Mirror symmetry in generalized Calabi-Yau compactifications

We discuss mirror symmetry in generalized Calabi-Yau compactifications of type H string theories with background NS-fluxes. Starting from type IIB compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds with NS three-form flux we show that the mirror type IIA theory arises from a purely geometrical compactification on a different class of six-manifolds. These mirror manifolds have SU(3) structure and are termed half-flat; they are neither complex nor Ricci-flat and their holonomy group is no longer SU(3). We show that type IIA appropriately compactified on such manifolds gives the correct mirror-symmetric low-energy effective action. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.