D3-branes on partial resolutions of abelian quotient singularities of Calabi–Yau threefolds

• Published in: Nuclear physics. B 2000-02, Vol.566 (3), p.599-641
• Main Authors: Beasley, Chris, Greene, Brian R., Lazaroiu, C.I., Plesser, M.R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Compactification; D-branes; Gauge theory; Moduli space; Orbifold; Topology change
• ISSN: 0550-3213; 1873-1562
• DOI: 10.1016/S0550-3213(99)00646-X

We investigate field theories on the world-volume of a D3-brane transverse to partial resolutions of a Z 3× Z 3 Calabi–Yau threefold quotient singularity. We deduce the field content and Lagrangian of such theories and present a systematic method for mapping the moment map levels characterizing the partial resolutions of the singularity to the Fayet–Iliopoulos parameters of the D-brane world-volume theory. As opposed to the simpler cases studied before, we find a complex web of partial resolutions and associated field-theoretic Fayet–Iliopoulos deformations. The analysis is performed by toric methods, leading to a structure which can be efficiently described in the language of convex geometry. For the world-volume theory, the analysis of the moduli space has an elegant description in terms of quivers. As a by-product, we present a systematic way of extracting the birational geometry of the classical moduli spaces, thus generalizing previous work on resolution of singularities by D-branes.