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# Contents

## 1 Introduction

Over the past few years a profound new understanding of string theory has emerged. In this picture the different perturbative string theories, together with eleven dimensional supergravity, are limits of a single underlying quantum theory . While the rigorous formulation of this theory is still elusive, this development means that we can utilize any of the perturbative string limits to probe the features of the more fundamental structure. In particular, we can probe those properties that pertain to the phenomenological and cosmological features, as we observe them in our experimental apparatus, and by using the low energy effective field theory parameterization. One of these properties, indicated by the observed experimental data, is the embedding of the Standard Model matter states in the chiral $`\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}`$ representation of $`SO(10)`$. This embedding received in recent years additional strong support from the evidence for neutrino masses in atmospheric and solar neutrino experiments . This embedding also yields the canonical GUT normalization of the weak hypercharge and consequently qualitative agreement with the measured values of $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W(M_Z)`$ and $`\alpha _s(M_Z)`$ .

The perturbative string limit which may preserve this $`SO(10)`$ embedding is the heterotic string. It should be emphasized, however, that the heterotic string in itself does not guarantee the preservation of the $`SO(10)`$ embedding and indeed many quasi–realistic models have been constructed that do not maintain the $`SO(10)`$ embedding . A class of realistic string models that do preserve the $`SO(10)`$ embedding are the free fermionic heterotic string models . In these three generation models the $`SO(10)`$ symmetry is broken to one of its subgroups by utilizing Wilson line symmetry breaking. A generic feature, in fact, of heterotic string unification, with profound phenomenological and cosmological implications , is precisely the utilization of Wilson–line GUT symmetry breaking, rather than GUT symmetry breaking by the Higgs mechanism. In summary, there are two pivotal ingredients that we would like the realistic string vacuum to possess. First, it should admit the $`SO(10)`$ embedding of the Standard Model spectrum, which is motivated by the observed experimental data. Second, it should allow for the Wilson breaking of the $`SO(10)`$ symmetry.

These two ingredients are in general not accommodated in generic string vacua, but are afforded by the realistic free fermionic models. The free fermionic models are, however, constructed in the perturbative heterotic string limit and it is therefore natural to examine which of their structures is preserved in the nonperturbative limit. The nonperturbative limit of the heterotic string is conjectured to be given by the heterotic M–theory limit, or by compactifications of the Hořava–Witten model  on Calabi–Yau threefolds.

We further remark that one should not expect heterotic M–theory compactifications to compete with the perturbative heterotic string in trying to calculate properties of the vacuum that are more readily obtained in the perturbative limit. Indeed, we may not even know how or whether some of these properties are defined in the nonperturbative limit. Thus, details of the particle spectrum and the superpotential interactions are more readily obtained in the perturbative heterotic string limit. The merit of the nonperturbative limit will be in trying to gain insight into phenomena which are intrinsically nonperturbative in nature. Specifically, in trying to elucidate the dynamical mechanism which is responsible for selecting a specific string vacuum and the related topology changing transitions. As they have brought to the fore the relevance of string compactifications to the details of the Standard Model data, it is plausible that the free fermionic models will also be instrumental to shed light on these nontrivial issues. We will expand on this aspect in future publications.

In this paper we make the first steps towards studying compactifications of Hořava–Witten theory on manifolds that are associated with the realistic free fermionic models . Heterotic M–theory compactifications to four dimensions have been studied by Donagi et al. , on manifolds that do not admit Wilson line breaking and yield $`SU(5)`$, $`SO(10)`$ or $`E_6`$ grand unified gauge groups , as well as construction of $`SU(5)`$ grand unified models that can be broken to the Standard Model gauge group by Wilson line breaking . In this paper we extend the work of Donagi et al., to the case of $`SO(10)`$ models that allow Wilson line breaking. This entails the generalization of the gauge bundle analysis of ref.  from $`G=SU(2n+1)`$ to $`G=SU(2n)`$ in the decomposition of $`E_8G\times H`$, where $`H=SO(10)`$ in our case. As a result we advance the analysis toward relating heterotic M–theory compactification to the realistic free fermionic models. It should also be remarked, as will be further discussed below and in future publications, that the Calabi–Yau manifolds that are associated with the free fermionic compactifications realize the structure of the manifolds constructed by Donagi et al. More precisely, they correspond to manifolds with fundamental group $`𝐙_2`$, which is necessary for Wilson line breaking. As our concrete example in this paper we discuss the breaking of the $`SO(10)`$ symmetry by Wilson lines to $`SU(5)\times U(1)`$, which is the flipped $`SU(5)`$ breaking pattern .

Our paper is organized as follows: in section 2 we review the construction of the standard model of particle physics from M–theory. Section 3 presents a classification of nonperturbative, heterotic M–theory vacua of toroidally fibred Calabi–Yau 3–folds over Hirzebruch surfaces $`F_r`$. Del Pezzo surfaces $`dP_r`$ have recently been shown to exhibit a mysterious duality with toroidal compactifications of M–theory ; in section 4 we extend our analysis to the case of the del Pezzo surface $`dP_3`$. The overlap between these constructions and the free fermionic models is highlighted in section 5. Finally, section 6 contains a discussion and conclusions.

## 2 Review of standard models from heterotic M–theory

This section summarizes the relevant information to construct the standard model of elementary particles from heterotic M–theory. We follow ref.  closely.

### 2.1 The anomaly–cancellation condition

The 11–dimensional spacetime $`M_{11}`$ of M–theory is taken to be

$$M_{11}=M_4\times \frac{S^1}{𝐙_2}\times Z,$$
(2.1)
where $`M_4`$ is 4–dimensional Minkowski spacetime, the compact eleventh dimension $`S^1`$ is modded out by the action of $`𝐙_2`$, and $`Z`$ is a Calabi–Yau (complex) 3–fold. There is a semistable holomorphic vector bundle $`V_i`$, $`i=1,2`$ over the 3–fold $`Z`$ on the orbifold fixed plane at each of the two fixed points of the $`𝐙_2`$–action on $`S^1`$. The structure group $`G_i`$ of $`V_i`$ is a subgroup of $`E_8`$.

Fivebranes exist in the vacuum, which wrap holomorphic 2–cycles within $`Z`$ and are parallel to the orbifold fixed planes. The fivebranes are represented by a 4-form cohomology class $`[W]`$.

The Calabi–Yau 3–fold $`Z`$, the gauge bundles $`V_i`$ and the fivebranes are subject to the cohomological constraint on $`Z`$

$$c_2(V_1)+c_2(V_2)+[W]=c_2(TZ),$$
(2.2)
where $`c_2(V_i)`$ is the second Chern class of the $`i`$–th gauge bundle and $`c_2(TZ)`$ is the second Chern class of the holomorphic tangent bundle to $`Z`$. Equation (2.2) above is referred to as the anomaly–cancellation condition.

### 2.2 Elliptically–fibred Calabi–Yau 3–folds

An elliptically–fibred Calabi–Yau complex 3–fold $`X`$ consists of a base $`B`$, which is a complex 2–fold, together with an analytic map

$$\pi :XB$$
(2.3)
such that the fibre $`\pi ^1(b)`$ at a generic point $`bB`$ is an elliptic curve. We also require the existence of a section, i.e., an analytic map

$$\sigma :BX$$
(2.4)
such that $`\pi \sigma =\mathrm{𝟏}_B`$.

Given this elliptic fibration, a line bundle $``$ is defined over $`B`$ as the conormal bundle to the section in $`X`$. The Calabi–Yau condition $`c_1(TX)=0`$ then implies that

$$c_1()=c_1(B).$$
(2.5)
The second Chern class $`c_2(TX)`$ has been found in ref.  to be

$$c_2(TX)=c_2(B)+11c_1(B)^2+12\sigma c_1(B).$$
(2.6)
The Calabi–Yau condition further requires that the base be a del Pezzo, an Enriques, or a Hirzebruch surface, or a blowup of a Hirzebruch surface . For all these the Chern classes $`c_1(B)`$ and $`c_2(B)`$ are known.

### 2.3 The spectral cover

The method of spectral covers provides an effective construction of holomorphic, semistable gauge bundles $`V_X`$ on elliptically–fibred manifolds $`X`$ . The gauge bundle breaks the observable $`E_8`$ to $`G\times H`$. For the gauge group $`G=SU(n)`$, the required data are a divisor $`CX`$, called spectral cover, plus a line bundle $`𝒩`$ on $`C`$. The divisor $`C`$ is an $`n`$–fold covering of the base $`B`$, i.e., the restriction $`\pi _C:CB`$ of the elliptic fibration $`\pi `$ is an $`n`$–sheeted branched covering. We will not distinguish notationally between $`\pi `$ and its restriction $`\pi _C`$. We will denote the pullback and the pushforward of (co)homology classes between $`C`$ and $`B`$ by $`\pi ^{}`$ and $`\pi _{}`$, respectively.

