At finite charge density certain holographic models exhibit the spontaneous breaking of translational invariance resulting in an inhomogeneous phase. We follow up on recent numerical work, reporting results for a larger class of cohomogeneity two black branes in AdS, dual to a holographic striped phase. We construct the continuous moduli space of inhomogeneous black branes as a function of the temperature. Minimising the free energy we determine the dominant striped solutions, revealing a growth in the stripe size as the system is cooled. We discuss the thermodynamic properties of this line of solutions.
We construct inhomogeneous charged black branes in AdS, holographically dual to a phase at finite chemical potential with spontaneously broken translation invariance in one direction. These are obtained numerically, solving PDEs for the fully backreacted system. Fixing the periodicity scale, we find a second order phase transition to the inhomogeneous phase. We comment on the properties of the state emerging at low temperatures. For some models we demonstrate the existence of a branch of striped solutions but no continuous phase transition.
We discuss new types of instabilities of D=4 electrically charged AdS-Reissner-Nordström black branes that involve neutral pseudo-scalars. The instabilities spontaneously break translational invariance and are associated with the dual three-dimensional CFTs, at finite temperature and fixed chemical potential with respect to a global abelian symmetry, acquiring striped phases. We show that such instabilities are present for the infinite class of skew-whiffed $AdS_4\times SE_7$ solutions of D=11 supergravity, albeit at a lower temperature than the known superfluid instabilities.
We consider a holographic description of a system of strongly-coupled fermions in 2+1 dimensions based on a D7-brane probe in the background of D3-branes. The black hole embedding represents a Fermi-like liquid. We study the excitations of the Fermi liquid system. Above a critical density which depends on the temperature, the system becomes unstable towards an inhomogeneous modulated phase which is similar to a charge density and spin wave state. The essence of this instability can be effectively described by a Maxwell-axion theory with a background electric field. We also consider the fate of…
In this paper we extend previous work on the relation between the complex structure moduli of the underlying Calabi-Yau manifold in five dimensional supergravity with the time evolution of an embedded 3-brane. We numerically solve the fields' equations for such a construction and focus on dust and radiation filled branes; with the possible application of modeling the universe as a brane-world. It is shown that in both cases the time evolution of the moduli causally connects to the expansion of the brane-world. We also find that in most cases considered there is an early short period of rapid a…
We consider a 4+N-dimensional brane world with 2 co-dimension 1 branes in an empty bulk. The two branes have N-1 of their extra dimensions compactified on a sphere S^(N-1), whereas the ordinary 4 spacetime directions are Poincare invariant. An essential input are induced stress-energy tensors on the branes providing different tensions for the spherical and flat part of the branes. The junction conditions - notably through their extra dimensional components - fix both the distance between the branes as well as the size of the sphere. As a result, we demonstrate, that there are no scalar Kaluza-…
We compute the moduli metrics of worldvolume 0-brane solitons of D-branes and the worldvolume self-dual string solitons of the M-5-brane and examine their geometry. We find that the moduli spaces of 0-brane solitons of D-4-branes and D-8-branes are hyper-Kähler manifolds with torsion and octonionic Kähler manifolds with torsion, respectively. The moduli space of the self-dual string soliton of the M-5-brane is also a hyper-Kähler manifold with torsion.
A generalized Randall sundrum model in six dimensional bulk is studied in presence of non-flat 3-branes at the orbifold fixed points. The warp factors for this model is determined in terms of multiple moduli and brane cosmological constant. We show that the requirements of a vanishingly small cosmological constant on the visible brane along with non-hierarchical moduli, each with scale close to Planck length, lead to a scenario where the 3-branes can not have any intermediate scale and have energy scales either close to Tev or close to Planck scale. Such a scenario can address both the gauge h…
We discuss the effect of the dynamics of D-branes on moduli stabilization in type IIB string theory compactifications, with reference to a concrete toy model of T6/Z3 orientifold compactification with fractional D3-branes and anti-D3-branes at orbifold fixed points. The resulting attractive forces between anti-D3-branes and D3-branes, together with the repulsive forces between anti-D3-branes and O3-planes, can affect the stability of the compact space. There are no complex structure moduli in T6/Z3 orientifold, which should thus capture some generic features of more general settings where all …
In this paper we find examples of moduli stabilization and runaway behavior which can be treated exactly. This is shown for supersymmetric field theories which can be realized on the world volume of D-branes. From a geometric point of view, these field theories lift moduli spaces of vacua by deforming lines of singularities where supersymmetric fractional branes can be located in the geometry without D-branes.
