stratified spaces, etc. In this work, we prove the existence of an equivariant quantization for orbifolds. Our construction combines an appropriate desingularization of any Riemannian orbifold by a foliated smooth manifold, with the foliated equivariant quantization that we built in Poncin et al. (2009) [19]. Further, we suggest definitions of the common geometric objects on orbifolds, which capture the nature of these spaces and guarantee, together with the properties of the mentioned foliated resolution, the needed correspondences between singular objects of the orbifold and the respective foliated objects of its desingularization.     

Constraints on asymmetric orbifolds

It is claimed that besides the left-right matching condition, one has to check the relative phases dictated by modular invariance for an asymmetric orbifold to give rise to an acceptable model.     

Open strings on orbifolds

We consider propagation of type I SO(32) superstrings on orbifolds. It is shown that anomaly cancellation requires the existence of “twisted” open strings and we determine the Chan-Paton factors for these strings in a simple example.     

Models of non-abelian orbifolds

Several models of non-abelian orbifolds have been constructed. There are models with three or four families of quarks and leptons, and gauge symmetry SU(3) × SU(2) × SU(2) × U(1)² × SU(3)′ × SO(10)′ × U(1)′ or SU(3) × SU(2) × U(1)³ × SU(4)′ × SO(8)′ × U(1)′.     

Global anomalies on orbifolds

We consider global anomalies for heterotic string theory formulated on orbifolds. The vanishing of certain characteristic classes in group cohomology provides sufficient conditions for the absence of global anomalies. For abelian orbifolds level matching implies these cohomology conditions, so suffices for the absence of anomalies. For nonabelian orbifolds level matching does not suffice, and there are additional constraints. We give some examples to illustrate these new constraints.The first author is partially supported by an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. The second author is supported in part by the NSF contract no. PHY 82-15249, and in part by a fellowship from the Harvard Society of Fellows