The requirement that

$$c_1(V_X)=0,$$
(2.7)
imposed by $`G=SU(n)`$, implies that the line bundle $`𝒩`$ has a first Chern class given by

$$c_1(𝒩)=\frac{1}{2}\left(c_1(C)\pi ^{}c_1(B)\right)+\gamma .$$
(2.8)
In the above equation,

$$c_1(C)=n\sigma \pi ^{}\eta $$
(2.9)
is the first Chern class of the surface $`C`$. The latter reads in homology

$$C=n\sigma +\pi ^{}\eta $$
(2.10)
and, since $`C`$ is an actual surface within $`X`$, we must impose the condition that $`\eta `$ be an effective class in $`B`$. In cohomology, $`\eta `$ is the first Chern class of a certain line bundle $``$ on $`B`$,

$$\eta =c_1(),$$
(2.11)
and $`\gamma H^2(C,𝐐)`$ is a class whose pushforward to $`H^2(B)`$ vanishes,

$$\pi _{}(\gamma )=0.$$
(2.12)
The general solution to eqn. (2.12) is

$$\gamma =\lambda \left(n\sigma \pi ^{}\eta +n\pi ^{}c_1(B)\right)C,$$
(2.13)
where $`\lambda `$ is a rational parameter. Substituting eqns. (2.9) and (2.13) into (2.8) we obtain

$$c_1(𝒩)=n\left(\frac{1}{2}+\lambda \right)\sigma +\left(\frac{1}{2}\lambda \right)\pi ^{}\eta +\left(\frac{1}{2}+n\lambda \right)\pi ^{}\left(c_1(B)\right).$$
(2.14)
Now $`c_1(𝒩)`$ must be an integer class. This leads to various sets of sufficient conditions on $`\lambda `$ and $`\eta `$ that ensure the integrality of $`c_1(𝒩)`$. Following ref.  we find that, when $`n=2k`$, one such set is

$$\lambda 𝐙,\eta =c_1(B)\mathrm{mod}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2},$$
(2.15)
where the modding is by an even element of $`H^2(B,𝐙)`$. There are, however, alternative sets of sufficient conditions that ensure the integrality of $`c_1(𝒩)`$. When $`n=2k`$, one such alternative set is

$$\lambda =\frac{2m+1}{2},m𝐙,c_1(B)\mathrm{even}.$$
(2.16)
This alternative set will be analyzed extensively in section 3.

### 2.4 Torus–fibred Calabi–Yau 3–folds

The breaking of $`SO(10)`$ to $`SU(5)\times U(1)`$ is done by means of Wilson lines on the Calabi–Yau manifold $`X`$. Nontriviality of the Wilson lines requires a nontrivial fundamental group $`\pi _1(X)`$. For the base manifolds $`B`$ enumerated above, only the Enriques surface gives rise to a nontrivial $`\pi _1(X)`$. However, one proves that the Enriques surface is ruled out for the reasons explained in ref. .

Over a base manifold given by a Hirzebruch surface $`F_r`$ or a del Pezzo surface $`dP_r`$, a Calabi–Yau 3–fold $`Z`$ with $`\pi _1(Z)=𝐙_2`$ can be constructed as the quotient of an elliptically–fibred Calabi–Yau $`X`$ by a freely–acting involution $`\tau _X`$, i.e., a map $`\tau _X:XX`$ satisfying $`\tau _X^2=\mathrm{𝟏}`$. This construction necessitates a second section $`\zeta `$,

$$\zeta :BX,\pi \zeta =\mathrm{𝟏}_B,$$
(2.17)
such that $`\zeta +\zeta =\sigma `$ under fibrewise addition. It turns out that the involution preserves the fibration structure but exchanges the two sections,

$$\tau _X(\zeta )=\sigma ,\tau _X(\sigma )=\zeta ,$$
(2.18)
so the quotient space

$$Z=X/\tau _X$$
(2.19)
is torus fibred instead of elliptically fibred. Let $`\tau _B`$ denote the involution of the base $`B`$ induced by the involution $`\tau _X`$ of $`X`$. Since $`\tau _X`$ preserves the fibration $`\pi `$ of $`X`$, it follows that $`Z`$ is a torus fibration over the base $`B/\tau _B`$.

Additional effects of the second section $`\zeta `$ are the following.

A curve of singularities appears in the section $`\zeta `$, which has to be blown up for $`X`$ to be smooth. The general elliptic fiber $`F`$ splits into two spheres: the new fiber $`N`$, plus the proper transform of the singular fiber, which is in the class $`FN`$. The union of these new fibers $`N`$ over the curve of singularities forms the exceptional divisor $`E`$. The latter intersects the spectral cover $`C`$ in such a way that, as a class in $`X`$,

$$E|_C=EC=4(\eta c_1(B))N=\underset{i}{}N_i$$
(2.20)
for some new curves $`N_iH_2(C,𝐙)`$. Their number is $`4\eta c_1(B)`$, and the class

$$\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}N_i$$
(2.21)
has the important property of being integral.

The fivebranes physically wrap a holomorphic curve within the 3–fold. This means that the cohomology class $`[W]`$ of the wrapped fivebranes must be Poincaré–dual to the homology class of a set of (complex) curves in the Calabi–Yau space, i.e., $`[W]`$ must be effective as a homology class. In general, the class of a curve in $`H_2(X,𝐙)`$ can be written as

$$[W]=\sigma _{}(\omega )+c(FN)+dN,$$
(2.22)
where $`c,d`$ are integers, $`\omega `$ is a class in the base $`B`$, and $`\sigma _{}(\omega )`$ is its pushforward to $`X`$ under the section (2.4). One can show  that a sufficient condition for $`[W]`$ to be effective is that $`\omega `$ be effective in $`B`$, plus

$$c0,d0.$$
(2.23)
Finally, the second Chern class of $`X`$ also gets modified by the presence of the new section $`\zeta `$,

$$c_2(TX)=12\sigma \pi ^{}c_1(B)+\left(c_2(B)+11c_1^2(B)\right)(FN)+\left(c_2(B)c_1^2(B)\right)N.$$
(2.24)
### 2.5 Bundles on torus–fibred 3–folds

We will consider semistable, holomorphic vector bundles $`V_Z`$ over the 3–fold $`Z=X/\tau _X`$. This corresponds to constructing supersymmetric vacua of the gauge theory. Call $`q`$ the quotient map

$$q:XZ.$$
(2.25)
Then Chern classes $`c_i(TZ)`$, $`c_i(V_Z)`$ of the tangent bundle and of the gauge bundle on $`Z`$ can be determined from those corresponding to $`X`$ by pushforward:

$$c_i(TZ)=\frac{1}{2}q_{}\left(c_i(TX)\right),c_i(V_Z)=\frac{1}{2}q_{}\left(c_i(V_X)\right).$$
(2.26)
The spectral–cover construction summarized in section 2.3 for elliptically–fibred 3–folds $`X`$ may be adapted to torus–fibred 3–folds $`Z`$ . One continues to have a line bundle $`𝒩`$ on $`C`$ whose first Chern class is given by eqns. (2.8) – (2.12). One can prove that the general solution to eqn. (2.12) picks up terms proportional to the new classes $`N_i`$, so the new $`\gamma `$ reads

$$\gamma =\lambda \left(n\sigma \pi ^{}\eta +n\pi ^{}c_1(B)\right)C+\underset{i}{}\kappa _iN_i,$$
(2.27)
for arbitrary rational coefficients $`\kappa _i`$. As in section 2.3 we have to impose the condition that $`c_1(𝒩)`$ (given by eqns. (2.8), (2.27))

$$c_1(𝒩)=n\left(\frac{1}{2}+\lambda \right)\sigma +\left(\frac{1}{2}\lambda \right)\pi ^{}\eta +\left(\frac{1}{2}+n\lambda \right)\pi ^{}\left(c_1(B)\right)+\underset{i}{}\kappa _iN_i$$
(2.28)
be an integer class. As in eqns. (2.15) and (2.16), we find various sets of sufficient conditions that ensure the integrality of $`c_1(𝒩)`$. In the case when $`n=2k`$ one such set is

$$\lambda 𝐙,\eta =c_1(B)\mathrm{mod}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2},$$
(2.29)
and the $`\kappa _i`$ can be either all integer or all one–half an odd integer. Another set of sufficient conditions when $`n=2k`$ is

$$\lambda =\frac{2m+1}{2},m𝐙,c_1(B)\mathrm{even},$$
(2.30)
with the same requirements on the $`\kappa _i`$ as before.

Finally every semistable, holomorphic vector bundle $`V_Z`$ over the 3–fold $`Z=X/\tau _X`$ can be pulled back to a bundle $`V_X`$ over $`X`$ that is invariant under $`\tau _X`$, and conversely. This invariance condition is expressed as

$$\tau _X^{}(V_X)=V_X.$$
(2.31)
An analysis of eqn. (2.31) has been performed in ref. . Here we will just quote the result that a set of necessary conditions for $`V_X`$ to be invariant is

$$\tau _B(\eta )=\eta ,\underset{i}{}\kappa _i=\eta c_1(B).$$
(2.32)
### 2.6 Observable and hidden sectors

In the Hořava–Witten picture , the gauge bundles on the Calabi–Yau 3–folds appear as subbundles of the $`E_8`$ bundles on the orbifold fixed planes. For simplicity, following , we will place a trivial, unbroken $`E_8`$–bundle on one of the two fixed planes (the hidden sector). On the remaining orbifold plane (the observable sector) the structure group will be an $`SU(4)`$ subgroup of $`E_8`$. Within $`E_8`$, the group $`H=SO(10)`$ is the commutant of the structure group $`G=SU(4)`$. Throughout this paper, when referring to an $`SU(n)`$–bundle on the 3–fold, we refer to this particular $`SU(4)`$ whose commutant leaves behind an $`SO(10)`$ grand unified gauge theory in the observable sector.

