Singular 7-manifolds with G2 holonomy and intersecting 6-branes Original Research Article

A 7-manifold with G2 holonomy can be constructed as a R3 bundle over a quaternionic space. We consider a quaternionic base space which is singular and its metric depends on three parameters, where one of them corresponds to an interpolation between S4 and CP 2 or its non-compact analogs. This 4d Einstein space has four isometries and the fixed point set of a generic Killing vector is discussed. When embedded into M-theory the compactification over a given Killing vector gives intersecting 6-branes as IIA configuration and we argue that membrane instantons may resolve the curvature singularity.