We present a vacuum of heterotic M-theory whose observable sector has the MSSM spectrum with the addition of one extra pair of Higgs-Higgs conjugate superfields. The quarks/leptons have a realistic mass hierarchy with a naturally light first family. The double elliptic structure of the Calabi-Yau compactification threefold leads to two ``stringy'' selection rules. These classically disallow Yukawa couplings to the second Higgs pair and, hence, Higgs mediated flavor-changing neutral currents. Such currents are induced in higher-dimensional interactions, but are naturally suppressed. We show that our results fit comfortably below the observed upper bounds on neutral flavor-changing processes.
Using the heterotic--type II duality of $N=2$ string vacua in four space-time dimensions we study non-perturbative couplings of toroidally compactified six-dimensional heterotic vacua. In particular, the heterotic--heterotic $S$-duality and the Coulomb branch of tensor multiplets observed in six dimensions are studied from a four-dimensional point of view. We explicitly compute the couplings of the vector multiplets of several type II vacua and investigate the implications for their heterotic duals.
We review the structure $D=6, N=1$ string vacua with emphasis on the different connections due to T-dualities and S-dualities. The topics discussed include: Anomaly cancellation; K3 and orbifold $D=6, N=1$ heterotic compactifications; T-dualities between $E_8\times E_8$ and $Spin(32)/Z_2$ heterotic vacua; non-perturbative heterotic vacua and small instantons; N=2 Type-II/Heterotic duality in D=4 ; F-theory/heterotic duality in D=6; and heterotic/heterotic duality in six and four dimensions.
We construct vacua of heterotic M-theory with general gauge bundles and five-branes. Some aspects of the resulting low-energy effective theories are discussed.
We describe how 4d de Sitter vacua might emerge from 11d heterotic M-theory. Non-perturbative effects and $G$-fluxes play a crucial role leading to vacua with F-term supersymmetry breaking and a positive energy density. Charged scalar matter fields are no longer massless in these vacua thus solving one of the problems of the heterotic string. Moreover, interesting dark matter candidates appear in a natural way.
We compute the monodromy matrices on the special geometry of 4d N=2 Heterotic--IIA dual vacua in some simple cases by numerical evaluation of the period integrals, without assuming geometric background. The integrality of the monodromy matrices constrains some classification invariants of the string vacua. We also mention some mathematical open problems on period polynomials for modular form with poles.
We study heterotic vacua with four supercharges in three and four space-time dimensions and their duals obtained as M/F-theory compactified on Calabi-Yau fourfolds. We focus on their respective moduli spaces and derive the Kahler potential for heterotic vacua obtained as circle compactifications of four-dimensional N=1 heterotic theories. The Kahler potential of the dual theory is computed by compactifying 11-dimensional supergravity on Calabi-Yau fourfolds. The duality between these theories is checked for K3-fibred fourfolds and an appropriate F-theory limit is discussed.
We briefly review an algorithmic strategy to explore the landscape of heterotic E8 \times E8 vacua, in the context of compactifying smooth Calabi-Yau three-folds with vector bundles. The Calabi-Yau three-folds are algebraically realised as hypersurfaces in toric varieties and a large class of vector bundles are constructed thereon as monads. In the spirit of searching for Standard-like heterotic vacua, emphasis is placed on the integer combinatorics of the model-building programme.
We review a systematic construction of $\cx N=1$ supersymmetric heterotic string vacua using mirror symmetry. The method provides a large class of explicit solutions for stable, holomorphic vector bundles on Calabi-Yau n-folds Z_n in terms of toric geometry. Phenomenologically interesting compactifications as well as non-perturbative dynamics of the heterotic string are discussed within this framework.
In this paper we discuss the singularities in the Yukawa and gauge couplings of N=1 compactifications of the SO(32) heterotic string in four space-time dimensions. Such singularities can arise from the strong coupling dynamics of a confined non-perturbative gauge group.
We construct hybrid linear models in which the chiral anomaly of a gauged linear sigma model is canceled by the classical anomaly of a gauged WZW model. Semi-classically, this corresponds to fibering the WZW model over the naive target space of the sigma model. When the gauge group is abelian, we recover known non-Kahler compactifications; non-abelian models describe novel quasi-geometric flux vacua of the heterotic string.