Picking the trivial $`E_8`$–bundle on the hidden sector simplifies the anomaly–cancellation condition (2.2) on the 3–fold $`Z`$ to

$$[W_Z]=c_2(TZ)c_2(V_Z).$$
(2.33)
Using eqn. (2.26), this can be expressed as an anomaly–cancellation condition on the covering 3–fold $`X`$,

$$[W_X]=c_2(TX)c_2(V_X).$$
(2.34)
Second Chern classes for $`SU(n)`$ gauge bundles over $`X`$ were computed in refs. . For the second Chern class in the case when $`X`$ admits only one section $`\sigma `$ we have

$$c_2(V_X)=\eta \sigma \frac{1}{24}(n^3n)c_1^2\frac{1}{2}\left(\lambda ^2\frac{1}{4}\right)n\eta \left(\eta nc_1\right),$$
(2.35)
where $`c_1`$ denotes $`c_1(B)`$. When $`X`$ admits two sections $`\sigma `$, $`\zeta `$ the result is

$`c_2(V_X)=\sigma \pi ^{}\eta `$ (2.36)
$``$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}(n^3n)c_1^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\lambda ^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\right)n\eta \left(\eta nc_1\right){\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\kappa _i^2\right](FN)`$ (2.37)
$``$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}(n^3n)c_1^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\lambda ^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\right)n\eta \left(\eta nc_1\right){\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\kappa _i^2+{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\kappa _i\right]N,`$ (2.38)
which reduces to eqn. (2.35) on setting $`\kappa _i=0`$. Substituting eqn. (2.38) into (2.34) and denoting $`c_2(B)`$ simply by $`c_2`$, we can identify the coefficients $`c,d`$ and the curve $`\omega `$ in eqn. (2.22):

$$c=c_2+\left(\frac{1}{24}(n^3n)+11\right)c_1^2\frac{1}{2}\left(\lambda ^2\frac{1}{4}\right)n\eta \left(\eta nc_1\right)\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2,$$
(2.39)
$`d`$ $`=`$ $`c_2+\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}(n^3n)1\right)c_1^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\lambda ^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\right)n\eta \left(\eta nc_1\right)`$ (2.40)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\kappa _i^2+{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\kappa _i,`$ (2.41)
$$\omega =12c_1(B)\eta .$$
(2.42)
A physical requirement is the existence of three families of quarks and leptons in the observable sector. The net number $`N_{\mathrm{gen}}`$ of generations is related to the third Chern class of the gauge bundle through

$$N_{\mathrm{gen}}=\frac{1}{2}_Zc_3(V_Z).$$
(2.43)
Now the third Chern class reads

$$c_3(V_Z)=2\lambda \sigma \eta \left(\eta nc_1(B)\right).$$
(2.44)
Using eqns. (2.26), (2.43), (2.44) and integrating over the fibre $`F`$ yields the requirement

$$\lambda \eta \left(\eta nc_1(B)\right)=6.$$
(2.45)
In ref.  a necessary condition has been worked out to ensure that the commutant $`H`$ is actually the largest preserved subgroup of $`E_8`$, for a given choice of $`G`$. In our case this condition reads

$$\eta 4c_1(B).$$
(2.46)
### 2.7 Summary of rules

The rules presented above allow one to construct realistic particle physics vacua with $`N=1`$ supersymmetry, three families of quarks and leptons and a grand unified gauge group $`SO(10)`$. We refer to  for the geometric conditions needed on the elliptically–fibred 3–fold $`X`$ to produce a torus–fibred 3–fold $`Z`$. Let us summarize the remaining rules before working out some explicit examples.

a) Semistability condition: the spectral data $`(C,𝒩)`$ specifying a semistable, holomorphic vector bundle can be written, via eqns. (2.8), (2.10), (2.27) in terms of an effective class $`\eta H^2(B,𝐙)`$ and coefficients $`\lambda `$, $`\kappa _i`$ satisfying eqn. (2.29),

$$\lambda 𝐙,\eta =c_1(B)\mathrm{mod}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2},$$
(2.47)
(and the $`\kappa _i`$ either all integer or all half an odd integer) or eqn. (2.30),

$$\lambda =\frac{2m+1}{2},m𝐙,c_1(B)\mathrm{even},$$
(2.48)
(with the same requirements on the $`\kappa _i`$ as above).

b) Involution conditions: for a vector bundle $`V_X`$ on $`X`$ to descend to a vector bundle $`V_Z`$ on $`Z`$ it is necessary that

$$\tau _B(\eta )=\eta ,\underset{i}{}\kappa _i=\eta c_1(B).$$
(2.49)
c) Effectiveness condition: a sufficient condition for $`[W]`$ in eqn. (2.22) to be an effective class is

$$12c_1(B)\eta ,c0,d0.$$
(2.50)
d) Commutant condition: for the gauge group $`SO(10)`$ this condition reads

$$\eta 4c_1(B).$$
(2.51)
e) Three–family condition:

$$\lambda \eta \left(\eta nc_1(B)\right)=6.$$
(2.52)
## 3 Vacua over Hirzebruch surfaces $`F_r`$

We take the base manifold $`B`$ to be the Hirzebruch surface $`F_r`$, $`r0`$ . The latter is a $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$–fibration over $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$. A basis for $`H_2(F_r,𝐙)`$ composed of effective classes is given by the class of the base $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$, denoted $`S`$, plus the class of the fibre $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$, denoted $`E`$. Their intersections are

$$SS=r,SE=1,EE=0.$$
(3.1)
All effective curves in $`F_r`$ are linear combinations of $`S`$ and $`E`$ with nonnegative coefficients. The Chern classes of $`F_r`$ are

$$c_1(F_r)=2S+(r+2)E,c_2(F_r)=4.$$
(3.2)
It is proved in ref.  that, over the base $`F_r`$, one can construct torus–fibred Calabi–Yau 3–folds $`Z`$ whose fundamental group is $`𝐙_2`$ when $`r=0,2`$. For those allowed values of $`r`$, any class $`\eta H_2(F_r,𝐙)`$ is $`\tau _B`$–invariant . In what follows we will work with an arbitrary allowed value of $`r`$. Let us write $`\eta H_2(F_r,𝐙)`$ as

$$\eta =sS+eE$$
(3.3)
for some integers $`s,e`$ to be determined imposing the conditions summarized in section 2.7.

For the semistability condition we have a choice. Either we impose eqn. (2.47), which implies that

$$\lambda 𝐙,s\mathrm{even},er\mathrm{even},$$
(3.4)
or we impose condition (2.48),

$$\lambda =\frac{2m+1}{2},m𝐙,r\mathrm{even}.$$
(3.5)
The involution conditions (2.49) are

$$\underset{i}{}\kappa _i=2s+2esr,$$
(3.6)
while the effectiveness conditions (2.50) read

$$24s,12r+24e,$$
(3.7)
$$\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2112+\frac{3}{\lambda }12\lambda $$
(3.8)
and

$$\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^216+\underset{i}{}\kappa _i+\frac{3}{\lambda }12\lambda .$$
(3.9)
The commutant condition (2.51) requires

$$s8,e4r+8.$$
(3.10)
Finally we analyze the three–family condition (2.52):

$$rs^2+4rs+2es8e8s=6/\lambda .$$
(3.11)
Now the left–hand side of eqn. (3.11) is always an even integer, whatever our choice for the semistability condition (eqn. (3.4) or (3.5)). If we make the choice (3.4), $`\lambda `$ can only take the values $`\pm 1,\pm 2,\pm 3,\pm 6`$. Parity rules out the values $`|\lambda |=2,6`$ and allows $`|\lambda |=1,3`$. We denote this family of solutions as class A:

$$\mathrm{class}\mathrm{A}:s\mathrm{even},er\mathrm{even},\lambda =\pm 1,\pm 3.$$
(3.12)
Choosing (3.5) instead, then integrality of $`6/\lambda =12/(2m+1)`$ restricts $`m`$ to $`2,1,0,1`$, i.e., $`|\lambda |=1/2,3/2`$. This we call class B:

$$\mathrm{class}\mathrm{B}:r\mathrm{even},\lambda =\pm 1/2,\pm 3/2.$$
(3.13)
Next we solve the three–family condition (3.11) for $`e`$, assuming a given value for $`s`$. This gives $`e`$ as a function of $`r`$ and $`\lambda `$:

$$e(r;\lambda )=\frac{1}{2s8}\left(rs^24rs+8s+\frac{6}{\lambda }\right).$$
(3.14)
For each value of $`8s24`$ and the corresponding appropriate choice for $`\lambda `$ we present below the solutions for $`e(r;\lambda )`$. We indicate it whenever the solution is not an integer for any allowed value of $`\lambda `$.

Class A)

$`s`$ $`=`$ $`8,e(r;\lambda )=4r+8+3/4\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.15)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`10,e(r;\lambda )=5r+20/3+1/2\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.16)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`12,e(r;\lambda )=6r+6+3/8\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.17)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`14,e(r;\lambda )=7r+28/5+3/10\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.18)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`16,e(r;\lambda )=8r+16/3+1/4\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.19)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`18,e(r;\lambda )=9r+36/7+3/14\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.20)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`20,e(r;\lambda )=10r+5+3/16\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.21)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`22,e(r;\lambda )=11r+44/9+1/6\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.22)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`24,e(r;\lambda )=12r+24/5+3/20\lambda 𝐙.`$ (3.23)
There are no integer solutions in this class. We conclude that class A contains no vacua over the Hirzebruch surface $`F_r`$, for any allowed value of $`r`$.

Class B)

$`s`$ $`=`$ $`8,e(r;\lambda )=4r+8+3/4\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.24)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`9,e(r;\lambda =1/2)=9r/2+6`$ (3.25)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`10,e(r;\lambda =3/2)=5r+7`$ (3.26)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`11,e(r;\lambda =3/2)=11r/2+6`$ (3.27)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`12,e(r;\lambda )=6r+6+3/8\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.28)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`13,e(r;\lambda =3/2)=13r/2+6`$ (3.29)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`14,e(r;\lambda =1/2)=7r+5`$ (3.30)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`15,e(r;\lambda =1/2)=15r/2+6`$ (3.31)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`16,e(r;\lambda )=8r+16/3+1/4\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.32)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`17,e(r;\lambda )=17r/2+68/13+3/13\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.33)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`18,e(r;\lambda =3/2)=9r+5`$ (3.34)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`19,e(r;\lambda )=19r/2+76/15+1/5\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.35)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`20,e(r;\lambda )=10r+5+3/16\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.36)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`21,e(r;\lambda )=21r/2+84/17+3/17\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.37)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`22,e(r;\lambda =3/2)=11r+5`$ (3.38)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`23,e(r;\lambda )=23r/2+92/19+3/19\lambda 𝐙`$ (3.39)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`24,e(r;\lambda )=12r+24/5+3/20\lambda 𝐙.`$ (3.40)
This class does lead to integer solutions to the three–family equation (3.14). In all cases the commutant condition (3.10) is satisfied, as well as eqn. (3.7) about the effectiveness of $`\omega `$ in $`B`$.

