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In this paper, we will study the arithmetic geometry of rank-2 attractors, which are Calabi-Yau threefolds whose Hodge structures admit interesting splits. We will develop methods to analyze the algebraic de Rham cohomologies of rank-2 attractors, and we will illustrate how our methods work by focusing on an example in a recent paper by Candelas, de la Ossa, Elmi and van Straten. We will look at the interesting connections between rank-2 attractors in string theory and Deligne's conjecture on the special values of L-functions. We will also formulate several open questions concerning the potential connections between attractors in string theory and number theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proposed that flux compactifications of supercritical string theories (i.e., with spacetime dimension D > 10) have dS vacua, with large D acting as a control parameter for corrections to the classical spacetime effective action. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the self-consistency of such models, focussing on α′ and backreaction corrections. We first show that all supercritical AdS, Minkowski and dS vacua in this setting have ≳ O 1 curvature and/or field strengths in the string frame. This may be in tension with suppressing α′ corrections unless the coefficients of the higher-derivative terms have a sufficiently strong large-D suppression. We then argue that an additional and more severe problem arises in the dS case due to the backreaction of O-planes. In particular, we argue using a combination of geometric bounds and string-theory constraints that the O-plane backreaction is large in supercritical dS models. This implies that a large part of the naive classical geometry is eaten up by singular holes and thus indicates a breakdown of the classical description. Our finding resonates with several other recent results suggesting that string theory does not admit dS vacua in regimes where string and backreaction corrections are under control. As byproducts of our analysis, we derive a number of technical results that are useful beyond the specific applications in this paper. In particular, we compute the leading backreaction corrections to the smeared solution in a general flux compactification from D to d dimensions for an arbitrary distribution of O-planes and D-branes. We further argue for a general estimate for Green's functions on compact manifolds (and therefore for the backreaction corrections) in terms of their diameter, volume and dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moduli stabilisation in string compactifications with many light scalars remains a major blind-spot in the string landscape. In these regimes, analytic methods cease to work for generic choices of UV parameters which is why numerical techniques have to be exploited. In this paper, we implement algorithms based on JAX, heavily utilising automatic differentiation, just-in-time compilation and parallelisation features, to efficiently construct string vacua. This implementation provides a golden opportunity to efficiently analyse large unexplored regions of the string landscape. As a first example, we apply our techniques to the search of Type IIB flux vacua in Calabi-Yau orientifold compactifications. We argue that our methods only scale mildly with the Hodge numbers making exhaustive studies of low energy effective field theories with O (100) scalar fields feasible. Using small computing resources, we are able to construct O (106) flux vacua per geometry with h1,2 ≥ 2, vastly out-performing previous systematic searches. In particular, we showcase the efficiency of our methods by presenting generic vacua with fluxes below the tadpole constraint set by the orientifold with up to h1,2 = 25 complex structure moduli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-D3 branes at the bottom of warped throats, commonly used to uplift the cosmological constant in String-Theory de Sitter proposals, source a plethora of supersymmetry-breaking fluxes, that can interact nontrivially with other ingredients of the flux compactification. In this paper we perform a complex-structure decomposition of these fluxes, and compute the effect of the (0,3) flux component on the stabilization of Kähler moduli via D7-branes gaugino condensation. This allows us to obtain a new constraint on the validity of this stabilization mechanism. This effect does not appear hard to satisfy in de Sitter construction proposals that use long warped throats, but may be problematic in proposals where the warping is small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a large class of flux backgrounds and solve the shortest vector problem in type IIB string theory on an orientifold of the 19 Landau-Ginzburg model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we explore the string theory landscape obtained from type IIB and F-theory flux compactifications. We first give a comprehensive introduction to a number of mathematical finiteness theorems, indicate how they have been obtained, and clarify their implications for the structure of the locus of flux vacua. Subsequently, in order to address finer details of the locus of flux vacua, we propose three mathematically precise conjectures on the expected number of connected components, geometric complexity, and dimensionality of the vacuum locus. With the recent breakthroughs on the tameness of Hodge theory, we believe that they are attainable to rigorous mathematical tools and can be successfully addressed in the near future. The remainder of the paper is concerned with more technical aspects of the finiteness theorems. In particular, we investigate their local implications and explain how infinite tails of disconnected vacua approaching the boundaries of the moduli space are forbidden. To make this precise, we present new results on asymptotic expansions of Hodge inner products near arbitrary boundaries of the complex structure moduli space.

