Three-form periods on Calabi-Yau fourfolds: toric hypersurfaces and F-theory applications

Abstract

The study of the geometry of Calabi-Yau fourfolds is relevant for compactifications of string theory, M-theory, and F-theory to various dimensions. This work introduces the mathematical machinery to derive the complete moduli dependence of the periods of non-trivial three-forms for fourfolds realized as hypersurfaces in toric ambient spaces. It sets the stage to determine Picard-Fuchs-type differential equations and integral expressions for these forms. The key tool is the observation that non-trivial three-forms on fourfold hypersurfaces in toric ambient spaces always stem from divisors that are build out of trees of toric surfaces fibered over Riemann surfaces. The three-form periods are then non-trivially related to the one-form periods of these Riemann surfaces. In general, the three-form periods are known to vary holomorphically over the complex structure moduli space and play an important role in the effective actions arising in fourfold compactifications. We discuss two explicit example fourfolds for F-theory compactifications in which the three-form periods determine axion decay constants.