E6 Yukawa couplings in F-theory as D-brane instanton effects

摘要

At weak coupling the neighborhood of a E6 Yukawa point in SU(5) GUT F-theory models is described by a non-resolvable orientifold of the conifold. We explicitly show, first directly in IIB and then via a mirror symmetry argument, that in this limit the E6 Yukawa coupling is better described as coming from the non-perturbative contribution of a euclidean D1-brane wrapping the non-resolvable cycle. We also discuss how the M-theory description interpolates between the weak and strong coupling viewpoints.