The requirement of target-space duality and the use of nonrenormalization theorems lead to strong constraints on the perturbative prepotential that encodes the low-energy effective action of $N=2$ heterotic superstring vacua. The analysis is done in the context of special geometry, which governs the couplings of the vector multiplets. The presentation is kept at an introductory level.
The main aspects of a recently developed method for classification of heterotic superstring vacua in the Free Fermionic Formulation are presented. Using these techniques we classify a big number of approximately $10^{15}$ heterotic string vacua with Pati--Salam, SU(4)x{SU(2)}_Lx{SU(2)}_R gauge symmetry with respect to their main phenomenological features as the number of families, Pati--Salam breaking Higgs, Standard Model Higgs doublets, additional triplets and exotic charge states. We identify an interesting subclass of these vacua, approximately one to one million, whose massless spectrum i…
Exact black hole solutions of the five dimensional heterotic $S$-$T$-$U$ model including all perturbative quantum corrections and preserving $1/2$ of $N=2$ supersymmetry are studied. It is shown that the quantum corrections yield a bound on electric charges and harmonic functions of the solutions.
We study the low-energy effective Lagrangian of $N=2$ heterotic string vacua at the classical and quantum level. The couplings of the vector multiplets are uniquely determined at the tree level, while the loop corrections are severely constrained by the exact discrete symmetries of the string vacuum. We evaluate the general transformation law of the perturbative prepotential and determine its form for the toroidal compactifications of six-dimensional $N=1$ supersymmetric vacua.
We elaborate on the recently discovered spinor-vector duality in realistic free fermionic heterotic vacua. We emphasize the interpretation of the freely-acting orbifolds carried out on the six internal dimensions as coordinate-dependent compactifications; they play a central role in the duality, especially because of their ability to break the right-moving superconformal algebra of the space-time supersymmetric heterotic vacua. These considerations lead to a simple and intuitive proof of the spinor-vector duality, and to the formulation of explicit rules to find the dual of a given model. We d…
We explore the possibility of obtaining de Sitter vacua in strongly coupled heterotic models by adding various corrections to the supergravity potential energy. We show that, in a generic compactification scenario, Fayet-Iliopoulos terms can generate a de Sitter vacuum. The cosmological constant in this vacuum can be fine tuned to be consistent with observation. We also study moduli potentials in non-supersymmetric compactifications of $E_8 \times E_8$ theory with anti five-branes and $E_8 \times \bar E_8$ theory. We argue that they can be used to create a de Sitter vacuum only if some of the …
We construct, as hypersurfaces in toric varieties, Calabi-Yau manifolds corresponding to F-theory vacua dual to E8*E8 heterotic strings compactified to six dimensions on K3 surfaces with non-semisimple gauge backgrounds. These vacua were studied in the recent work of Aldazabal, Font, Ibanez and Uranga. We extend their results by constructing many more examples, corresponding to enhanced gauge symmetries, by noting that they can be obtained from previously known Calabi-Yau manifolds corresponding to K3 compactification of heterotic strings with simple gauge backgrounds by means of extremal tran…
We explicitly construct the largest dataset to date of heterotic vacua arising from stable vector bundles on Calabi-Yau threefolds. Focusing on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau manifolds with spectral cover bundles, we show that the number of heterotic models with non-zero number of generations is finite. We classify these models according to the complex base of their Calabi-Yau threefold and to the unification gauge group that they preserve in four dimensions. This database of the order of $10^7$ models, which includes potential Standard Model candidates, is subjected to some preliminary stati…