We can now return to eqn. (2.22) and write explicit expressions for the homology class $`[W]`$ that is being wrapped by the fivebranes on the torus–fibred Calabi–Yau 3–fold $`Z`$. We have for the class $`\omega `$

$$\omega =(24s)S+(12r+24e)E,$$
(3.41)
and for the coefficients $`c`$, $`d`$,

$$c=112+\frac{3}{\lambda }12\lambda \underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2,$$
(3.42)
$$d=16+\frac{3}{\lambda }12\lambda +\underset{i}{}\kappa _i\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2.$$
(3.43)
Evaluating eqns. (3.41), (3.42) and (3.43) at the integer solutions for $`e(r;\lambda )`$ tabulated in eqn. (3.40), we arrive at the following vacua $`[W]`$. Every allowed choice of $`r`$, plus every choice of the rational coefficients $`\kappa _i`$ subject to the conditions indicated in each case, gives rise to a different class $`[W]`$:

$``$ $`s=9`$: $`_i\kappa _i=30`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^246`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(15S+\left(\frac{15}{2}r+18\right)E\right)+(112\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(46\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.44)
$``$ $`s=10`$: $`_i\kappa _i=34`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^234`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(14S+(7r+17)E\right)+(96\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(34\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.45)
$``$ $`s=11`$: $`_i\kappa _i=34`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^266`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(13S+\left(\frac{13}{2}r+18\right)E\right)+(128\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(66\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.46)
$``$ $`s=13`$: $`_i\kappa _i=38`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^238`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(11S+\left(\frac{11}{2}r+18\right)E\right)+(96\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(38\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.47)
$``$ $`s=14`$: $`_i\kappa _i=38`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^254`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(10S+(5r+19)E\right)+(112\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(54\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.48)
$``$ $`s=15`$: $`_i\kappa _i=42`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^258`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(9S+\left(\frac{9}{2}r+18\right)E\right)+(112\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(58\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.49)
$``$ $`s=18`$: $`_i\kappa _i=46`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^278`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(6S+(3r+19)E\right)+(128\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(78\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.50)
$``$ $`s=22`$: $`_i\kappa _i=54`$ and $`_i\kappa _i^254`$,

$$[W]=\sigma _{}\left(2S+(r+19)E\right)+(96\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)(FN)+(54\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^2)N.$$
(3.51)
Each one of the above classes represents a nonperturbative vacuum of an $`SO(10)`$ grand unified theory of particle physics.

## 4 Vacua over the del Pezzo surface $`dP_3`$

As our next example we choose the base $`B`$ to be the del Pezzo surface $`dP_3`$ (for nice reviews on del Pezzo surfaces see ). The latter can be thought of as complex projective space $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^2`$, blown up at three points. A basis of $`H_2(dP_3,𝐙)`$ composed entirely of effective classes is given by the hyperplane class $`l`$, plus three exceptional divisors $`E_i`$, $`i=1,2,3`$. Their intersections are

$$ll=1,E_iE_j=\delta _{ij},E_il=0.$$
(4.1)
The first and second Chern classes are given by

$$c_1(dP_3)=3lE_1E_2E_3,c_2(dP_3)=6.$$
(4.2)
It is proved in ref.  that, over the base $`dP_3`$, one can construct torus–fibred Calabi–Yau 3–folds $`Z`$ whose fundamental group $`\pi _1(Z)`$ is $`𝐙_2`$. It is convenient to consider the independent curves

$`M_1`$ $`=`$ $`l+E_1E_2E_3`$ (4.3)
$`M_2`$ $`=`$ $`lE_1+E_2E_3`$ (4.4)
$`M_3`$ $`=`$ $`lE_1E_2+E_3,`$ (4.5)
whose intersection matrix is

$$M_1M_1=M_2M_2=M_3M_3=2,M_1M_2=M_1M_3=M_2M_3=2.$$
(4.6)
It turns out that the $`M_j`$ are effective classes and that they satisfy $`\tau _B(M_j)=M_j`$. They also generate all other $`\tau _B`$–invariant curves, so the most general $`\tau _B`$–invariant class $`\eta H_2(dP_3,𝐙)`$ is a linear combination

$$\eta =m_1M_1+m_2M_2+m_3M_3,$$
(4.7)
for some arbitrary integer coefficients $`m_j`$ to be determined imposing the requirements summarized in section 2.7. The first Chern class $`c_1(dP_3)`$ reads, in terms of the $`M_j`$,

$$c_1(dP_3)=M_1+M_2+M_3.$$
(4.8)
Next we impose the rules summarized in section 2.7. For the semistability condition we cannot impose eqn. (2.48) in view of $`c_1(dP_3)`$, so we have (2.47) instead:

$$\lambda 𝐙,m_j\mathrm{odd},j=1,2,3,$$
(4.9)
and either all the $`\kappa _i`$ integer or all half an odd integer. With our choice (4.7) for $`\eta `$, the involution condition (2.49) reduces to

$$\underset{i}{}\kappa _i=2(m_1+m_2+m_3).$$
(4.10)
The effectiveness conditions (2.50) read

$$m_j12,j=1,2,3$$
(4.11)
and

$$\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^287+\frac{3}{\lambda }12\lambda ,$$
(4.12)
$$\underset{i}{}\kappa _i^215+\frac{3}{\lambda }12\lambda +\underset{i}{}\kappa _i.$$
(4.13)
The commutant condition (2.51) requires

$$m_j4,j=1,2,3.$$
(4.14)
Finally, the three–family condition (2.52) is expressed as

$$m_1^2m_2^2m_3^2+2(m_1m_2+m_1m_3+m_2m_3)4(m_1+m_2+m_3)=3/\lambda .$$
(4.15)
Given that the $`m_j`$ are odd, the left–hand side of the above is always odd, so the allowed values for $`\lambda `$ are $`\pm 1,\pm 3`$.

Odd integer solutions to eqn. (4.15) in the range $`4m_j12`$, for (at least) one of the allowed values for $`\lambda `$, correspond to nonperturbative vacua of heterotic M–theory, compactified on a torus–fibred Calabi–Yau 3–fold over a $`dP_3`$ surface, with $`SO(10)`$ as GUT group and 3 families of chiral matter. One can see that for $`\lambda =\pm 1,\pm 3`$ there are no solutions in the required range, and hence no vacua. A simple proof of this fact is as follows. Assume that all solutions $`m_j`$ are equal to a certain value $`m`$: $`m_1=m_2=m_3=m`$, then solve eqn. (4.15) for $`m`$. This gives $`m=2\pm \sqrt{4+1/\lambda }`$, which for $`\lambda =\pm 1,\pm 3`$ is not an integer. Next assume that two solutions are equal, say $`m_1=m_2=m`$, and that $`m_3m_1`$. Then eqn. (4.15) becomes linear in $`m`$, but its solutions when $`m_3=5,7,9,11`$ are never an odd integer for $`\lambda =\pm 1,\pm 3`$. Finally, when all the $`m_j`$ are pairwise different, one can easily check numerically for $`m_j=5,7,9,11`$ that there is no solution for $`\lambda =\pm 1,\pm 3`$.

## 5 Overlap with the free fermionic models

In this section we elaborate briefly on the overlap with the free fermionic models. Amazingly enough, the structure of the manifolds constructed by Donagi et al , up to the imposition of the three generation condition, precisely coincides with the structure of the manifold that underlies the free fermionic models.

In the free fermionic formalism  a model is specified in terms of a set of boundary condition basis vectors and one–loop GSO projection coefficients. These fully determine the partition function of the models, the spectrum and the vacuum structure. The three generation models of interest here are constructed in two stages. The first corresponds to the NAHE set of boundary basis vectors $`\{\mathrm{𝟏},S,b_1,b_2,b_3\}`$ . The second consists of adding to the NAHE set three additional boundary condition basis vectors, typically denoted $`\{\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \}`$. The gauge group at the level of the NAHE set is $`SO(6)^3\times SO(10)\times E_8`$, which is broken to $`SO(4)^3\times U(1)^3\times SO(10)\times SO(16)`$ by the vector $`2\gamma `$. Alternatively, we can start with an extended NAHE set $`\{\mathrm{𝟏},S,\xi _1,\xi _2,b_1,b_2\}`$, with $`\xi _1=\mathrm{𝟏}+b_1+b_2+b_3`$. The set $`\{\mathrm{𝟏},S,\xi _1,\xi _2\}`$ produces a toroidal Narain model with $`SO(12)\times E_8\times E_8`$ or $`SO(12)\times SO(16)\times SO(16)`$ gauge group depending on the GSO phase $`c(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\xi _1}{\xi _2})`$. The basis vectors $`b_1`$ and $`b_2`$ then break $`SO(12)SO(4)^3`$, and either $`E_8\times E_8E_6\times U(1)^2\times E_8`$ or $`SO(16)\times SO(16)SO(10)\times U(1)^3\times SO(16)`$. The vectors $`b_1`$ and $`b_2`$ correspond to $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold modding. The three sectors $`b_1`$, $`b_2`$ and $`b_3`$ correspond to the three twisted sector of the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold, with each producing eight generations in the $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}`$, or $`\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}`$, representations of $`E_6`$, or $`SO(10)`$, respectively. In the case of $`E_6`$ the untwisted sector produces an additional $`3\times (\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}+\overline{\mathrm{𝟐𝟕}})`$, whereas in the $`SO(10)`$ model it produces $`3\times (\mathrm{𝟏𝟎}+\overline{\mathrm{𝟏𝟎}})`$. Therefore, the Calabi–Yau manifold that corresponds to the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold at the free fermionic point in the Narain moduli space has $`(h_{11},h_{21})=(27,3)`$.