We consider type IIB compactifications on a general 4D group manifold with different types of possible spacetime filling O-planes and the corresponding D-branes parallel to them. Once fluxes allowed by the associated orientifold projection are included, a 6D 풩 = (1, 1) gauged supergravity is obtained. In this paper we show how the consistent coupling to dynamical open strings living on the spacetime filling D-branes may be captured by the inclusion of extra vector multiplets and extra embedding tensor deformations on the gauged supergravity side. As a result, the quadratic constraints on the embedding tensor consistently reproduce the source corrected 10D Bianchi identities. Furthermore, the field strength modifications induced by the open string sector could potentially be understood as U-dual versions of the Green-Schwarz terms. Finally, the entire scalar potential of the theory exactly matches the one obtained from reduction of the bulk action plus the source contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Emergence Proposal in Quantum Gravity it is conjectured that all light-particle kinetic terms are absent in the fundamental ultraviolet theory and are generated by quantum corrections in the infrared. It has been argued that this may provide for some microscopic understanding of the Weak Gravity and Distance conjectures. In the present paper we take the first steps towards a systematic study of Emergence in the context of string theory. We emphasize the crucial role of the species scale in any effective field theory coupled to gravity, and discuss its computation in string theory and general systems with light towers of states. We then introduce the notion of Emergence and show how kinetic terms for moduli, gauge bosons and fermions may be generated. One-loop computations play an important role in Emergence, so we present detailed calculations in d spacetime dimensions for the wave-function renormalization of scalars, vectors and fermions. We extend and check the Emergence Proposal in a number string vacua, including 4d N = 2 theories arising from type IIA on a CY3, where the towers at strong coupling are comprised by D0 and (wrapped) D2-branes, and also elaborate on how instanton corrections would fit within the emergence picture. Higher dimensional examples are also discussed, including 6d and 7d models arising from F-/M-theory on an elliptic CY3 or a K3 surface. We also consider 10d string theories and study in some detail the emergence mechanism in type IIA. We show as well how the flux potential in 4d may be obtained from the emergence prescription, by analyzing the corresponding decompactification limits to M-theory. We find that the required kinetic terms for the dual 3-form fields can arise upon integrating out towers of massive gravitini (and bosonic superpartners). Our analysis renders support to the Emergence Proposal, and to the idea that infinite distance singularities may arise in Quantum Gravity as an intrinsic infrared phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been argued that orientifold vacua with fluxes in type IIA string theory can achieve moduli stabilisation and arbitrary decoupling between the AdS and KK scales upon sending certain unconstrained RR-flux quanta to infinity. In this paper, we find a novel scalar field in the open-string sector that allows us to interpolate between such IIA vacua that differ in flux quanta and find that the limit of large fluxes is nicely consistent with the distance conjecture. This shows that the massive IIA vacua pass an important Swampland criterion and suggests that scale-separated AdS vacua might not be in the Swampland. Our analysis also naturally suggests a flux analogue of "Reid's fantasy" where flux vacua that differ in quantised flux numbers can be connected through trajectories in open-string field space and not just via singular domain walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we derive a characterisation of negative scalar potentials, V < 0, in d-dimensional effective theories of quantum gravity. This is achieved thanks to an Anti-Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (ATCC), inspired by a refined version of the TCC. The ATCC relies on the fact that in a contracting universe, modes that become sub-Planckian in length violate the validity of the effective theory. In the asymptotics of field space, we deduce that −V′/V ≥ c0 when V′ ≥ 0. The rate c 0 = 2 / d − 1 d − 2 is successfully tested in several string