Symmetric vacua of heterotic M-theory, characterized by vanishing cohomology classes of individual sources in the three-form Bianchi identity, are analyzed on smooth Calabi-Yau three-folds. We show that such vacua do not exist for elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau spaces. However, explicit examples are found for Calabi-Yau three-folds arising as intersections in both unweighted and weighted projective space. We show that such symmetric vacua can be combined with attractive phenomenological features such as three generations of quarks and leptons. Properties of the low energy effective actions as…
We examine the vacua of the scalar potential of the effective 4-d action, obtained after the dimensional reduction of the 10-d $\mathcal{N}=1$ heterotic supergravity coupled to an $\mathcal{N}=1$ Yang-Mills sector. The (Coset Space) dimensional reduction takes place over the three 6-d nearly-Kähler manifolds, namely the homogeneous 6-d non-symmetric coset spaces, $G_2/SU(3)$, $Sp_4/SU(2)\times U(1)$ and $SU(3)/U(1)\times U(1)$. The current work consists a complete catalogue of the kinds of vacua of theories obtained after the reduction of the heterotic string over the 6-d non-symmetric coset s…
By studying phase transitions in supersymmetric gauge theories with Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation, a natural relation is found between sigma models on certain non-Kahler manifolds with intrinsic torsion and asymmetric Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds. In these orbifold limits, a quantum anomaly of the orbifold action is cancelled by discrete phases in the partition function. These intrinsic torsion phases are derived by blowing down cycles supporting non-trivial H-flux in the linear model. This correspondence extends the CY-LG correspondence to special non-Kahler manifolds and provides computati…
We study the global structure of vacua of heterotic strings compactified on orbifolds $T^4/Z_N$ (N=2,3) in the presence of heterotic 5-branes. Gauge symmetry breaking associated with orbifold is described by instantons in the field theory. Phase transition between small instantons and heterotic 5-branes provides top-down, stringy account to the spectrum and modular invariance condition. Also it takes us from one vacuum to another by emitting and absorbing instantons. This means that many vacua with different gauge theory are in fact connected and are inherited from perturbative vacua. It follo…
We study one-loop quantum corrections to gauge couplings in heterotic vacua with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. Although in non-supersymmetric constructions these corrections are not protected and are typically model dependent, we show how a universal behaviour of threshold differences, typical of supersymmetric vacua, may still persist. We formulate specific conditions on the way supersymmetry should be broken for this to occur. Our analysis implies a generalised notion of threshold universality even in the case of unbroken supersymmetry, whenever extra charged massless states appear at …
We present a systematic way of generating F-theory models dual to nonperturbative vacua (i.e., vacua with extra tensor multiplets) of heterotic E8xE8 strings compactified on K3, using hypersurfaces in toric varieties. In all cases, the Calabi-Yau is an elliptic fibration over a blow up of the Hirzebruch surface F_n. We find that in most cases the fan of the base of the elliptic fibration is visible in the dual polyhedron of the Calabi-Yau, and that the extra tensor multiplets are represented as points corresponding to the blow-ups of the F_n.
A Novel Construction of de Sitter Vacua in Heterotic String Theory
Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, University of British Columbia Okanagan（不列颠哥伦比亚大学奥卡纳根分校阿瑟·K·巴伯艺术与科学学院）；Canadian Quantum Research Center（加拿大量子研究中心）；Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University（杜伦大学数学科学系）；Computational Mathematics Group, Faculty of Sciences, Hasselt University（哈瑟尔特大学理学院计算数学组）
In this talk we summarise our recent results on perturbative and non-perturbative monodromies in four-dimensional heterotic strings with $N=2$ space-time supersymmetry, and we compare our results with the rigid $SU(2)$ $N=2$ Yang-Mills monodromies.
