Recently, it was found by Greene and Levin that the Casimir energy of certain combinations of massless and massive fields in space with extra dimensions play a crucial role in the accelerated expansion of the late-time universe and therefore it could serve as a candidate for the dark energy. It also provides a mechanism in stabilizing the volume moduli of extra dimensions. However, the shape moduli of the extra dimensions were never taken into account in the previous work. We therefore study the stabilization mechanism for both volume and shape moduli due to the Casimir energy in ${\mathbb M}^{1+3} \times {\mathbb T}^{2}$. The result of our study shows that the previously known local minimum is a saddle point. It is unstable to the perturbations in the direction of the shape moduli. The new stable local minima stabilizes all the moduli and drives the accelerating expansion of the universe. The cosmological dynamics both in the bulk and the radion pictures are derived and simulated. The equations of state for the Casimir energy in a general torus are derived. Shear viscosity in extra dimensions induced by the Casimir density in the late times is identified and calculated, it is found to be proportional to the Hubble constant.
We study Kähler moduli stabilization in IIB superstring theory. We propose a new moduli stabilization mechanism by the supersymmetry-braking chiral superfield which is coupled to Kähler moduli in Kähler potential. We also study uplifting of the Large Volume Scenario (LVS) by it. In both cases, the form of superpotential is crucial for moduli stabilization. We confirm that our uplifting mechanism does not destabilize the vacuum of the LVS drastically.
We propose a new type of moduli stabilization scenario where the supersymmetric and supersymmetry-breaking minima are degenerate at the leading level. The inclusion of the loop-corrections originating from the matter fields resolves this degeneracy of vacua. Light axions are predicted in one of our models.
We study the back-reaction of moduli fields on the inflaton potential in generic models of F-term inflation. We derive the moduli corrections as a power series in the ratio of Hubble scale and modulus mass. The general result is illustrated with two examples, hybrid inflation and chaotic inflation. We find that in both cases the decoupling of moduli dynamics and inflation requires moduli masses close to the scale of grand unification. For smaller moduli masses the CMB observables are strongly affected.
We study the cosmological inflation from the viewpoint of the moduli stabilization. We study the scenario that the superpotential has a large value during the inflation era enough to stabilize moduli, but it is small in the true vacuum. This scenario is discussed by using a simple model, one type of hybrid models.
Recent developments on large scale string moduli stabilization via non-geometric fluxes are reviewed. In the framework of type IIB orientifolds on fluxed Calabi-Yau manifolds, the existence of so-called flux-scaling minima provides a good starting point for the realization of parametrically controlled models of F-term axion monodromy inflation.
We study Kähler moduli stabilizations in semi-realistic magnetized D-brane models based on $ Z_2\times Z_2'$ toroidal orbifolds. In type IIB compactifications, 3-form fluxes can stabilize the dilaton and complex structure moduli fields, but there remain some massless closed string moduli fields, Kähler moduli. The magnetic fluxes generate Fayet-Iliopoulos terms, which can fix ratios of Kähler moduli. On top of that, we consider D-brane instanton effects to stabilize them in concrete D-brane models and investigate the brane configurations to confirm that the moduli fields can be stabilized succ…
We study properties of moduli stabilization in the four dimensional N = 1 supergravity theory with heavy moduli and would-be saxion-axion multiplets including light string-theoretic axions. We give general formulation for the scenario that heavy moduli and saxions are stabilized while axions remain light, assuming that moduli are stabilized near the supersymmetric solution. One can find stable vacuum, i.e. non-tachyonic saxions, in the non-supersymmetric Minkowski vacua. We also discuss the cases, where the moduli are coupled to the supersymmetry breaking sector and/or moduli have contribution…
We review moduli stabilization in type IIB string theory compactification with fluxes. We focus on the KKLT and Large Volume Scenario (LVS). We show that the predicted soft SUSY breaking terms in KKLT model are not phenomenological viable. In LVS, the following result for scalar mass, gaugino mass, and trilinear term is obtained: $m_0 =m_{1/2}= - A_0=m_{3/2}$, which may account for Higgs mass limit if $m_{3/2} \sim {\cal O}(1.5)$ TeV. However, in this case the relic abundance of the lightest neutralino can not be consistent with the measured limits. We also study the cosmological consequences …