To note the overlap with the construction of Donagi et al we construct the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ at a generic point in the moduli space. For this purpose, let us first start with the compactified torus $`T_1^2\times T_2^2\times T_3^2`$ parameterized by three complex coordinates $`z_1`$, $`z_2`$ and $`z_3`$, with the identification

$$z_i=z_i+1;z_i=z_i+\tau _i,$$
(5.1)
where $`\tau `$ is the complex parameter of each torus $`T^2`$. We consider $`𝐙_2`$ twists and possible shifts of order two:

$$z_i(1)^{ϵ_i}z_i+\frac{1}{2}\delta _i,$$
(5.2)
subject to the condition that $`\mathrm{\Pi }_i(1)^{ϵ_i}=1`$. This condition insures that the holomorphic three–form $`\omega =dz_1dz_2dz_3`$ is invariant under the $`𝐙_2`$ twist. Under the identification $`z_iz_i`$, a single torus has four fixed points at

$$z_i=\{0,1/2,\tau /2,(1+\tau )/2\}.$$
(5.3)
The first model that we consider is produced by the two $`𝐙_2`$ twists

$`\alpha :(z_1,z_2,z_3)(z_1,z_2,z_3)`$ (5.4)
$`\beta :(z_1,z_2,z_3)(z_1,z_2,z_3).`$ (5.5)
There are three twisted sectors in this model, $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ and $`\alpha \beta =\alpha \beta `$, each producing 16 fixed tori, for a total of 48. The untwisted sector adds three additional Kähler and complex deformation parameters producing in total a manifold with $`(h_{11},h_{21})=(51,3)`$. We refer to this model as $`X_1`$. This manifold admits an elliptic fibration over a base $`F_0=\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1\times \mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$. This can be seen from the Borcea–Voisin classification of elliptically fibered Calabi–Yau manifolds  and from ref. .We emphasize that in the discussion here our intention is not to reproduce the generic M–theory elliptic fibration model, but rather to indentify the overlap with the specific geometrical structures that underly the realistic free fermionic models. We further remark that here we only discuss the correspondence with the compactified geometry and it would be of further interest to elucidate how the gauge bundles are related in the fermionic and the M-theory models.

Next we consider the model generated by the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ twists in (5.5), with the additional shift

$$\gamma :(z_1,z_2,z_3)(z_1+\frac{1}{2},z_2+\frac{1}{2},z_3+\frac{1}{2}).$$
(5.6)
This model again has fixed tori from the three twisted sectors $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ and $`\alpha \beta `$. The product of the $`\gamma `$ shift in (5.6) with any of the twisted sectors does not produce any additional fixed tori. Therefore, this shift acts freely. Under the action of the $`\gamma `$ shift, half the fixed tori from each twisted sector are paired. Therefore, the action of this shift is to reduce the total number of fixed tori from the twisted sectors by a factor of $`1/2`$. Consequently, in this model $`(h_{11},h_{21})=(27,3)`$. This model therefore reproduces the data of the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold at the free-fermion point in the Narain moduli space. We refer to this model as $`X_2`$.

The manifold $`X_1`$ therefore coincides with the manifold $`X`$ of Donagi et al , the manifold $`X_2`$ coincides with the manifold $`Z`$, and the $`\gamma `$–shift in eq. (5.6) coincides with the freely acting involution $`\tau _X`$ in eqn. (2.18,2.19). Thus, the free fermionic models admit precisely the structure of the Calabi-Yau manifolds considered in ref. .

## 6 Discussion and conclusions

The role of the freely acting shift discussed in the previous section and employed in sections 3, 4 is to produce a manifold which is not simply connected, with $`\pi _1(Z)=𝐙_2`$. This enables the use of Wilson lines to break the $`SO(10)`$ symmetry to one of its subgroups. For example, up to $`SO(10)`$ automorphisms, the only generator of $`SO(10)`$ that leaves $`SU(5)`$ unbroken is given by

$$iH=\left(\begin{array}{cccccccc}0& 1& & & & & & \\ 1& 0& & & & & & \\ & & .& & & & & \\ & & & .& & & & \\ & & & & .& & & \\ & & & & & 0& 1\\ & & & & & 1& 0\end{array}\right).$$
(6.1)
Other breaking patterns, that break the $`SO(10)`$ symmetry to one of its other subgroups, as in ref. , are possible, and in some cases by utilizing two independent Wilson lines . Here the third Chern class counts the number of $`\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}`$ minus $`\overline{\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}}`$ representations of $`SO(10)`$. The net number $`N_{\mathrm{gen}}=3`$ then contains the three chiral Standard Model generations. The additional $`\mathrm{𝟏𝟎}\overline{\mathrm{𝟏𝟎}}`$ representations of $`SU(5)`$ needed to break the $`SU(5)\times U(1)`$ symmetry arise from additional $`\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}\overline{\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}}`$ representations that are obscured from $`N_{\mathrm{gen}}`$ but, in general, appear in the physical spectrum. The adjoint $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟒𝟖}`$ representation of $`E_8`$ decomposes as $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟒𝟖}=(\mathrm{𝟒𝟓},\mathrm{𝟏})+(\mathrm{𝟏},\mathrm{𝟏𝟓})+(\mathrm{𝟏𝟎},\mathrm{𝟔})+(\mathrm{𝟏𝟔},\mathrm{𝟒})+(\overline{\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}},\overline{\mathrm{𝟒}})`$ under $`SO(10)\times SU(4)`$. As is the case in the example of the free fermionic string models the $`(\mathrm{𝟏𝟎},\mathrm{𝟔})`$ component in this decomposition can produce the $`SO(10)`$ vectorial representation, which contains the electroweak Higgs multiplets of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, and may produce the fermion masses from the $`\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}\mathrm{𝟏𝟔}\mathrm{𝟏𝟎}`$ superpotential term.

The question, however, is the utility of the sophisticated mathematical tools employed in this paper. It is rather plausible that details of the massless spectrum and fermion masses can be more readily obtained by using the conformal field theory based formulations of the perturbative string limits. Indeed, this lesson we can already infer from heterotic string studies that yielded detailed fermion mass textures, addressing issues like Cabibbo mixing and fermion mass hierarchy . It is doubtful that the geometry based formalism can explore a similar level of detail.

As we saw in sections 3 and 4, one utility of the geometrical approach is in classification of the available geometries by the phenomenological criteria that they allow or disallow. While Hirzebruch surfaces $`F_r`$, $`r=0,2`$, provide three generation solutions with $`SO(10)`$ symmetry that may be broken by Wilson lines, the del Pezzo surface $`dP_3`$ does not admit such solutions, within the classes that we have analyzed here. Whether this observation can be generalized to any del Pezzo surface $`dP_r`$ is an interesting question that will be addressed in a forthcoming publication . Thus, the geometrical insight provides a tool to classify the manifolds according to very basic phenomenological criteria.

More importantly, however, it is apparent that the power of the complex manifold analysis, in the particle phenomenology context, will be revealed in trying to elucidate basic issues like the topology changing transitions and vacuum selection. In this respect we can promote the following view of the utility of the M–theory picture that emerged in recent years. It is now conjectured that the different string theories are limits of one single, still elusive, more basic theory. Each limit can then be utilized to probe the properties of the more fundamental theory, or its properties that may pertain to the observed particle physics phenomenology. Thus, one limit may be utilized to extract classes of manifolds that possess appealing phenomenological characteristics, whereas another limit may be useful to investigate dynamical transitions between nearby manifolds.

In this context, it has long been argued that the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold compactification naturally gives rise to three chiral generations . Modding the 6–dimensional compactified space by the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold projection produces three twisted sectors. In free fermionic string models that are connected to the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold each twisted sector gives rise to one chiral generation. Thus, in these models the existence of three generations is correlated with the underlying geometrical structure.

The existence of three twisted sectors is a generic property of the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold of a 6–dimensional compactified space. At a generic point of the compactified space one can take the moduli space to be that of $`T^2\times T^2\times T^2`$ yielding a model with $`(h_{21},h_{11})=(51,3)`$. At the free fermionic point the symmetry is enhanced, producing an $`SO(12)`$ lattice. Taking the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold of the $`SO(12)`$ lattice then produces a model with $`(h_{21},h_{11})=(27,3)`$. Each of these models has three twisted sectors with 16 and 8 fixed points in their respective twisted sectors. Depending on a discrete torsion phase which commutes with the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold projection we can set the 4–dimensional nonabelian observable symmetry to be $`SO(10)`$ or $`E_6`$. As we discussed in this paper, in order to allow Wilson line breaking of the nonabelian $`SO(10)`$ or $`E_6`$ GUT symmetry, a Calabi–Yau manifold has to be nonsimply connected. From refs.  we learned that a simple way to achieve this is by modding a simply connected Calabi–Yau manifold by a freely–acting involution, the latter being $`𝐙_2`$ in the models studied here and in . Now, the $`(51,3)`$ and $`(27,3)`$ $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold compactifications are connected by precisely such a freely–acting involution. Thus, what is remarkable is that precisely at the free fermionic point in the moduli space, we find that the model naturally accommodates three generations due to the $`𝐙_2\times 𝐙_2`$ orbifold structure, with the desirable $`SO(10)`$ Grand Unified symmetry, while at the same time it allows for the inclusion of the Wilson line to break the GUT symmetry, due to the freely–acting involution.

Thus, we see that precisely at the free fermionic point in the string moduli space, some of the needed ingredients coalesce to produce the phenomenologically required features. This remarkable coincidence is, however, valid at weak coupling. The issue to understand is whether it remains valid in the strong coupling regime. The compactification of Hořava–Witten theory, as discussed here, provides the means to investigate such questions.

Acknowledgments

A.E.F. thanks Adam Ritz for discussions during the initial stages of this project. J.M.I. would like to thank U. Bruzzo and SISSA, Trieste (Italy) for discussions and hospitality during the early stages of this work. Support from PPARC (grants PPA/A/S/1998/00179 and PPA/G/O/2000/00469) and DGICYT (grant PB 96-0756) is acknowledged.


