T-Duality for Orientifolds and Twisted KR-Theory
D-brane charges in orientifold string theories are classified by the KR-theory of Atiyah. However, this is assuming that all O-planes have the same sign. When there are O-planes of different signs, physics demands a “KR-theory with a sign choice” which up until now has not been studied by mathematicians (with the unique exception of Moutuou, who did not have a specific application in mind). We give a definition of this theory and compute it for orientifold theories compactified on S1 and T2. We also explain how and why additional “twisting” is implemented. We show that our results satisfy all possible T-duality relationships for orientifold string theories on elliptic curves, which will be studied further in subsequent work.

title: A noncommutative sigma-model
abstract: We begin to study a sigma-model in which both the space-time manifold and the two-dimensional string world-sheet are made noncommutative. The most precise results apply to the case where both the space-time manifold and the two-dimensional string world-sheet are replaced by noncommutative tori. In this situation, we are able to determine when maps between such noncommutative tori exist, to derive the Euler-Lagrange equations, to classify many of the critical points of the Lagrangian, and to study the associated partition function.

title: Noncommutative correspondences, duality and D-branes in bivariant K-theory
abstract: We describe a categorical framework for the classification of D-branes on noncommutative spaces using techniques from bivariant K-theory of C*-algebras. We present a new description of bivariant K-theory in terms of noncommutative correspondences which is nicely adapted to the study of T-duality in open string theory. We systematically use the diagram calculus for bivariant K-theory as detailed in our previous paper. We explicitly work out our theory for a number of examples of noncommutative manifolds.

title: T-Duality for Torus Bundles with H-Fluxes via Noncommutative Topology
abstract: It is known that the T-dual of a circle bundle with H-flux (given by a Neveu-Schwarz 3-form) is the T-dual circle bundle with dual H-flux. However, it is also known that torus bundles with H-flux do not necessarily have a T-dual which is a torus bundle. A big puzzle has been to explain these mysterious “missing T-duals.” Here we show that this problem is resolved using noncommutative topology. It turns out that every principal T2-bundle with H-flux does indeed have a T-dual, but in the missing cases (which we characterize), the T-dual is non-classical and is a bundle of noncommutative tori. The duality comes with an isomorphism of twisted K-theories, just as in the classical case. The isomorphism of twisted cohomology which one gets in the classical case is replaced by an isomorphism of twisted cyclic homology.

title: T-duality for circle bundles via noncommutative geometry
abstract: Recently Baraglia showed how topological T-duality can be ex- tended to apply not only to principal circle bundles, but also to non-principal circle bundles. We show that his results can also be recovered via two other methods: the homotopy-theoretic approach of Bunke and Schick, and the non- commutative geometry approach which we previously used for principal torus bundles. This work has several interesting byproducts, including a study of the K-theory of crossed products by e O(2) = Isom(R), the universal cover of O(2), and some interesting facts about equivariant K-theory for Z/2. In the final section of this paper, some of these results are extended to the case of bundles with singular fibers, or in other words, non-free O(2)-actions.

title: On mysteriously missing T-duals, H-flux and the T-duality group
abstract: A general formula for the topology and H-flux of the T-duals of type II string theories with H-flux on toroidal compactifications is presented here. It is known that toroidal compactifications with H-flux do not necessarily have T-duals which are themselves toroidal compactifications. A big puzzle has been to explain these mysterious ``missing T-duals'', and our paper presents a solution to this problem using noncommutative topology. We also analyze the T-duality group and its action, and illustrate these concepts with examples.

title: Design of the Chicago Air Shower Array