compactifications for d ≥ 4. In addition, a new asymptotic condition, V′′/V ≥ c 0 2 , is derived. By extrapolation to anti-de Sitter solutions of radius l, we infer the existence of a scalar whose mass should obey m2l2 ≲ −2. This property is verified in many supersymmetric examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaugino condensation on D-branes wrapping internal cycles gives a mechanism to stabilize the associated moduli. According to the effective field theory, this gives rise, when combined with fluxes, to supersymmetric AdS4 solutions. In this paper we provide a ten-dimensional description of these vacua. We first find the supersymmetry equations for type II AdS4 vacua with gaugino condensates on D-branes, in the framework of generalized complex geometry. We then solve them for type IIB compactifications with gaugino condensates on smeared D7-branes. We show that supersymmetry requires a (conformal) Calabi-Yau manifold and imaginary self-dual three-form fluxes with an additional (0,3) component. The latter is proportional to the cosmological constant, whose magnitude is determined by the expectation value of the gaugino condensate and the stabilized volume of the cycle wrapped by the branes. This confirms, qualitatively and quantitatively, the results obtained using effective field theory. We find that exponential separation between the AdS and the KK scales seems possible as long as the three-form fluxes are such that their (0,3) component is exponentially suppressed. As for the localized solution, it requires going beyond SU(3)-structure internal manifolds. Nevertheless, we show that the action can be evaluated on-shell without relying on the details of such complicated configuration. We find that no "perfect square" structure occurs, and the result is divergent. We compute the four-fermion contributions, including a counterterm, needed to cancel these divergences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is believed, but not demonstrated, that the large radius massless spectrum of a heterotic string theory compactified to four-dimensional Minkowski space should obey equations that split into ‘F-terms’ and ‘D-terms’ in ways analogous to that of four-dimensional supersymmetric field theories. This is not easy to do directly as string theory is first quantised. Nonetheless, in this paper we demonstrate this splitting. We construct an operator D ¯ whose kernel amounts to deformations solving ‘F-term’ type equations. In many previous works in this field, the spin connection is treated as an independent degree of freedom (and so is spurious or fake); here our results apply on the physical moduli space in which these fake degrees of freedom are eliminated. We utilise the moduli space metric, constructed in previous work, to define an adjoint operator D ¯ †. The kernel of D ¯ † amounts to ‘D-term’ type equations. Put together, we show there is a D ¯ -operator in which the massless spectrum are harmonic representatives of D ¯ . We conjecture that one could better study the moduli space of heterotic theories by studying the corresponding cohomology, a natural counterpart to studying the ∂ ¯ -cohomology groups relevant to moduli of Calabi-Yau manifolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It has been proposed that flux compactifications of supercritical string theories (i.e., with spacetime dimension D > 10) have dS vacua, with large D acting as a control parameter for corrections to the classical spacetime effective action. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the self-consistency of such models, focussing on α ′ and backreaction corrections. We first show that all supercritical AdS, Minkowski and dS vacua in this setting have ≳ O 1 $$ \gtrsim \mathcal{O}(1) $$ curvature and/or field strengths in the string frame. This may be in tension with suppressing α ′ corrections unless the coefficients of the higher-derivative terms have a sufficiently strong large-D suppression. We then argue that an additional and more severe problem arises in the dS case due to the backreaction of O-planes. In particular, we argue using a combination of geometric bounds and string-theory constraints that the O-plane backreaction is large in supercritical dS models. This implies that a large part of the naive classical geometry is eaten up by singular holes and thus indicates a breakdown of the classical description. Our finding resonates with several other recent results suggesting that string theory does not admit dS vacua in regimes where string and backreaction corrections are under control. As byproducts of our analysis, we derive a number of technical results that are useful beyond the specific applications in this paper. In particular, we compute the leading backreaction corrections to the smeared solution in a general flux compactification from D to d dimensions for an arbitrary distribution of O-planes and D-branes. We further argue for a general estimate for Green’s functions on compact manifolds (and therefore for the backreaction corrections) in terms of their diameter, volume and dimension.