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# High-temperature superfluidity of fermionic atoms in optical lattices

The experimental realizations of degenerate Bose  and Fermi  atomic samples have stimulated a new wave of studies of quantum many-body systems in the dilute and weakly interacting regime. The intriguing prospective of extending these studies into the domain of strongly correlated phenomena is hindered by the apparent relative weakness of atomic interactions. The effects due to interactions can, however, be enhanced if the atoms are confined in optical potentials created by standing light waves . The present Letter shows that these techniques, when applied to ensembles of cold fermionic atoms, can be used to dramatically increase the transition temperature to a superfluid state and thus make it readily observable under current experimental conditions. Depending upon carefully controlled parameters, a transition to a superfluid state of Cooper pairs , antiferromagnetic states  or more exotic d-wave pairing states  can be induced and probed. The results of proposed experiments can provide a critical insight into the origin of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates .

An active search is now under way to implement a BCS transition of degenerate fermionic gases to a superfluid state analogous to superconductivity . However, in free space or weakly confining atom traps the transition temperature to the superfluid state scales exponentially with interaction strength, $`k_BT_c^{\mathrm{free}}0.3E_F^{\mathrm{free}}\mathrm{exp}[\pi /(2k_F|a_s|)]`$, with $`E_F^{\mathrm{free}}`$ the Fermi energy. For a dilute atomic gas the product of Fermi momentum and scattering length $`k_F|a_s|<<1`$, which makes the transition temperature exceedingly low.

Atoms in potentials created by standing light waves (optical lattices) tend to localize near potential nodes thereby increasing the strength of effective interactions, whereas the kinetic energy provided by tunneling between the different sites can be strongly suppressed . Very recently, fascinating experiments involving bosonic atoms in optical lattices  revealed a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to Mott insulating state . Fermionic atoms confined in an optical lattice can undergo a phase transition to a superfluid state at a temperature that exceeds that of weakly confined atoms by several orders of magnitude. Attractive atomic interactions result in an s-wave pairing in which case fermionic atoms can undergo a BCS-type transition. In what perhaps is the even more intriguing prospective, fermionic atoms with repulsive interactions correspond to an experimental realization of a Hubbard model that is widely discussed for strongly correlated electron systems such as high-$`T_c`$ cuprates . In particular, d-wave superconducting states have been conjectured to exist in such systems, but so far this conjecture eluded rigorous confirmation. We show that atomic systems with carefully controllable parameters and a variety of precise tools to detect the resulting phases can be used to provide a critical insight into this outstanding problem. In essence, this approach can be viewed as an implementation of the pioneering ideas due to Feynman  for simulations of one quantum system by another.

Consider an ensemble of fermionic atoms illuminated by several orthogonal, standing wave laser fields tuned far from atomic resonance. These fields produce a periodic potential for atomic motion in two (or three) dimensions of the form $`V(x)=V_0_{i=1}^{2(3)}\mathrm{cos}^2(kx_i)`$ with $`k`$ the wave-vector of the light. The potential depth $`V_0`$ is typically expressed in the units of the atomic recoil energy $`E_R=\mathrm{}^2k^2/2m`$. We will be interested in the situation in which there is roughly one atom per lattice site. Such atomic densities correspond to free-space Fermi energies on the order of $`E_F^{\mathrm{free}}=(3/\pi )^{2/3}E_R`$. At the same time the atoms can tunnel from one site to another. We assume that two kinds of atoms are present, differing by angular momentum or generalized spin ($`\sigma =\{,\}`$). For sufficiently low temperatures the atoms will be confined to the lowest Bloch band, and the system can be described by a Hubbard Hamiltonian

$`H=t{\displaystyle \underset{\{i,j\},\sigma }{}}(c_{i,\sigma }^+c_{j,\sigma }+c_{j,\sigma }^+c_{i,\sigma })+U{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}n_{i,}n_{i,},`$

where $`c_{i,\sigma }`$ are fermionic annihilation operators for localized atom states of spin $`\sigma `$ on site $`i`$, $`n_{i,\sigma }=c_{i,\sigma }^+c_{i,\sigma }`$. We assume that the average occupation numbers $`n_{i,;}1`$. The parameter $`t`$ corresponds to the tunneling matrix element between adjacent sites, $`t=E_R(2/\sqrt{\pi })\xi ^3\mathrm{exp}(2\xi ^2)`$, and the parameter $`U=E_Ra_sk\sqrt{8/\pi }\xi ^3`$ characterizes the strength of the on-site interaction with $`\xi =(V_0/E_R)^{1/4}`$. The sign of the scattering length $`a_s`$ determines the nature of atomic interactions: negative $`a_s`$ corresponds to attraction between atoms, whereas positive $`a_s`$ corresponds to repulsion. For example, in the case of Li6  both cases can be realized depending on the particular electronic states that are being trapped in a lattice.

Consider first the situation corresponding to negative $`U`$. The effect of the lattice on the superfluid transition can be best understood starting from the limit of large tunneling $`t|U|`$. Here, similar to the free-space transition, the interaction strength is much weaker than the kinetic energy and the ground state of the system is then given by a “standard” BCS wave function, with an energy gap and transition temperature $`T_c`$ that depend upon $`t`$ and $`u`$ . For the lattice with filling fraction near unity ($`n_{}+n_{}1`$) the Fermi energy is on the order of $`t`$, the density of states scales as $`N/t`$ (with $`N`$ being the total number of lattice sites) and the average two-atom interaction strength as $`U/N`$. Standard BCS theory can be applied to predict a critical temperature $`T_c`$ that for a 3-D situation scales as $`k_BT_c6t\mathrm{exp}(7t/|U|)`$ . An increase in the depth of the optical potential results in stronger atom localization and hence an increased interaction strength $`U`$. At the same time, the tunneling $`t`$ becomes weaker. The combined effect of these two factors is a dramatic increase in $`T_c`$ due the exponential factor that competes with a very modest linear reduction due to a decreased Fermi energy.

As the tunneling becomes comparable to the on-site interaction, the BCS picture is no longer valid. Due to strong attraction, atoms form pairs within single lattice sites. The entire system can then be considered as an ensemble of composite bosons. They can tunnel together at a rate $`t^2/|U|`$, by virtual transitions via intermediate singly occupied states. In this regime non-ordered pairs exist at high temperatures, whereas the superfluid state - a condensate of composite bosons - appears below $`k_BT_ct^2/|U|`$. Clearly, in this limit the increase in the potential depth will lead to a reduced mobility of pairs and hence a decrease in $`T_c`$. The maximal critical temperature $`T_c^{\mathrm{max}}`$ is achieved at the crossover between the two regimes, when interaction and tunneling are comparable (more precisely at $`U10t`$), which corresponds to a potential depth $`\xi ^21/2\mathrm{l}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{g}[5\sqrt{2}/k|a_s|]`$ and

$$k_BT_c^{\mathrm{max}}0.3E_F^{\mathrm{free}}k|a_s|.$$
(1)
That is, the critical temperature for atomic fermions trapped in a lattice scales only linearly with the small parameter $`k|a_s|`$. This accurate result for the critical temperature is based on nonperturbative Monte-Carlo simulations of the fermionic Hubbard model .

Several specific approaches to achieve the superfluid state can be considered. For example, the optical potential can be adiabatically turned on, starting from a weakly confined Fermi-degenerate mixture of the two atomic states of appropriately chosen density. In this procedure the atomic quasi-momentum is approximately conserved but the band-structure associated with the periodic potential changes, resulting in a non-equilibrium distribution, with an effective temperature $`T_f`$ different from the initial $`T_{\mathrm{in}}`$. The final temperature $`T_f`$ can easily be estimated from the relation $`_𝐤ϵ_𝐤f(ϵ_𝐤^0/T_{in})=_𝐤ϵ_𝐤f(ϵ_𝐤/T_f)`$, where $`f(x)=1/(e^x+1)`$ is the Fermi-Dirac distribution function, $`ϵ_𝐤^0=k^2/2m\mu ^0`$ is the original dispersion of atoms in free space, and $`ϵ_𝐤=2t(\mathrm{cos}(k_xa)+\mathrm{cos}(k_ya)+\mathrm{cos}(k_za))\mu `$ is the dispersion in a tight–binding model with $`a=\pi /\lambda `$ the lattice period. Two important processes determine $`T_f`$. First of all, the presence of the lattice makes the system anisotropic and hence changes the shape of the Fermi surface. This results in an effective heating of the system as $`V_0`$ increases from zero to about $`E_R`$. As $`V_0`$ is increased even further the shape of the Fermi surface remains approximately the same and only the Fermi velocity (or effective atomic mass) changes leading to a reduction of the effective temperature within the lowest Bloch band (see Fig. 1). This suggests that it is optimal to turn on a weak lattice potential while the fermionic sample is in contact with a cooling reservoir (e.g. atomic BEC). Although the resulting phase space density will not be significantly altered, this loading procedure will allow to avoid the heating which is present at the initial stages of creating an optical lattice. When $`V_0E_R`$ (point C in Fig. 1a) the system is decoupled from the reservoir and the lattice potential is increased until the transition to the superfluid phase is reached.

To control precisely the resulting quantum phase (especially in the situations described below) an accurate manipulation of the filling fraction may be important. This can be achieved, for example, if atoms with three internal states are used. If a dense, degenerate ensemble is prepared in a state that is not affected by the optical lattice, a laser driven Raman transition into a pair of trapped spin states can be used to produce exactly one atom (or its fraction) per each lattice site. The essential idea of this approach is that the energy shifts associated with atom interactions and the Pauli principle can be used to block the transitions into states with more than one atom per lattice site. In this case an effective $`\nu \pi `$-pulse will result in a filling fraction of $`\nu `$ with an uncertainty that scales at most with the inverse size of the lattice.

