The low energy limit of string theory and its compactifications with background fluxes (Q861526)

String theory is consistently defined in ten dimensions. In order to extract any information about four-dimensional physics, we need to understand the properties of the six-dimensional compact manifold orthogonal to our four-dimensional universe. A possibility that is being very much explored lately is to look at manifolds on which background fluxes are turned on. This article is organized as follows: First, the author presents an introduction to string theory, focusing on its massless sector. Then she discusses the solutions to the equations of motion whose metric splits into a four dimensional Minkowski metric and that of a six dimensional space. The fluxless solutions are shown and flux compactification is described. The manifolds arising in flux compactification are interpreted from the point of view of generalized complex geometry. The paper ends with some open problems related to flux compactifications and generalized Calabi-Yau manifolds.