We study type IIA string theory compactified on Calabi-Yau fourfolds and heterotic string theory compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds times a two-torus. We derive the resulting effective theories which have two space-time dimensions and preserve four supercharges. The duality between such vacua is established at the level of the effective theory. For type IIA vacua with non-trivial Ramond-Ramond background fluxes a superpotential is generated. We show that for a specific choice of background fluxes and a fourfold which has the structure of a threefold fibred over a sphere the superpotential c…
The effective field theory of heterotic vacua that realise $\mathbb{R}^{3,1}$ preserving $\mathcal{N} =1$ supersymmetry are studied. The vacua in question admit large radius limits taking the form $\mathbb{R}^{3,1}\times {X}$ , with ${X}$ a smooth three-fold with vanishing first Chern class and a stable holomorphic gauge bundle $\mathcal{E}$. In a previous paper we calculated the kinetic terms for moduli, deducing the moduli metric and Kahler potential. In this paper, we compute the remaining couplings in the effective field theory, correct to first order in alpha prime. In particular, we comp…
We present a new mechanism, the S-Track, to stabilize the volume modulus S in heterotic M-theory flux compactifications along with the orbifold-size T besides complex structure and vector bundle moduli stabilization. The key dynamical ingredient which makes the volume modulus stabilization possible, is M5-instantons arising from M5-branes wrapping the whole Calabi-Yau slice. These are natural in heterotic M-theory where the warping shrinks the Calabi-Yau volume along S^1/Z_2. Combined with H-flux, open M2-instantons and hidden sector gaugino condensation it leads to a superpotential W which st…
We complete our search for MSSM vacua in the Z_6-II heterotic orbifold by including models with 3 Wilson lines. We estimate the total number of inequivalent models in this orbifold to be 10^7. Out of these, we find almost 300 models with the exact MSSM spectrum, gauge coupling unification and a heavy top quark. Models with these features originate predominantly from local GUTs. The scale of gaugino condensation in the hidden sector is correlated with properties of the observable sector such that soft masses in the TeV range are preferred.
We report on the construction of four-dimensional string vacua by considering general abelian and non-abelian bundles on an internal Calabi-Yau for both heterotic theories. The structure of the resulting gauge sector is extremely rich and gives rise to many new model building possibilities. We analyse the chiral spectrum including the contribution from heterotic five-branes and provide the general consistency conditions. The one-loop corrected supersymmetry condition on the bundles is found to be that of pi-stability. As an application we present a supersymmetric Standard-Model like example fo…
We study the superpotential for the heterotic string compactified on non-Kahler complex manifolds. We show that many of the geometrical properties of these manifolds can be understood from the proposed superpotential. In particular we give an estimate of the radial modulus of these manifolds. We also show, how the torsional constraints can be obtained from this superpotential.
We report on some recent progress in understanding heterotic flux compactifications, from a worldsheet perspective mainly. We consider local models consisting in torus fibration over warped Eguchi-Hanson space and non-Kähler resolved conifold geometries. We analyze the supergravity solutions and define a double-scaling limit of the resolved singularities, defined such that the geometry is smooth and weakly coupled. We show that, remarkably, the heterotic solutions admit solvable worldsheet CFT descriptions in this limit. This allows in particular to understand the important role of worldsheet …
We focus on 4D $\mathcal{N}=2$ string vacua described both by perturbative Heterotic theory and by Type IIA theory; a Calabi--Yau three-fold $X_{\rm IIA}$ in the Type IIA language is further assumed to have a regular K3-fibration. It is well-known that one can assign a modular form $Φ$ to such a vacuum by counting perturbative BPS states in Heterotic theory or collecting Noether--Lefschetz numbers associated with the K3-fibration of $X_{\mathrm{IIA}}$. In this article, we expand the observations and ideas (using gauge threshold correction) in the literature and formulate a modular form $Ψ$ wit…
It is shown how metastable de Sitter vacua might arise from heterotic M-theory. The balancing of its two non-perturbative effects, open membrane instantons against gaugino condensation on the hidden boundary, which act with opposing forces on the interval length, is used to stabilize the orbifold modulus (dilaton) and other moduli. The non-perturbative effects break supersymmetry spontaneously through F-terms which leads to a positive vacuum energy density. In contrast to the situation for the weakly coupled heterotic string, the charged scalar matter fields receive non-vanishing vacuum expect…