The KKLT scenario, one of the few ideas to realize dS vacua in string theory, consists of two steps: the first involves the construction of a supersymmetric AdS vacuum with a small negative cosmological constant, and the second involves breaking supersymmetry and uplifting the energy to achieve dS. In this paper we use conventional holography to argue why it is not possible to complete the first step. We obtain this by putting a bound on the central charge of the dual theory which involves branes wrapping special Lagrangian cycles in CY 4-folds. We find that l AdS 2 ≲ χ(CY4). Since l species 2 ≳ χ(CY4) this leads to lAdS/lspecies ≲ 1 leading at best to a highly curved AdS which is beyond the validity of the EFT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely believed that string theory easily allows for a QCD axion in the cosmologically favored mass range. The required small decay constant, fa ≪ MP, can be implemented by using a large compactification volume. This points to the Large Volume Scenario which in turn makes certain cosmological predictions: first, the closed string axion behaves similarly to a field-theoretic axion in the pre-inflationary scenario, i.e. the initial value can be tuned but one is constrained by isocurvature fluctuations. In addition, the volume represents a long-lived modulus that may lead to an early matter-dominated phase. Finally, the decay of the volume modulus to its own axion tends to overproduce dark radiation. In this paper we aim to carefully analyze the cosmology by studying models that not only allow for a QCD axion but also include inflation. Quite generally, limits on isocurvature fluctuations restrict us to relatively low-scale inflation, which in the present stringy context points to Kähler moduli inflation. As a novel feature we find that the lightest (volume) modulus couples strongly to the Higgs. It hence quickly decays to the SM, thus resolving the original dark radiation problem. This decay is much faster than that of the inflaton, implying that reheating is determined by the inflaton decay. The inflaton could potentially reintroduce a dark radiation problem since it decays to lighter moduli and their axions with equal rates. However, due its mixing with the QCD-saxion, the inflaton has also a direct decay rate to the SM, enhanced by the number of SM gauge bosons. This results in an amount of dark radiation that is consistent with present limits but potentially detectable in future measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We classified in [1] certain 10d supergravity solutions with a 4d de Sitter, Minkowski or anti-de Sitter spacetime. We then found new solutions in previously unexplored classes. In this paper we study their properties, compare them to swampland conjectures, and make new observations. Using new numerical tools, we first identify all Lie algebras underlying the 6d group manifolds, allowing us to discuss their compactness. We then investigate scale separation, and prove related no-go theorems. Last but not least, we automatize and analyze the stability of all solutions. This leads us to propose the Massless Minkowski Conjecture, claiming the systematic presence of a 4d flat direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-simply connected Calabi-Yau threefolds play a central role in the study of string compactifications. Such manifolds are usually described by quotienting a simply connected Calabi-Yau variety by a freely acting discrete symmetry. For the Calabi-Yau threefolds described as complete intersections in products of projective spaces, a classification of such symmetries descending from linear actions on the ambient spaces of the varieties has been given in [16]. However, which symmetries can be described in this manner depends upon the description that is being used to represent the manifold. In [24] new, favorable, descriptions were given of this data set of Calabi-Yau threefolds. In this paper, we perform a classification of cyclic symmetries that descend from linear actions on the ambient spaces of these new favorable descriptions. We present a list of 129 symmetries/non-simply connected Calabi-Yau threefolds. Of these, at least 33, and potentially many more, are topologically new varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a supersymmetric compactification of Type II supergravity, preservation of N = 1 supersymmetry in four dimensions requires that the structure group of the generalized tangent bundle TM ⨁ T∗M of the six dimensional internal manifold M is reduced from SO(6) to SU(3) × SU(3). This topological condition on the internal manifold implies existence of two globally defined compatible pure spinors Φ1 and Φ2 of non-vanishing norm. Furthermore, these pure spinors should satisfy certain first order differential equations. In this paper, we show that non-Abelian T-duality (NATD) is a solution generating transformation for these pure spinor equations. We first show that the pure spinor equations are covariant under Pin(d, d) transformations. Then, we use the fact NATD is generated by a coordinate dependent Pin(d, d) transformation. The key point is that the flux produced by this transformation is the same as the geometric flux associated with the isometry group, with respect to which one implements NATD. We demonstrate our method by studying NATD of certain solutions of Type IIB supergravity with