In theories beyond the Standard Model, in particular in theories with extra spatial dimensions such as superstring theory, there are a large number of scalar fields which appear in the low energy effective action. These moduli fields must be stabilized. Often, moduli stabilization involves a stage during which the moduli fields oscillatte coherently about their ground state value. Here, we study moduli and graviton production during the period during which the background modulus field is oscillating, assuming that this period takes place in the radiation phase. We find a resonant production of…
The absence, so far, of any graviton signatures at the LHC imposes severe constraints on the Randall-Sundrum scenario. Although a generalization to higher dimensions with nested warpings has been shown to avoid these constraints, apart from incorporating several other phenomenologically interesting features, moduli stabilization in such models has been an open question. We demonstrate here how both the moduli involved can be stabilized, employing slightly different mechanisms for the two branches of the theory. This also offers a dynamical mechanism to generate and stabilize the scale for the …
We study a supersymmetric field theory in six dimensions compactified on the orbifold T^2/Z_2 with two Wilson lines. After supersymmetry breaking, the Casimir energy fixes the shape moduli at fixed points in field space where the symmetry of the torus lattice is enhanced. Localized Fayet-Iliopoulos terms stabilize the volume modulus at a size much smaller than the inverse supersymmetry breaking scale. All moduli masses are smaller than the gravitino mass.
We investigate the time evolution of the background spacetime during the moduli stabilization process, which is assumed to occur in the radiation dominated era. The setup is basically the Salam-Sezgin model, but we add a potential term for the dilaton in order to stabilize the moduli completely. We numerically solve the higher-dimensional background field equations, including a case that the stabilization process cannot be described within the 4D effective theory. In contrast to the conventional 4D effective theory analysis, we find that when the mass scale of the stabilization is larger than …
We propose a new type of Kähler moduli stabilization mechanisms in type IIB superstring theory on Calabi-Yau manifolds with the positive Euler number. The overall Kähler modulus can be perturbatively stabilized by radiative corrections due to sparticles. Its minimum is the anti-de Sitter vacuum, where supersymmetry is broken. We can uplift it to the de Sitter vacuum by introducing anti-D-branes, keeping the modulus stabilized. Although our numerical results depend on the choice of the cutoff scale and degeneracies of sparticles, at any rate there exist the parameter spaces where the masses of …
Recent holographic analyses on IIA and IIB models of moduli stabilization have led to many interesting results. Here we extend this approach to M-Theory. We consider both flux-stabilized models and non-perturbative stabilization methods. We perform a holographic analysis to determine the spectrum of the assumed dual $CFT_{3}$ to see its AdS/CFT implication. For the flux stabilization, which relies on a large complex Chern-Simons invariant, moduli have integer dimensions similar to the DGKT flux-stabilized model in type IIA,. For the non-perturbative stabilization, the results are similar to ra…
We analyze the interplay between Kähler moduli stabilization and chaotic inflation in supergravity. While heavy moduli decouple from inflation in the supersymmetric limit, supersymmetry breaking generically introduces non-decoupling effects. These lead to inflation driven by a soft mass term, $m_φ^2 \sim m m_{3/2}$, where $m$ is a supersymmetric mass parameter. This scenario needs no stabilizer field, but the stability of moduli during inflation imposes a large supersymmetry breaking scale, $m_{3/2} \gg H$, and a careful choice of initial conditions. This is illustrated in three prominent exam…
We calculate and explore the moduli potential for M-Theory compactified on G_2-manifolds in which the superpotential is dominated by a single membrane instanton term plus one from an asymptotically free hidden sector gauge interaction. We show that all moduli can be stabilized and that hidden sector gauge symmetries can be Higgsed at a high scale. We then compute the spectrum of superpartner masses at the GUT scale and evolve it to the electroweak scale. We find a spectrum which is very similar to the G_2-MSSM with light gauginos - accessible at the LHC - and a neutral wino dark matter candida…
We study the supergravity hybrid inflation model of Ref.[1] in the presence of a modulus field. The eta-problem is solved by a shift symmetry for the inflaton, which protects the inflaton mass even in the presence of the modulus field. Inflation is (nearly) unaffected by moduli stabilization, provided the scale of supersymmetry breaking in the post-inflation vacuum is small. Therefore the model has the nice phenomenology that it combines low scale supersymmetry breaking with high scale (grand unification scale) inflation.