We study a natural generalization of that given in [arXiv:2005.13198 [hep-th]] to heterotic string. Namely, starting from the generic Gepner models for Calabi-Yau 3-folds, we construct the non-SUSY heterotic string vacua with the vanishing cosmological constant at the one loop. We especially focus on the asymmetric orbifolding based on some discrete subgroup of the chiral $U(1)$-action which acts on both of the Gepner model and the $SO(32)$ or $E_8\times E_8$-sector. We present a classification of the relevant orbifold models leading to the string vacua with the properties mentioned above. In …
We analyze transitions between heterotic vacua with distinct gauge bundles using two complementary methods - the effective four-dimensional field theory and the corresponding geometry. From the viewpoint of effective field theory, such transitions occur between flat directions of the potential energy associated with heterotic stability walls. Geometrically, this branch structure corresponds to smooth deformations of the gauge bundle coupled to the chamber structure of Kähler moduli space. We demonstrate how such transitions can change important properties of the effective theory, including the…
In this paper, we show that the presence of gauge fields in heterotic Calabi-Yau compacitifications causes the stabilisation of some, or all, of the complex structure moduli of the Calabi-Yau manifold while maintaining a Minkowski vacuum. Certain deformations of the Calabi-Yau complex structure, with all other moduli held fixed, can lead to the gauge bundle becoming non-holomorphic and, hence, non-supersymmetric. This leads to an F-term potential which stabilizes the corresponding complex structure moduli. We use 10- and 4-dimensional field theory arguments as well as a derivation based purely…
The SO(10) embedding of the Standard Model spectrum is supported by evidence for neutrino masses. This thesis adapts the available formalism to study a class of heterotic M-theory vacua with SO(10) grand unification group. Compactification to four dimensions with N = 1 supersymmetry is achieved on a torus fibered Calabi-Yau 3-fold Z = X / tau_{X} with first homotopy group pi_{1}(Z) = Z_{2}. Here X is an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau 3-fold which admits two global sections and tau_{X} is a freely acting involution on X. The vacua in this class have net number of three generations of chiral fe…
We address non-perturbative effects and duality symmetries in $N=2$ heterotic string theories in four dimensions. Specifically, we consider how each of the four lines of enhanced gauge symmetries in the perturbative moduli space of $N=2$ $T_2$ compactifications is split into 2 lines where monopoles and dyons become massless. This amounts to considering non-perturbative effects originating from enhanced gauge symmetries at the microscopic string level. We show that the perturbative and non-perturbative monodromies consistently lead to the results of Seiberg-Witten upon identication of a consist…
We compute one-loop threshold corrections to non-abelian gauge couplings in four-dimensional heterotic vacua with spontaneously broken $\cal N = 2 \to \cal N = 0$ supersymmetry, obtained as Scherk-Schwarz reductions of six-dimensional K3 compactifications. As expected, the gauge thresholds are no-longer BPS protected, and receive contributions also from the excitations of the RNS sector. Remarkably, the difference of thresholds for non-abelian gauge couplings is BPS saturated and exhibits a universal behaviour independently of the orbifold realisation of K3. Moreover, the thresholds and their …
We show that certain superpotential and Kahler potential couplings of N=1 supersymmetric compactifications with branes or bundles can be computed from Hodge theory and mirror symmetry. This applies to F-theory on a Calabi-Yau four-fold and three-fold compactifications of type II and heterotic strings with branes. The heterotic case includes a class of bundles on elliptic manifolds constructed by Friedmann, Morgan and Witten. Mirror symmetry of the four-fold computes non-perturbative corrections to mirror symmetry on the three-folds, including D-instanton corrections. We also propose a physical…
We study a class of 6d $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ non-geometric vacua of the $\text{Spin}(32)/\mathbb Z_2$ heterotic string which can be understood as fibrations of genus-two curves over a complex one-dimensional base. The 6d $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ theories living on the defects that arise when the genus-two fiber degenerates at a point of the base are analyzed by dualizing to F-theory on elliptic K3-fibered non-compact Calabi-Yau threefolds. We consider all possible degenerations of genus-two curves and systematically attempt to resolve the singularities of the dual threefolds. As in the analogous non-…
We compute the massless spectra of a set of flux vacua of the heterotic string. The vacua we study include well-known non-Kahler T^2-fibrations over K3 with SU(3) structure and intrinsic torsion. Following gauged linear sigma models of these vacua into phases governed by asymmetric Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds allows us to compute the spectrum using generalizations of familiar LG-orbifold techniques. We study several four- and six-dimensional examples with N=2 spacetime supersymmetry in detail.
