M-theory and orientifolds

Abstract

We construct the M-Theory lifts of type IIA orientifolds based on K3-fibred Calabi-Yau threefolds with compatible involutions. Such orientifolds are shown to lift to M-Theory on twisted connected sum G2 manifolds. Beautifully, the two building blocks forming the G2 manifold correspond to the open and closed string sectors. As an application, we show how to use such lifts to explicitly study open string moduli. Finally, we use our analysis to construct examples of G2 manifolds with different inequivalent TCS realizations.