We consider F-theory compactifications on genus-one fibered Calabi-Yau manifolds with their fibers realized as hypersurfaces in the toric varieties associated to the 16 reflexive 2D polyhedra. We present a base-independent analysis of the codimension one, two and three singularities of these fibrations. We use these geometric results to determine the gauge groups, matter representations, 6D matter multiplicities and 4D Yukawa couplings of the corresponding effective theories. All these theories have a non-trivial gauge group and matter content. We explore the network of Higgsings relating these theories. Such Higgsings geometrically correspond to extremal transitions induced by blow-ups in the 2D toric varieties. We recover the 6D effective theories of all 16 toric hypersurface fibrations by repeatedly Higgsing the theories that exhibit Mordell-Weil torsion. We find that the three Calabi-Yau manifolds without section, whose fibers are given by the toric hypersurfaces in P 2 , P 1 × P 1 and the recently studied P 2 (1, 1, 2), yield F-theory realizations of SUGRA theories with discrete gauge groups Z 3 , Z 2 and Z 4 . This opens up a whole new arena for model building with discrete global symmetries in F-theory. In these three manifolds, we also find codimension two I 2 -fibers supporting matter charged only under these discrete gauge groups. Their 6D matter multiplicities are computed employing ideal techniques and the associated Jacobian fibrations. We also show that the Jacobian of the biquadric fibration has one rational section, yielding one U(1)-gauge field in F-theory. Furthermore, the elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau manifold based on dP 1 has a U(1)-gauge field JHEP01 (2015)142 induced by a non-toric rational section. In this model, we find the first F-theory realization of matter with U(1)-charge q = 3.

We study F-theory compactifications with U(1)×U(1) gauge symmetry on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau manifolds with a rank two Mordell-Weil group. We find that the natural presentation of an elliptic curve E with two rational points and a zero point is the generic Calabi-Yau onefold in dP 2 . We determine the birational map to its Tate and Weierstrass form and the coordinates of the two rational points in Weierstrass form. We discuss its resolved elliptic fibrations over a general base B and classify them in the case of B = P 2 . A thorough analysis of the generic codimension two singularities of these elliptic Calabi-Yau manifolds is presented. This determines the general U(1)×U(1)charges of matter in corresponding F-theory compactifications. The matter multiplicities for the fibration over P 2 are determined explicitly and shown to be consistent with anomaly cancellation. Explicit toric examples are constructed, both with U(1)×U(1) and SU(5)×U(1)×U(1) gauge symmetry. As a by-product, we prove the birational equivalence of the two elliptic fibrations with elliptic fibers in the two blow-ups Bl (1,0,0) P 2 (1, 2, 3) and Bl (0,1,0) P 2 (1, 1, 2) employing birational maps and extremal transitions.

We develop geometric techniques to determine the spectrum and the chiral indices of matter multiplets for four-dimensional F-theory compactifications on elliptic Calabi-Yau fourfolds with rank two Mordell-Weil group. The general elliptic fiber is the Calabi-Yau onefold in dP 2 . We classify its resolved elliptic fibrations over a general base B. The study of singularities of these fibrations leads to explicit matter representations, that we determine both for U(1)×U(1) and SU(5)×U(1)×U(1) constructions. We determine for the first time certain matter curves and surfaces using techniques involving prime ideals. The vertical cohomology ring of these fourfolds is calculated for both cases and general formulas for the Euler numbers are derived. Explicit calculations are presented for a specific base B = P 3 . We determine the general G 4 -flux that belongs to H (2,2) V of the resolved Calabi-Yau fourfolds. As a by-product, we derive for the first time all conditions on G 4 -flux in general F-theory compactifications with a non-holomorphic zero section. These conditions have to be formulated after a circle reduction in terms of Chern-Simons terms on the 3D Coulomb branch and invoke M-theory/F-theory duality. New ChernSimons terms are generated by Kaluza-Klein states of the circle compactification. We explicitly perform the relevant field theory computations, that yield non-vanishing results precisely for fourfolds with a non-holomorphic zero section. Taking into account the new Chern-Simons terms, all 4D matter chiralities are determined via 3D M-theory/F-theory duality. We independently check these chiralities using the subset of matter surfaces we determined. The presented techniques are general and do not rely on toric data.

Discrete gauge groups naturally arise in F-theory compactifications on genus-one fibered Calabi-Yau manifolds. Such geometries appear in families that are parameterized by the Tate-Shafarevich group of the genus-one fibration. While the F-theory compactification on any element of this family gives rise to the same physics, the corresponding M-theory compactifications on these geometries differ and are obtained by a fluxed circle reduction of the former. In this note, we focus on an element of order three in the Tate-Shafarevich group of the general cubic. We discuss how the different M-theory vacua and the associated discrete gauge groups can be obtained by Higgsing of a pair of five-dimensional U(1) symmetries. The Higgs fields arise from vanishing cycles in I2-fibers that appear at certain codimension two loci in the base. We explicitly identify all three curves that give rise to the corresponding Higgs fields. In this analysis the investigation of different resolved phases of the underlying geometry plays a crucial rôle.

Abstract:We construct the general form of an F-theory compactification with two U(1) factors based on a general elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau manifold with Mordell-Weil group of rank two. This construction produces broad classes of models with diverse matter spectra, including many that are not realized in earlier F-theory constructions with U(1)×U(1) gauge symmetry. Generic U(1)×U(1) models can be related to a Higgsed non-Abelian model with gauge group SU(2)×SU(2)×SU(3), SU(2) 3 ×SU(3), or a subgroup thereof. The nonlocal horizontal divisors of the Mordell-Weil group are replaced with local vertical divisors associated with the Cartan generators of non-Abelian gauge groups from Kodaira singularities. We give a global resolution of codimension two singularities of the Abelian model; we identify the full anomaly free matter content, and match it to the unHiggsed non-Abelian model. The non-Abelian Weierstrass model exhibits a new algebraic description of the singularities in the fibration that results in the first explicit construction of matter in the symmetric representation of SU(3). This matter is realized on double point singularities of the discriminant locus. The construction suggests a generalization to U(1) k factors with k > 2, which can be studied by Higgsing theories with larger non-Abelian gauge groups.