N=2 supersymmetric quantum black holes in the heterotic S-T-U model are presented. In particular three classes of axion-free quantum black holes with half the N=2, D=4 supersymmetries unbroken are considered. First, these quantum black holes are investigated at generic points in moduli space. Then linearized non-abelian black holes are investigated representing a subset of non-abelian black hole solutions at critical points of perturbative gauge symmetry enhancement in moduli space. It is shown that the entropy of linearized non-abelian black holes can be obtained, starting at non-critical poi…
In this article we review four-dimensional string vacua with N=2 space-time supersymmetry. In particular, we will discuss several aspects of the string-string duality between the heterotic string, compactified on $K3\times T^2$, and the type II superstring compactified on a Calabi-Yau three-fold. We investigate the massless supersymmetric spectra, showing agreement for a large class of dual heterotic/type II string pairs. Some emphasis is given to non-perturbative heterotic phenomena, such as non-perturbative transitions among different vacua and strong coupling singularities, and to their geo…
We study the vacua of $4d$ heterotic toroidal orbifolds using effective theories consisting of an overall Kähler modulus, the dilaton, and non-perturbative corrections to both the superpotential and Kähler potential that respect modular invariance. We prove three de Sitter no-go theorems for several classes of vacua and thereby substantiate and extend previous conjectures. Additionally, we provide evidence that extrema of the scalar potential can occur inside the PSL$(2,\mathbb{Z})$ fundamental domain of the Kähler modulus, in contradiction of a separate conjecture. We also illustrate a loopho…
Recent developments in string theory have reinforced the notion that the space of stable supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric string vacua fills out a ``landscape'' whose features are largely unknown. It is then hoped that progress in extracting phenomenological predictions from string theory -- such as correlations between gauge groups, matter representations, potential values of the cosmological constant, and so forth -- can be achieved through statistical studies of these vacua. To date, most of the efforts in these directions have focused on Type I vacua. In this note, we present the firs…
We propose a scenario to stabilize all geometric moduli - that is, the complex structure, Kahler moduli and the dilaton - in smooth heterotic Calabi-Yau compactifications without Neveu-Schwarz three-form flux. This is accomplished using the gauge bundle required in any heterotic compactification, whose perturbative effects on the moduli are combined with non-perturbative corrections. We argue that, for appropriate gauge bundles, all complex structure and a large number of other moduli can be perturbatively stabilized - in the most restrictive case, leaving only one combination of Kahler moduli…
We present a class of N=1 supersymmetric ``standard'' models of particle physics, derived directly from heterotic M-theory, that contain three families of chiral quarks and leptons coupled to the gauge group SU(3)_C X SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y. These models are a fundamental form of ``brane world'' theories, with an observable and hidden sector each confined, after compactification on a Calabi--Yau threefold, to a BPS three-brane separated by a higher dimensional bulk space with size of the order of the intermediate scale. The requirement of three families, coupled to the fundamental conditions of anom…
We study heterotic backgrounds with non-trivial $H$-flux and non-vanishing expectation values of fermionic bilinears, often referred to as gaugino condensates. The gaugini appear in the low energy action via the gauge-invariant three-form bilinear $Σ_{MNP}={\rm tr}\:\barχΓ_{MNP}χ$. For Calabi-Yau compactifications to four dimensions, the gaugino condensate corresponds to an internal three-form $Σ_{mnp}$ that must be a singlet of the holonomy group. This condition does not hold anymore when an internal $H$-flux is turned on and ${\cal O}(α')$ effects are included. In this paper we study flux co…
We discuss compactifications of heterotic string theory to four dimensions in the presence of H-fluxes, which deform the geometry of the internal manifold, and a gaugino condensate which breaks supersymmetry. We focus on the compensation of the two effects in order to obtain vacua with zero cosmological constant and we comment on the effective superpotential describing these vacua.
We study four-dimensional heterotic flux vacua with N=2 spacetime supersymmetry. A worldsheet perspective is used to clarify quantization conditions associated to the fluxes and the constraints these place on the moduli spaces of resulting compactifications. We propose that these vacua fit naturally in the context of heterotic/IIA duality as heterotic duals to compactifications on K3-fibered but not elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau three-folds. We present some examples of such potential dual pairs.
