Abstract:

In physics, M-theory compactifications on seven-dimensional manifolds with G2 holonomy offer the opportunity to geometrically study the properties of N = 1 effective theories in a setting that is non-perturbative from the superstring point of view. For a long time there were only about a hundred examples of G2-manifolds constructed by the resolution of special orbifolds of seven dimensional torus. In this talk I will introduce a new construction of G2-manifolds proposed by Kovalev, and determine the Hitchin functional, the universal (semi-classical) Kahler potential of the effective N = 1 supergravity action, as a function of the Kovalevton and the volume modulus of the G2-manifold.