Para-Hermitian Geometry, Dualities and Generalized Flux Backgrounds

Abstract: We survey physical models which capture the main concepts of double field theory on para-Hermitian manifolds. We show that the geometric theory of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamical systems is an instance of para-Kahler geometry which extends to a natural example of a Born geometry. The corresponding phase space geometry belongs to the family of natural almost para-Kahler structures which we construct explicitly as deformations of the canonical para-Kahler structure by non-linear connections. We extend this framework to a class of non-Lagrangian dynamical systems which naturally encodes the notion of fluxes in para-Hermitian geometry. In this case we describe the emergence of fluxes in terms of weak integrability defined by the D-bracket, and we extend the construction to arbitrary cotangent bundles where we reproduce the standard generalized fluxes of double field theory. We also describe the para-Hermitian geometry of Drinfel'd doubles, which gives an explicit illustration of the interplay between fluxes, D-brackets and different polarizations. The left-invariant para-Hermitian structure on a Drinfel'd double in a Manin triple polarization descends to a doubled twisted torus, which we use to illustrate how changes of polarizations give rise to different fluxes and string backgrounds in para-Hermitian geometry.