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  • Open Access

Hořava-Witten theory on S1∨S1 as type 0 orientifold

Chiara Altavista, Edoardo Anastasi, Salvatore Raucci*,†, Angel M. Uranga, and Chuying Wang

  • *Also at Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
  • †Contact author: salvatore.raucci@uam.es
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 066008 – Published 14 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/b6kr-l2l2

Abstract

We investigate dualities between Z2 quotients of recently proposed compactifications of M-theory on ‘quantum geometries’ of the form S1∨S1 and 10D orientifolds of type 0A and 0B string theories. In particular, we relate the Hořava-Witten theory on S1∨S1 to a 0B orientifold with gauge group SO(16)4. The resulting dictionary provides a geometric explanation for characteristic features of the 0B orientifold, such as the doubling of the gauge group, while the perturbative spectrum of the 0B orientifold indicates the emergence of novel M-theoretic degrees of freedom associated with the junction point. The 0B orientifold further reveals the existence of two variants of the theory on S1∨S1, corresponding to equal vs opposite (i.e., standard vs Fabinger-Hořava) orientations of the E8 walls. We also analyze additional 0A and 0B orientifolds whose open string sectors do not arise from higher-dimensional gauge fields in M-theory and whose microscopic interpretation remains an open problem.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 066008– Published 14 September, 2026
  • Received 4 June 2026
  • Accepted 27 August 2026
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