Supersymmetry breaking from a Calabi-Yau singularity

We conjecture a geometric criterion for determining whether supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in certain string backgrounds. These backgrounds contain wrapped branes at Calabi-Yau singularites with obstructions to deformation of the complex structure. We motivate our conjecture with a particular example: the Y2,1 quiver gauge theory corresponding to a cone over the first del Pezzo surface, dP1. This setup can be analyzed using ordinary supersymmetric field theory methods, where we find that gaugino condensation drives a deformation of the chiral ring which has no solutions. We expect this breaking to be a general feature of any theory of branes at a singularity with a smaller number of possible deformations than independent anomaly-free fractional branes