SU(2) isometry and SU(3) structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demanding that charged Nariai black holes in (quasi-)de Sitter space decay without becoming super-extremal implies a lower bound on the masses of charged particles, known as the Festina Lente (FL) bound. In this paper we fix the O 1 constant in the bound and elucidate various aspects of it, as well as extensions to d > 4 and to situations with scalar potentials and dilatonic couplings. We also discuss phenomenological implications of FL including an explanation of why the Higgs potential cannot have a local minimum at the origin, thus explaining why the weak force must be broken. For constructions of meta-stable dS involving anti-brane uplift scenarios, even though the throat region is consistent with FL, the bound implies that we cannot have any light charged matter fields coming from any far away region in the compactified geometry, contrary to the fact that they are typically expected to arise in these scenarios. This strongly suggests that introduction of warped anti-branes in the throat cannot be decoupled from the bulk dynamics as is commonly assumed. Finally, we provide some evidence that in certain situations the FL bound can have implications even with gravity decoupled and illustrate this in the context of non-compact throats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In flux compactifications of type IIB string theory with D3 and seven-branes, the negative induced D3 charge localized on seven-branes leads to an apparently pathological profile of the metric sufficiently close to the source. With the volume modulus stabilized in a KKLT de Sitter vacuum this pathological region takes over a significant part of the entire compactification, threatening to spoil the KKLT effective field theory. In this paper we employ the Seiberg-Witten solution of pure SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory to argue that wrapped seven-branes can be thought of as bound states of more microscopic exotic branes. We argue that the low-energy worldvolume dynamics of a stack of n such exotic branes is given by the (A1, An−1) Argyres-Douglas theory. Moreover, the splitting of the perturbative (in α′) seven-brane into its constituent branes at the non-perturbative level resolves the apparently pathological region close to the seven-brane and replaces it with a region of O (1) Einstein frame volume. While this region generically takes up an O (1) fraction of the compactification in a KKLT de Sitter vacuum we argue that a small flux superpotential dynamically ensures that the 4d effective field theory of KKLT remains valid nevertheless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large number of moduli fields arising in a generic string theory compactification makes a complete computation of the low energy effective theory infeasible. A common strategy to solve this problem is to consider Calabi-Yau manifolds with discrete symmetries, which effectively reduce the number of moduli and make the computation of the truncated Effective Field Theory possible. In this approach, however, the couplings (e.g., the masses) of the truncated fields are left undetermined. In the present paper we discuss the tree-level mass spectrum of type-IIB flux compactifications at Large Complex Structure, focusing on models with a reduced one-dimensional complex structure sector. We compute the tree-level spectrum for the dilaton and complex structure moduli, including the truncated fields, which can be expressed entirely in terms of the known couplings of the reduced theory. We show that the masses of this set of fields are naturally heavy at vacua consistent with the KKLT construction, and we discuss other phenomenologically interesting scenarios where the spectrum involves fields much lighter than the gravitino. We also derive the probability distribution for the masses on the ensemble of flux vacua, and show that it exhibits universal features independent of the details of the compactification. We check our results on a large sample of flux vacua constructed in an orientifold of the Calabi-Yau W ℙ 1 1 1 1 4 4 . Finally, we also discuss the conditions under which the spectrum derived here could arise in more general compactifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study moduli stabilization for type IIB orientifold compactifications on Calabi‐Yau three‐folds with (non‐)geometric fluxes. For this setting it is possible to stabilize all closed‐string moduli classically without the need for non‐perturbative contributions, and examples of stable de‐Sitter constructions can be found in the literature which violate a prominent swampland conjecture. In this paper we derive general properties of non‐geometric flux‐compactifications, we argue that the contribution of fluxes to the tadpole cancellation conditions should be similar to D‐branes (and not anti‐D‐branes), and we exclude supersymmetric Minkowski vacua for certain cases. We also reassess known stable de‐Sitter constructions with (non‐)geometric H‐, F‐, Q‐ and R‐fluxes and argue that these are not consistent in string theory. The moduli stabilization for type IIB orientifold compactifications on Calabi‐Yau three‐folds with (non‐)geometric