Let us now consider the implications of these results in the light of present experimental possibilities. The relevant temperature calculated numerically for Li6  and K40  atoms is shown in Fig. 1. In this figure we consider a Li6 atomic sample of a very modest density corresponding to a unity filling in an optical lattice produced by CO2 laser ($`\lambda =10\mu m`$). For such densities, a dramatic increase in the critical temperature is possible. Note in particular that a phase transition can be achieved starting from an initial temperature of about $`0.1E_f^{\mathrm{free}}`$. The CO2 lattice has the additional advantage of exceptionally long lifetimes, which should be sufficient to achieve the transition even for relatively low energy scales involved. Another scenario is to trap Li atoms in an optical lattice created by a Nd:YAG laser $`\lambda 1.06\mu m`$. Although in this case the densities of $`10^{12}10^{13}`$ cm-3 will correspond to a filling fraction slightly less than unity, the resulting critical temperature can still be in the range of $`0.1E_F^{\mathrm{free}}`$. The inset shows a diagram for K40 atoms trapped in a similar lattice. As indicated by the two cases presented in Fig. 1 the transition to a superfluid state is expected to occur for the same initial temperature if cooling due to adiabatic switching on of the lattice is taken into account. Therefore, the value of the maximal initial temperature at which a phase transition can occur is almost independent of the scattering length and corresponds to about one tenth of the free space Fermi energy.

Before proceeding we point out that in contrast to the approaches that are based on increasing the scattering length or atom densities, which result in a very interesting regime of BCS–BEC crossover , an optical lattice does not lead to an enhancement of inelastic loss processes but rather their suppression, as no more than two atoms can ever occupy the same lattice site. We also note that this implies an extremely low spin flip rate between different atomic states, thereby allowing comparatively large magnetic fields to tune the scattering lengths without significantly perturbing the relative fractions of $`n_{}`$ and $`n_{}`$. It is also important to point out that although the free-space ensembles at densities $`n|a_s|^3>1`$ can no longer be considered as weakly interacting gas , the Hubbard model nevertheless remains a valid description for the lattice case even in the regime of very strong confinment. Here corrections to the on–site interaction can be accurately derived from known molecular potentials. Finally we emphasize again, that in contrast to a weakly confined Fermi-gas, the critical temperature for the optical lattice filled with attractive atoms (Fig. 1) can be predicted very accurately even in the most interesting, intermediate, regime $`t|U|`$, since the behaviour of the Hubbard model for this case is by now very well understood.

It is intriguing to consider possible extensions of the above ideas to a situation in which different atoms repel each other ($`a_s>0`$). This is realized for $`|=|F=9/2,m_F=9/2`$ and $`|=|F=9/2,m_F=7/2`$ states of atomic K at zero magnetic field . In this case it is energetically unfavorable for two atoms to be on the same lattice site. However, adjacent atoms can virtually tunnel to the same site. This process lowers the total energy of two atoms in adjacent wells, thereby creating effective hard-core attractive interactions of different spins. When the filling fraction of the lattice is close to one, this leads to a ground state in which adjacent sites are always occupied by atoms with alternating spins (see Fig. 2), i.e. an antiferromagnetic phase.

What happens when the filling fraction is smaller than one? This question lies at the heart of the present debates on the nature of high-temperature superconducting cuprates. Clearly, a strong on-site repulsion makes it unfavorable for atoms to bind into the usual s-wave pairs, in which the probability to be at the center of orbit should be maximal. However, it has been conjectured  that anisotropic d-wave pairs can be formed, which can result in a d-wave superfluid phase capable of explaining many of the observed properties in cuprates.

$`d`$-wave Cooper pairs can be thought of as spin singlet angular momentum $`l=2`$ Cooper pairs. In the absence of the lattice potential all five $`l_z=\pm 2`$, $`\pm 1`$, $`0`$ components are degenerate. A cubic potential splits these states according to the representations of the cubic point group, and we find triply and doubly degenerate Cooper pairs . When the symmetry of the crystal is lowered even more, as e.g. in a two dimensional lattice, the degeneracies between various Copper pairs are removed further, and in the $`x`$,$`y`$ directions the lowest energy Cooper pair is described by the momentum space wave function  $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐩)=\mathrm{cos}(p_xa)\mathrm{cos}(p_ya)`$. Although so far the existence of d-wave superconductivity in the repulsive Hubbard model eluded rigorous confirmation, we believe that these ideas can now be tested experimentally in ensembles of fermionic atoms. For example, Fig. 2 shows a phase diagram for the system of repulsive atoms in two dimensions  calculated using the FLEX approximation . Although the resulting $`T_c`$ is believed to be somewhat lower than in the s–wave case, this calculation suggests the existence of the d–wave phase for feasible atomic temperatures and densities.

We next consider several approaches that can be used to detect and accurately probe the resulting quantum phases. For example, interference of the atoms released from the lattice has been used to probe the superfluidity of bosons . Due to the exclusion principle, identical fermions can never be in the same quantum state. This implies that in the degenerate regime atomic interference patterns due to each momentum state will be superimposed, resulting in real space interference peaks which reflect the shape of the Fermi surface. With the appearance of pairing, the atomic momentum in the pairs becomes on the order of Planck’s constant divided by the size of the pair. As a result, the momentum distribution is no longer a sharp step function, which will be directly reflected in the interference pattern as shown in Fig. 3.

In order to directly detect superfluidity of the pairs, photoassociation spectroscopy  can be used. Weakly bound Cooper pairs can be converted into molecules by using a laser–induced transition into a bound molecular state. The interference pattern of the released bosonic molecules will then provide extremely sharp peaks due to the presence of a superfluid fraction, in direct analogy to ref. .

The spectrum of elementary excitations also provides an accurate probe for the nature of the quantum phase. It can be measured in a system of cold atoms by exciting the motional states of atoms using laser pulses. For example, atoms can experience Bragg scattering off two non-collinear laser beams, provided that the frequency difference $`\delta \omega `$ of the lasers matches the resonance frequency of elementary excitation with momentum $`q`$ determined by the angle between two lasers (Fig. 4) . This technique provides a direct measurement of the density–density correlation function. By monitoring the number of Bragg–scattered atoms as a function of $`\delta \omega `$, the presence of a superfluid phase can be detected unambiguously: One observes a sharp peak due to a collective Bogoliubov mode, which is separated from a broad feature (corresponding to quasi–particle excitations) by an energy gap (see Fig. 4). In the normal state, on the other hand, the continuum excitations are gapless and the collective mode is not visible due to strong damping.

With this technique, it is also possible to detect d–wave superfluidity. For example, Fig. 5 shows the onset frequency of the quasiparticle continuum corresponding to the d–wave superfluid phase. A strong anisotropy, together with a vanishing gap for certain momenta can provide unambiguous evidence for the presence of such a phase.

It should be noted that in addition to the effects described here, a number of other intriguing avenues can be considered. Atomic systems make it possible to accurately probe the effects of dimensionality. Varying for example the depth of the trapping potential in one direction while keeping the other parameters fixed, it should be possible to observe a transition between a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional situation. One can also envision a situation in which more than two internal atomic states are trapped in the optical lattice. Such a system is expected to result in a variety of new quantum phases such as superconductivity based on quadruplets rather than pairs. Likewise, these systems might allow for accurate studies of the effect of dissipation and decoherence on macroscopic quantum phases. Another interesting phenomenon that may be studied by creating a system with unequal densities for the two spin states is the possibility of the Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnkov (FFLO) state  with a modulated superfluid order parameter.


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# Nonlinear behavior in the Thermopower of Doped Carbon Nanotubes Due to Strong, Localized States

## Abstract

The temperature dependent thermoelectric power (TEP) of boron and nitrogen doped multi-walled carbon nanotube mats has been measured showing that such dopants can be used to modify the majority conduction from p-type to n-type. The TEP of boron doped nanotubes is positive, indicating hole-like carriers. In contrast, the nitrogen doped material exhibits negative TEP over the same temperature range, suggesting electron-like conduction. Therefore, the TEP distinct nonlinearites are primarily due to the formation of donor and acceptor states in the B- and N- doped materials. The sharply varying density of states used in our model can be directly correlated to the scanning tunneling spectroscopy studies of these materials.

Interest in the electrical transport properties of both single-walled (SWNT) and multi-walled (MWNT) carbon nanotubes stems primarily from anticipated applications of these low-dimensional materials in nanoelectronics dekker . One expects metallic conduits along with heterojunctions, formed from nanomaterials with different carriers (electrons vs. holes), to be necessary. These would play an analogous role to ’bulk’ doped Si devices and metal interconnect lines. However, the direct substitutional doping of carbon nanotubes has proven to be quite difficult. Their low-dimensional structure does not provide an energetically favorable environment for most impurity atoms. Fortunately, there are two promising exceptions, boron red  and nitrogen terrones , both of which seem able to reside within the carbon lattice.

In this Letter we report on the effect of donor and acceptor states on the thermoelectric power (TEP) of boron doped and nitrogen doped nanotube mats. TEP is an important and sensitive test of the carrier sign of any material. Because the TEP is a zero current transport coefficient, it can probe the intrinsic conduction properties of individual nanotubes while being less influenced by randomly entangled morphologies and imperfections of the measured mats as compared to standard conductivity measurements kaiser01 . For example, intrinsic-metallic properties were well demonstrated with the TEP of conducting polymer films exhibiting randomly entangled fibrillar morphologies. However, in these systems, the electrical conductivity always showed a semiconducting temperature dependence due to interfibrillar junction resistances park80 . Generally, SWNT and MWNT randomly orientated mats show a positive and moderately large thermoelectric power (TEP) over the temperature range of 0 to 300 K, with temperature dependencies that approach zero as T$`{}_{0}{}^{}`$0 bax . However, earlier studies have shown that ”doping” the SWNT mats by intercalating alkali metals into the nanotube bundles could give rise to significantly different thermoelectric properties grig . Likewise, more recent work has demonstrated an extreme sensitivity of the thermoelectric properties of SWNT mats to oxygen contamination (or doping) brad . In fact, this exposure to various atmospheres has become a central issue in understanding thermoelectric measurements in SWNT systems. In both cases, changes in the sign or magnitude of the TEP arise from modifications of the density of states near the Fermi level of the semiconducting tubes contained in the mat, and relatively little effect is attributed to dopant interactions with the metallic tubes in the sample. Furthermore, these dopants were not included within the lattice structure of the carbon nanotubes, but rather they were attached to the outside of the cylindrical shell grig . Thus, they represent something other than intrinsic behavior to this material.