This brief article reviews a recently proposed scenario of moduli stabilization constructed in the vicinity of a conifold locus in the complex structure moduli space. We discuss typical features of moduli stabilization due to the logarithmic structure of the periods over the Calabi-Yau threefold. Integrating out heavy moduli implies exponential terms in the superpotential very reminiscent of non-perturbative contributions. Ultimately, these terms can lead to an alignment of axions potentially realizing large-field inflation. Our goal is to investigate common issues appearing for moduli stabili…
We study closed-string moduli stabilization in Higgs-otic inflation in Type IIB orientifold backgrounds with fluxes. In this setup large-field inflation is driven by the vacuum energy of mobile D7-branes. Imaginary selfdual (ISD) three-form fluxes in the background source a $μ$-term and the necessary monodromy for large field excursions while imaginary anti-selfdual (IASD) three-form fluxes are sourced by non-perturbative contributions to the superpotential necessary for moduli stabilization. We analyze Kähler moduli stabilization and backreaction on the inflaton potential in detail. Confirmin…
We study moduli stabilization in combination with inflation in heterotic orbifold compactifications in the light of a large Hubble scale and the favored tensor-to-scalar ratio $r \approx 0.05$. To account for a trans-Planckian field range we implement aligned natural inflation. Although there is only one universal axion in heterotic constructions, further axions from the geometric moduli can be used for alignment and inflation. We argue that such an alignment is rather generic on orbifolds, since all non-perturbative terms are determined by modular weights of the involved fields and the Dedeki…
We study moduli stabilization for type IIB orientifolds compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds in the region close to conifold singularities in the complex structure moduli space. The form of the periods implies new phenomena like exponential mass hierarchies even in the regime of negligible warping. Integrating out the heavy conic complex structure modulus leads to an effective flux induced potential for the axio-dilaton and the remaining complex structure moduli containing exponentially suppressed terms that imitate non-perturbative effects. It is shown that this scenario can be naturally com…
To obtain natural inflation with large tensor-to-scalar ratio in string framework, we need a special moduli stabilization mechanism which can separate the masses of real and imaginary components of Kähler moduli at different scales, and achieve a trans-Planckian axion decay constant from sub-Planckian axion decay constants. In this work, we stabilize the matter fields by F-terms and the real components of Kähler moduli by D-terms of two anomalous $U(1)_X\times U(1)_A$ symmetries strongly at high scales, while the corresponding axions remain light due to their independence on the Fayet-Iliopoul…
In this paper we discuss the issues of supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization within the context of E_8 x E_8 heterotic orbifold constructions and, in particular, we focus on the class of "mini-landscape" models. In the supersymmetric limit, these models admit an effective low energy field theory with a spectrum of states and dimensionless gauge and Yukawa couplings very much like that of the MSSM. These theories contain a non-Abelian hidden gauge sector which generates a non-perturbative superpotential leading to supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization. We demonstrate this ef…
We study Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) terms of six-dimensional supersymmetric Abelian gauge theory compactified on a $T^2/Z_2$ orbifold. Such orbifold compactifications can lead to localized FI-terms and instability of bulk zero modes. We study 1-loop correction to FI-terms in more general geometry than the previous works. We find induced FI-terms depend on the complex structure of the compact space. We also find the complex structure of the torus can be stabilized at a specific value corresponding to a self-consistent supersymmetric minimum of the potential by such 1-loop corrections, which is appli…
The linear relations between the complex moduli and using the linear relations reduce the stabilization equations for supersymmetric black holes in N=2 theory