fluxes will be studied. For this setting it is possible to stabilize all closed‐string moduli classically without the need for non‐perturbative contributions, and examples of stable de‐Sitter constructions can be found in the literature which violate a prominent swampland conjecture. In this paper general properties of non‐geometric flux‐compactifications will be derived and argued that the contribution of fluxes to the tadpole cancellation conditions should be similar to D‐branes (and not anti‐D‐branes). Supersymmetric Minkowski vacua are excluded for certain cases. Known known stable de‐Sitter constructions with (non‐)geometric H‐, F‐, Q‐ and R‐fluxes are reassessed and argued that these are not consistent in string theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the problem of metastable SUSY breaking in the landscape. While this is clearly crucial for the various de Sitter proposals, it is also interesting to consider the SUSY breaking challenge in the AdS context. For example, it could be that a stronger form of the non-SUSY AdS conjecture holds: it would forbid even metastable non-SUSY AdS in cases where the SUSY-breaking scale is parametrically above/below the AdS scale. At the technical level, the present paper proposes to break SUSY using the multi-cosine-shaped axion potentials which arise if a long winding trajectory of a 'complex-structure axion' appears in the large-complex-structure limit of a Calabi-Yau orientifold. This has been studied in the context of 'Winding Inflation', but the potential for SUSY breaking has not been fully explored. We discuss the application to uplifting LVS vacua, point out the challenges which one faces in the KKLT context, and consider the possibility of violating the non-SUSY AdS conjecture in the type-IIA setting of DGKT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glauber-Sudarshan states, sometimes simply referred to as Glauber states, or alternatively as coherent and squeezed-coherent states, are interesting states in the configuration spaces of any quantum field theories, that closely resemble classical trajectories in space-time. In this paper, we identify four-dimensional de Sitter space as a coherent state over a supersymmetric Minkowski vacuum. Although such an identification is not new, what is new however is the claim that this is realizable in full string theory, but only in conjunction with temporally varying degrees of freedom and quantum corrections resulting from them. Furthermore, fluctuations over the de Sitter space is governed by a generalized graviton (and flux)-added coherent state, also known as the Agarwal-Tara state. The realization of de Sitter space as a state, and not as a vacuum, resolves many issues associated with its entropy, zero-point energy and trans-Planckian censorship, amongst other things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses model-building scenarios including anti-D3-/D7-branes, in which supersymmetry is broken spontaneously, despite having no scale at which sparticles appear and standard supersymmetry is restored. If the branes are placed on singularities at the tip of warped throats in Calabi-Yau orientifold flux compactifications, they may give rise to realistic particle spectra, closed- and open-string moduli stabilisation with a Minkowski/de Sitter uplift, and a geometrical origin for the scale hierarchies. The paper derives the low-energy effective field theory description for such scenarios, i.e. a non-linear supergravity theory for standard and constrained supermultiplets, including soft supersymmetry-breaking matter couplings. The effect of closed-string moduli stabilisation on the open-string matter sector is worked out, incorporating non-perturbative and perturbative effects, and the mass and coupling hierarchies are computed with a view towards phenomenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The statistics of the supersymmetry breaking scale in the string landscape has been extensively studied in the past finding either a power-law behaviour induced by uniform distributions of F-terms or a logarithmic distribution motivated by dynamical supersymmetry breaking. These studies focused mainly on type IIB flux compactifications but did not systematically incorporate the Kähler moduli. In this paper we point out that the inclusion of the Kähler moduli is crucial to understand the distribution of the supersymmetry breaking scale in the landscape since in general one obtains unstable vacua when the F-terms of the dilaton and the complex structure moduli are larger than the F- terms of the Kähler moduli. After taking Kähler moduli stabilisation into account, we find that the distribution of the gravitino mass and the soft terms is power-law only in KKLT and perturbatively stabilised vacua which therefore favour high scale supersymmetry. On the other hand, LVS vacua feature a logarithmic distribution of soft terms and thus a preference for lower scales of supersymmetry breaking. Whether the landscape of type IIB flux vacua predicts a logarithmic or power-law distribution of the supersymmetry breaking scale thus depends on the relative preponderance of LVS and KKLT vacua. