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We present an overview of both older and recent developments concerning scale separation in string theory. We focus on parametric scale separation obtained at the classical level in flux compactifications down to AdS vacua. We review the scenarios that have been proposed to achieve a hierarchy of scales between spacetime and the internal space, built from a low-dimensional perspective. We then discuss how they have been understood to arise from proper higher-dimensional descriptions. Eventually, limitations of these constructions as well as Swampland and holographic arguments addressing the question of scale separation in string theory are discussed. The purpose of the review is to draw an accurate picture of the state of the art of the subject at the moment., Comment: 1+63 pages, 3 figures. v2,v3: minor changes, references added

Massive type IIA flux compactifications of the form AdS$_4 \times X_6$, where $X_6$ admits a Calabi-Yau metric and O6-planes wrapping three-cycles, display families of vacua with parametric scale separation between the compactification scale and the AdS$_4$ radius, generated by an overall rescaling of internal four-form fluxes. For toroidal orbifolds one can perform two T-dualities and map this background to an orientifold of massless type IIA compactified on an SU(3)-structure manifold with fluxes. Via a 4d EFT analysis, we generalise this last construction and embed it into new branches of supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric vacua with similar features. We apply our results to propose new infinite families of vacua based on elliptic fibrations with metric fluxes. Parametric scale separation is achieved by an asymmetric flux rescaling which, however, in general is not a simple symmetry of the 4d equations of motion. At this level of approximation the vacua are stable but, unlike in the Calabi-Yau case, they display a non-universal mass spectrum of light fields., Comment: 33 pages + appendices, 4 figures; v3: minor corrections

The analysis of type IIB flux vacua on warped Calabi--Yau orientifolds becomes considerably involved for a large number of complex structure fields. We however show that, for a quadratic flux superpotential, one can devise simplifying schemes which effectively reduce the large number of equations down to a few. This can be achieved by imposing the vanishing of certain flux quanta in the large complex structure regime, and then choosing the remaining quanta to respect the symmetries of the underlying prepotential. One can then implement an algorithm to find large families of flux vacua with a fixed flux tadpole, independently of the number of fields. We illustrate this approach in a Calabi--Yau manifold with 51 complex structure moduli, where several reduction schemes can be implemented in order to explicitly solve the vacuum equations for that sector. Our findings display a flux-tadpole-to-stabilized-moduli ratio that is marginally above the bound proposed by the Tadpole Conjecture, and we discuss several effects that would take us below such a bound., Comment: 42 pages + appendices, 3 figures

We analyze the tree-level potential of type IIB flux compactifications in warped Calabi-Yau orientifolds, in regions of weak coupling and moderately large complex structure. In this regime, one may approximate the flux-induced superpotential $W$ by a polynomial on the axio-dilaton and complex structure fields, and a significant fraction of vacua corresponds to a quadratic $W$. In this quadratic case, we argue that vacua fall into three classes, for which one can push the analytic description of their features. In particular, we provide analytic expressions for the vacuum expectation values and flux-induced masses of the axio-dilaton and complex structure fields in a large subclass of vacua, independently of the Calabi-Yau and the number of moduli. We show that supersymmetric vacua always contain flat directions, at least at this level of approximation. Our findings allow to generate vast ensembles of flux vacua in specific Calabi-Yau geometries, as we illustrate in a particular example., Comment: 36 pages + appendices, 5 figures

Starting from a peculiar orientifold projection proposed long ago by Angelantonj and Cardella, we elaborate on a novel perturbative scenario that involves only D-branes, together with the two types of orientifold planes ${\rm O}_{\pm}$ and anti-orientifold planes $\overline{{\rm O}}_{\pm}$. We elucidate the microscopic ingredients of such models, connecting them to a novel realization of brane supersymmetry breaking. Depending on the position of the D-branes in the internal space, supersymmetry can be broken at the string scale on branes, or alternatively only at the massive level. The main novelty of this construction is that it features no NS-NS disk tadpoles, while avoiding open-string instabilities. The one-loop potential, which depends on the positions of the D-branes, is minimized for maximally broken, nonlinearly realized supersymmetry. The orientifold projection and the effective field theory description reveal a soft breaking of supersymmetry in the closed-string sector. In such models it is possible to decouple the gravitino mass from the value of the scalar potential, while avoiding brane instabilities., Comment: 1+37 pages, 2 figures. References added

We compute at one loop the two-point functions of massless scalars in the Neumann-Dirichlet open-string sector of the type IIB orientifold compactified on $T^2\times T^4/\mathbb{Z}_2$, when $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry is spontaneously broken. This is done by evaluating correlation functions of ``boundary-changing vertex operators'' which are analogous to correlators of twist fields for closed strings. We use our results to compute the mass developed at one loop by the moduli fields arising in the Neumann-Dirichlet sector., Comment: 1+15 pages, 1 figure. Based on a talk given at the "9th International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics'' (ICNFP 2020), 4-12 September 2020, Kolympari, Greece

We derive the masses acquired at one loop by massless scalars in the Neumann-Dirichlet sector of open strings, when supersymmetry is spontaneously broken. It is done by computing two-point functions of "boundary-changing vertex operators" inserted on the boundaries of the annulus and M\"obius strip. This requires the evaluation of correlators of "excited boundary-changing fields," which are analogous to excited twist fields for closed strings. We work in the type IIB orientifold theory compactified on $T^2\times T^4/\mathbb{Z}_2$, where $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry is broken to $\mathcal{N}=0$ by the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism implemented along $T^2$. Even though the full expression of the squared masses is complicated, it reduces to a very simple form when the lowest scale of the background is the supersymmetry breaking scale $M_{3/2}$. We apply our results to analyze in this regime the stability at the quantum level of the moduli fields arising in the Neumann-Dirichlet sector. This completes the study of Ref. [32], where the quantum masses of all other types of moduli arising in the open- or closed-string sectors are derived. Ultimately, we identify all brane configurations that produce backgrounds without tachyons at one loop and yield an effective potential exponentially suppressed, or strictly positive with runaway behavior of $M_{3/2}$., Comment: 1+74 pages, 5 figures