The behavior of the TEP in multi-walled mats is likely to be somewhat different from that of SWNT mats bax . This is because in SWNT mats the microstructure is composed of an assortment of semiconductors and metals, while in the MWNT mats, the tubes are all semi-metals and small band-gap semiconductors. In fact, many models treat the materials surprisingly the same with a great deal of success model . The theoretical approach to MWNT mats adopted by most researchers has been the inclusion of parallel metallic and semiconducting conduction paths each broken by tube-tube contact barriers. While this view is clearly adequate for understanding pure mats of MWNTs, modifications are required when addressing the TEP of doped materials. Here we demonstrate that while the rather large positive TEP for pure materials might arise from the random orientation of contact barriers within the mat and pure semiconducting pathways, B-doped nanotube mats exhibit a positive TEP, with a more metallic-like thermopower, and derived entirely from the sign of the carrier in the isolated nanotubes. Further, N-doped nanotube mats exhibit a metallic negative TEP that is again a reflection of the isolated nanotube’s behavior. Thus, control over the nature of the carrier in MWNTs has been achieved in direct analogy to bulk semiconductors.

For these studies, a variety of growth and processing techniques had to be used to prepare the pure and doped materials. The pure carbon nanotubes were arc grown using methods described in detail elsewhere ebb . Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed a diameter distribution to be centered around 20 nm with tubes as small as 3 nm and as large as 40 nm. Tube lengths were typically 1-3 $`\mu `$m and the primary impurities were carbonaceous materials and polyhedral particles, as shown in Fig. 1a. B-doped MWNTs were also grown using arc methods as described in the literature red94 . TEM characterization showed these materials to have typical tube diameters of 20 nm with a range of 5 nm to 40 nm. Selected area diffraction (SAD) confirms that these tubes possess a predominantly zig-zag chirality blase . Previously, tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, coupled with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), has been used to demonstrate that the boron is incorporated into the lattice as islands of BC3 carroll . A visual indication of these islands could be attributed to the presence of strained regions within the tubes (Fig. 1b dark contrast regions). The impurities in the growth materials were found to be polyhedral particles and small concentrations of amorphous carbon. No catalysts are used in the growth of either of the arc-produced materials.

Finally, the N-doped materials were grown using catalytic decomposition of melamine-ferrocene mixtures terrones . This technique has only been developed recently and the tubes are well formed with a typical diameter of around 20 nm. Our CVD tubes exhibit only small amounts of polyhdra particles and amorphous material. However, much of the material had encapsulated Fe cores at the very tip of the nanotubes that typically would extend 20 - 30 nm in length as seen in Fig. 1c. All of the micrographs in Fig. 1 show the materials “as grown” before filtering of the impurities and prior to the preparation of the mats. We note that while there are few conformational differences between the pure and B-doped MWNTs (except chirality), the N-doped materials exhibit a “bamboo - like” tube morphology. The tubular segments within the N-doped material are approximately 100 nm in length. In the mats, the segment length is generally longer than the average distance between tube-tube contacts.

Nanotube mats were produced by suspending each (as grown) material into chloroform and then ultrasonically agitating until the nanotubes were well dispersed. The suspended materials were found to be relatively undamaged, after the extended ultrasonication, using TEM. Each solution was allowed to settle and then was filtered multiple times using 0.4 mm Teflon filters. The remaining solution was composed of nanotubes with little amorphous materials and few polyhedra. Finally a thick film was built-up from each of the materials using a Teflon filter and a polyimide mold (to insure equal dimensions in each case). This resulted in a random packing of nanotubes in a dense mat. The samples were 3 mm x 5 mm x 0.025 mm in size. Several mats of each material were made, and the measurements performed several times on each to insure reproducibility. In order to carry out thermoelectric power measurements, the mat samples were supported on a Teflon substrate and mounted on top of two coppers blocks. Silver paste was used for the electrical contacts. Chromel-Constantan thermocouples were attached to the back of the copper blocks using GE 7031 varnish. Techniques for the TEP measurement of carbon nanotubes are described with more detail in the literature kim .

Fig. 2 shows a two-probe measurement of the temperature dependence of R, normalized to 320 K, after degassing in vacuum at 320 K for three days. All three mats exhibited non-metallic behavior over the entire temperature range (dR/dT$`<`$0). The primary effect of the lattice doping was to reduce the temperature dependence of R. The ratio R20/R320 was reduced from $``$2.4 in the pristine case to $``$1.25 and $``$1.14 in the boron and nitrogen cases, respectively. Similar reductions in the temperature dependence have been reported for I-doped and Cs-doped SWNT mats grig . Fig. 2 inset shows linear fits to an Arrhenius plot of R versus the absolute temperature T. For sufficiently high temperatures, where intrinsic conductivity dominates, one can expect resistivity to follow an Arrhenius type equation of the form:

$$\rho =\rho _0exp(E_{rho}/kT),$$
(1)
where Eρ is the activiation energy, $`\rho _0`$ is a constant, and k is Boltzman’s constant. For the B-doped mat, the acivation energy (12.2 meV) was found to be larger than the activation energy of the N-doped mats (1.4 meV), but smaller than the activation energy reported for individual B-doped tubes (55-70 meV) wei .

The TEP of the pure mats is shown in Fig. 3a, and the solid line shows the fit using a heterogenous model. Each percolating pathway is assumed to have a randomly oriented set of barriers due to tube-tube contacts, tube defects, etc., It is therefore expected, for such a model, that the TEP will be consistent with the sum of a linear metallic term and an exponentially weighted T1/2 variable range hopping term that reflects the “freezing-out” of semiconducting contributions at low temperatures kaiser99  given by the following equation:

$$S=bT+qT^{1/2}exp[(T_0/T)^{1/4}],$$
(2)
where bT is is the metallic term and q is a constant. However, although this model gives a reasonable fit of the pure data, the TEP is the sum of a very large and un-physical positive metallic term (135 $`\mu `$V/K at 300 K), and a correspondingly large negative semiconducting term. The large positive TEP is due in part to oxygen doping of the pure mats. The TEP of the pure MWNT mats in our study was found to decrease by 10.9 $`\mu `$V/K at 320 K when the sample was exposed to vacuum for 94 hours. This is in constrast to the boron and nitrogen doped MWNT mats which showed no variation in TEP after similar time exposure to vacuum.

In the case of the doped materials, we suspect nonlinearities are introduced into the linear metallic thermopower by sharply varying and localized states near the fermi level due to the addition of boron or nitrogen into the lattice. Such states have been predicted and subsequently verified experimentally by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) carroll ; czerw . Taking the standard expression for thermopower dugdale :

$$S=\frac{1}{eT\sigma }\sigma (E)(E\mu )\frac{df}{dE}𝑑E,$$
(3)
where $`\sigma `$ is the conductivity, $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential (assumed to be constant with temperature), $`\sigma `$(E) the partial conductivity at energy E, and $`f`$ the Fermi function, we approximate the partial conductivity function by a delta function due to the sharply varying density of states near the Fermi level. This gives the following expression for the thermopower kaiser99 :

$$S=bT+\frac{qT_p}{e\sigma T^2}\frac{exp(T_p/T)}{[exp(T_p/T)+1]^2}.$$
(4)
In this expression, bT is the linear metallic term, q is a constant, and Tp=(E-$`\mu `$)/k where E is the energy at which the peak occurs and k is Boltzmann’s constant. As can be seen in Fig. 3b and Fig. 3c, Eq. (4) gives a good fit with E=27 meV and 11 meV for the boron and nitrogen samples, respectively. From the LDOS (Fig. 3b inset), the sign of the TEP for the B-doped materials is not surprising since these nanotubes have strong acceptor states and hole-like conductivity should be expected. In contrast, the N-doped nanotubes show a negative TEP with a similar functional form to that of the B-doped materials. From the large donor state in the LDOS (Fig. 3c inset), it is clear that these materials should be electron rich and thus the sign of the TEP is expected. The shape of the TEP for the doped materials is also very similar to that of the TEP curve for iodine-doped SWNT bundles grig . Since chloroform was used to suspend the tubes during sonication, and chloroform has been shown to result in C-Cl bonds on nanotube surfaces or to react with the amorphous carbon in bundles lee01 , it may be argued that the effects are due to doping by Cl-. However, in the previous study, extremely long sonications and reflux times in the presence of a catalyst were used to form the bonds. It is doubtful that the shorter sonication times in our samples ($`<`$ 30 min) could result in significant doping by Cl-. Also, the sign of the carrier of the n-doped mats is clearly negative.

In summary, the thermoelectric power in mats of doped MWNT’s reflects the sign of the majority carrier of the individual nanotubes. Further, the behavior of the TEP has been directly correlated with the density of electronic states near Fermi level as determined by STS and gives a positive TEP when acceptor states are present as well as a negative TEP when donor states are present. The TEP of pure MWNT mats has shown some sensitivity to air exposure, while the doped mats are effectively insensitive to “oxygen doping.” The TEP is strongly dominated by the boron and nitrogen doping and the resulting donor and acceptor states near the Fermi level.

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from: KISTEP 98-I-01-04-A-026, MOST (Korea), AFOSR F49620-99-1-0173 (U.S.), DFG (Germany). MT and HT are grateful to CONACYT-Mexico grant W-8001 millennium initiative. NG acknowledges the Royal Society for financial support, and PMA thanks Philip Morris U.S.A. for their financial support.