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unphysical 3-form flux singularities near anti-branes have been argued to get resolved in the classical supergravity regime when brane polarisation is properly taken into account. The only example that does not seem to fit this logic is the D 6 ¯ -brane because of a no-go theorem for well behaved supergravity solutions with negative D6 charge. In this paper we first review the existing results demonstrating how brane polarisation resolves singularities for D 3 ¯ -branes and then we improve on the description of the polarisation of D 6 ¯ -branes into KK5 dipoles. We argue that the meta-stable state carries exactly zero (anti-)D6 charge, which is the unique way around the no-go theorem. We then provide numerical evidence for well-behaved solutions that describe such meta-stable states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that having an odd number of Majorana fermion zero modes on a dynamical point-like soliton signifies an inconsistency in a theory with 3+1 and higher dimensions. We check this statement in a couple of examples in field theory and in string/M theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we will study the arithmetic geometry of rank-2 attractors, which are Calabi-Yau threefolds whose Hodge structures admit interesting splits. We will develop methods to analyze the algebraic de Rham cohomologies of rank-2 attractors, and we will illustrate how our methods work by focusing on an example in a recent paper by Candelas, de la Ossa, Elmi and van Straten. We will look at the interesting connections between rank-2 attractors in string theory and Deligne’s conjecture on the special values of L-functions. We will also formulate several open questions concerning the potential connections between attractors in string theory and number theory.

Generalized parallelizable spaces allow a unified treatment of consistent maximally supersymmetric truncations of ten- and eleven-dimensional supergravity in generalized geometry. Known examples are spheres, twisted tori and hyperboloides. They admit a generalized frame field over the coset space M = G/H which reproduces the Lie algebra g of G under the generalized Lie derivative. An open problem is a systematic construction of these spaces and especially their generalized frames fields. We present a technique which applies to dim M =4 for SL(5) exceptional field theory. In this paper the group manifold G is identified with the extended space of the exceptional field theory. Subsequently, the section condition is solved to remove unphysical directions from the extended space. Finally, a SL(5) generalized frame field is constructed from parts of the left-invariant Maurer-Cartan form on G. All these steps impose conditions on G and H. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for warped AdS2 solutions of Type II supergravity to preserve N = 1 supersymmetry, in terms of bispinors. Such solutions generically support an SU(3)-structure on their internal manifold M8, which can experience an enhancement to a G2-structure. We perform an SU(3)-structure torsion classes analysis and express the fluxes and other physical fields in terms of these, in general. We use our results to derive two new classes of AdS2 solutions. In (massive) Type IIA supergravity we derive an N = 1 supersymmetric class for which M8 decomposes as a weak G2-manifold foliated over an interval and which is locally defined in terms of a degree three polynomial. In Type IIB supergravity we find a class of AdS2 × S2 × CY2 × Σ2 solutions preserving small N = 4 supersymmetry, governed by a harmonic function on Σ2 and partial differential equations reminiscent of D3-D7-brane configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the notion of a metric over the space of AdS solution in string theory, leading to an associated distance between them. Such a distance is the idea underlying the AdS distance conjecture. We utilise the previously developed prescription for extracting such a metric: taking an off-shell quadratic variation of the string theory effective action and then evaluating it over the space of on-shell solutions. It was shown that this prescription leads to a well-defined positive metric over M-theory Freund-Rubin vacua. In this work, we use the same prescription to calculate the metric over type IIA DGKT vacua. These are much more involved, they have multiple flux parameters and exhibit scale separation. While it remains an open question whether these vacua exist as fully localised solutions of string theory, they are well-defined within the four-dimensional effective theory, which is all that is required for the calculation. We find that they also have a positive metric over them. Interestingly, this metric turns out to be independent of the many flux parameters in the solution, similarly to what happens for metrics over scalar field spaces. This non-trivial flux cancellation, as well as results from explicit vacua, lead us to propose a Swampland condition: that the metric over the space of vacua in quantum gravity, as defined by the above prescription, is always positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider phenomenological aspects of a natural class of Standard Model-like supersymmetric F-theory vacua realized through flux