We analyze the stability of the moduli at the quantum level in an open-string model realizing the $\mathcal{N}=2\to \mathcal{N}=0$ spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. In the region of moduli space where the supersymmetry breaking scale is lower than the other scales, we identify vanishing minima of the one-loop effective potential, up to exponentially small corrections. In these backgrounds, the spectrum satisfies Bose-Fermi degeneracy at the massless level., Comment: 1+27 pages, 6 figures. Based on a talk given at the "Humboldt Kolleg Frontiers in Physics: From the Electroweak to the Planck Scales,'' 15--19 September 2019, Corfu, Greece

We consider an open-string realisation of $\mathcal{N}=2\to \mathcal{N}=0$ spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. It is based on type IIB orientifold theory compactified on $T^2\times T^4/\mathbb{Z}_2$, with Scherk--Schwarz supersymmetry breaking implemented along $T^2$. We show that in the regions of moduli space where the supersymmetry breaking scale is lower than the other scales, there exist configurations with minima that have massless Bose-Fermi degeneracy and hence vanishing one-loop effective potential, up to exponentially suppressed corrections. These backgrounds describe non-Abelian gauge theories, with all open-string moduli and blowing up modes of $T^4/\mathbb{Z}_2$ stabilized, while all untwisted closed-string moduli remain flat directions. Other backgrounds with strictly positive effective potentials exist, where the only instabilities arising at one loop are associated with the supersymmetry breaking scale, which runs away. All of these backgrounds are consistent non-perturbatively., Comment: 1+66 pages, 6 figures. v2: New results. Stable models with massless Bose-Fermi degeneracy exist. v3: Minor corrections of gauge groups of stable models

We present a new paradigm for the production of dark-matter particles called the spontaneous freeze out, in which the decoupling from the thermal bath is enforced by the sudden increase of the dark-matter mass, due to the spontaneous breaking of some global symmetry rather than by the slow decrease of the temperature. We study the details of the spontaneous freeze out mechanism using a simple toy model and analyze the phenomenology of our scenario. We show that in order to obtain the correct relic abundance, the annihilation cross section of dark-matter particles into Standard-Model states has to be typically much larger than in the case of a constant-mass thermal dark-matter candidate. We present a string theory model in which such a scenario takes place naturally., Comment: Based on a talk given at the Conference on Recent Developments in Strings and Gravity, 10 to 16 September 2019, Corfu, Greece

We propose a new scenario for generating a relic density of non-relativistic dark matter in the context of heterotic string theory. Contrary to standard thermal freeze-out scenarios, dark-matter particles are abundantly produced while still relativistic, and then decouple from the thermal bath due to the sudden increase of their mass above the universe temperature. This mass variation is sourced by the condensation of an order-parameter modulus, which is triggered when the temperature T(t) drops below the supersymmetry breaking scale M(t), which are both time-dependent. A cosmological attractor mechanism forces this phase transition to take place, in an explicit class of heterotic string models with spontaneously broken supersymmetry, and at finite temperature., Comment: 41 pages, 6 figures

We analyze quantum no-scale regimes (QNSR) in perturbative heterotic string compactified on tori, with total spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry. We show that for marginal deformations initially at any point in moduli space, the dynamics of a flat, homogeneous and isotropic universe can always be attracted to a QNSR. This happens independently of the characteristics of the 1-loop effective potential $V_{1-loop}$, which can be initially positive, negative or vanishing, and maximal, minimal or at a saddle point. In all cases, the classical no-scale structure is restored at the quantum level, during the cosmological evolution. This is shown analytically by considering moduli evolutions entirely in the vicinity of their initial values. Global attractor mechanisms are analyzed numerically and depend drastically on the sign of $V_{1-loop}$. We find that all initially expanding cosmological evolutions along which $V_{1-loop}$ is positive are attracted to the QNSR describing a flat, ever-expanding universe. On the contrary, when $V_{1-loop}$ can reach negative values, the expansion comes to a halt and the universe eventually collapses into a Big Crunch, unless the initial conditions are tuned in a tiny region of the phase space. This suggests that flat, ever-expanding universes with positive potentials are way more natural than their counterparts with negative potentials., Comment: 1+65 pages, 9 figures, 1 appendix

We show that in generic no-scale models in string theory, the flat, expanding cosmological evolutions found at the quantum level can be attracted to a "quantum no-scale regime", where the no-scale structure is restored asymptotically. In this regime, the quantum effective potential is dominated by the classical kinetic energies of the no-scale modulus and dilaton. We find that this natural preservation of the classical no-scale structure at the quantum level occurs when the initial conditions of the evolutions sit in a subcritical region of their space. On the contrary, supercritical initial conditions yield solutions that have no analogue at the classical level. The associated intrinsically quantum universes are sentenced to collapse and their histories last finite cosmic times. Our analysis is done at 1-loop, in perturbative heterotic string compactified on tori, with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking implemented by a stringy version of the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism., Comment: 26+1 pages, 3 figures