breaking of rigid E7 gauge factors. Three generations of Standard Model matter are realized in many of these vacua. We further find that many other Standard Model-like features are naturally compatible with these constructions. For example, dimension-4 and 5 terms associated with proton decay are ubiquitously suppressed. Many of these features are due to the group theoretical structure of E7 and associated F-theory geometry. In particular, a set of approximate global symmetries descends from the E7 group, leading to exponential suppression of undesired couplings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate how recent developments in string field theory provide a framework to systematically study type II flux compactifications with non-trivial Ramond-Ramond profiles. We present an explicit example where physical observables can be computed order by order in a small parameter which can be effectively viewed as string coupling constant. We obtain the corresponding background solution of the string field equations of motions up to the second order in the expansion. Along the way, we show how the tadpole cancellations of the string field equations lead to the minimization of the F-term potential of the low energy supergravity description. String field action expanded around the obtained background solution furnishes a “worldsheet” description of the flux compactifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study Euclidean M5-branes wrapping vertical divisors in elliptic Calabi-Yau fourfold compactifications of M/F-theory that admit a Sen limit. We construct these Calabi-Yau fourfolds as elliptic fibrations over coordinate flip O3/O7 orientifolds of toric hypersurface Calabi-Yau threefolds. We devise a method to analyze the Hodge structure (and hence the dimension of the intermediate Jacobian) of vertical divisors in these fourfolds, using only the data available from a type IIB compactification on the O3/O7 Calabi-Yau orientifold. Our method utilizes simple combinatorial formulae (that we prove) for the equivariant Hodge numbers of the Calabi-Yau orientifolds and their prime toric divisors, along with a formula for the Euler characteristic of vertical divisors in the corresponding elliptic Calabi-Yau fourfold. Our formula for the Euler characteristic includes a conjectured correction term that accounts for the contributions of pointlike terminal ℤ2 singularities corresponding to perturbative O3-planes. We check our conjecture in a number of explicit examples and find perfect agreement with the results of direct computations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a new class of non-supersymmetric ten-dimensional type II flux vacua, by studying first order differential equations which are deformations of the = 1 supersymmetry conditions. We do so within the context of Generalised Complex Geometry, where there is a natural interpretation of the = 1 supersymmetry conditions in terms of calibration conditions for probe D-branes, called D-string, domain-wall or space-filling branes, depending on them wrapping two, three or four non-compact dimensions. We focus on the class of non-supersymmetric vacua violating the D-string calibration condition, and write down their general equations of motion in the language of pure spinors. We solve them for a subclass of vacua, where the deformation of the calibration condition is dictated by the foliated geometry of the internal space. We also construct backgrounds violating both the domain-wall and D-string calibration conditions, generalising the one-parameter DWSB class of backgrounds introduced in Lüst et al. We present several explicit solutions with SU(2) and SU(3) structures, and we investigate briefly their associated low energy effective theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the cosmological evolution of a FLRW universe dominated by the energy density of moduli close to asymptotic regions of moduli space. Due to the structure of the = 1 SUGRA kinetic term, a saxion and an axion residing in the same chiral multiplet are (universally) coupled even if the latter is a flat direction of the potential, resulting in non-trivial dynamics. We generalise known results in the literature to the case of multiple moduli, showing the existence of various “tracker” attractor solutions where the relative energy densities of many components (axions included) stay in a fixed ratio throughout the evolution. We conclude with some phenomenological applications, relevant for both the early and late universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive major parts of the eigenvalue spectrum of the operators on the squashed seven-sphere that appear in the compactification of eleven-dimensional supergravity. These spectra determine the mass spectrum of the fields in AdS4 and are important for the corresponding N = 1 supermultiplet structure. This work is a continuation of the work in [1] where the complete spectrum of irreducible isometry representations of the fields in AdS4 was derived for this compactification. Some comments are also made concerning the G2 holonomy and its implications on the structure of the operator equations on the squashed seven-sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]