We give a general construction of extended moduli spaces of topological D-branes as non-commutative algebraic varieties. This shows that noncommutative symplectic geometry in the sense of Kontsevich arises naturally in String Theory.
We investigate the one-parameter Calabi-Yau models and identify families of D5-branes which are associated to lines embedded in these manifolds. The moduli spaces are given by sets of Riemann curves, which form a web whose intersection points are described by permutation branes. We arrive at a geometric interpretation for bulk-boundary correlators as holomorphic differentials on the moduli space and use this to compute effective open-closed superpotentials to all orders in the open string couplings. The fixed points of D5-brane moduli under bulk deformations are determined.
We consider the case of a generic braneworld geometry in the presence of one or more moduli fields (e.g., the dilaton) that vary throughout the bulk spacetime. Working in an arbitrary conformal frame, using the generalized junction conditions of gr-qc/0008008 and the Gauss--Codazzi equations, we derive the effective ``induced'' on-brane gravitational equations. As usual in braneworld scenarios, these equations do not form a closed system in that the bulk can exchange both information and stress-energy with the braneworld. We work with an arbitrary number of moduli fields described by an arbitr…
We calculate various tree-level (disk) scattering amplitudes involving gauge, matter and moduli fields in type IIB toroidal orbifold/orientifold backgrounds with D9,D5 respectively D7,D3-branes or via T-duality D6-branes in type IIA compactifications. In type IIB the D-branes may have non-vanishing fluxes on their world-volume. From these results we extract the moduli and flux dependence of the tree-level gauge couplings, the metrics for the moduli and matter fields. The non-vanishing fluxes correspond in the T-dual type IIA description to intersecting D6-branes. This allows us to determine th…
We discuss the worldvolume description of intersecting D-branes, including the metric on the moduli space of deformations. We impose a choice of static gauge that treats all the branes on an equal footing and describes the intersection of D-branes as an embedded special Lagrangian three-surface. Some explicit solutions to these equations are given and their interpretation in terms of a superpotential on moduli space is discussed. These surfaces arise from flat direction of a non-Abelian superpotential and imply the existance of non-compact G_2 manifolds.
We examine the modulus stabilization mechanism of a warped geometry model with nested warping. Such a model with multiple moduli is known to offer a possible resolution of the fermion mass hierarchy problem in the standard model. A six dimensional doubly warped braneworld model under consideration admits two distinct moduli, with the associated warp factors dynamically generating different physical mass scales on four 3-branes. In order to address the hierarchy problem related to the Higgs mass, both moduli need to be stabilized around their desired values without any extreme fine tuning of pa…
Standard results in 4d N=1 string compactifications assign a number of moduli to each space-time filling D-brane, computed by analysing the D-brane action in a fixed background. We revisit such conventional wisdom and argue that this naive counting of open string moduli is incorrect, in the sense that some of them will be lifted when making dynamical the bulk degrees of freedom. We explicitly discuss this effect for D6-branes wrapping special Lagrangian three-cycles, showing that some geometric and Wilson line moduli are lifted even before taking into account worldsheet instanton effects. From…
We investigate the thermodynamic and hydrodynamic properties of 4-dimensional gauge theories with finite electric charge density in the presence of a constant magnetic field. Their gravity duals are planar magnetically and electrically charged AdS black holes in theories that contain a gauge Chern-Simons term. We present a careful analysis of the near horizon geometry of these black branes at finite and zero temperature for the case of a scalar field non-minimally coupled to the electromagnetic field. With the knowledge of the near horizon data, we obtain analytic expressions for the shear vis…
We study an extra flavor in the cascading SU((k+1)M)xSU(k M) gauge theory by adding probe D7-brane to the geometry. By finding a solution to the kappa-symmetry equation we establish that the D7-brane is mutually supersymmetric with the background everywhere on the baryonic branch of moduli space. We also discuss possible applications of this result.
T-duality (Fourier-Mukai duality) and properties of classical instanton moduli spaces can be used to deduce some properties of $α^{\prime}$-corrected moduli spaces of branes for Type IIA string theory compactified on $K3$ or $T^4$. Some interesting differences between the two compactifications are exhibited.
We study D2-branes on the K3-fibration P^4_(11222)[8] using matrix factorizations at the Landau-Ginzburg point and analyze their moduli space and superpotentials in detail. We find that the open string moduli space consists of various intersecting branches of different dimensions. Families of D2-branes wrapping rational curves of degree one intersect with bound state branches. The influence of non-toric complex structure deformations is investigated in the Landau-Ginzburg framework, where these deformations arise as bulk moduli from the twisted sectors.
We study B-brane superpotentials depending on several closed- and open- moduli on Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces and complete intersections. By blowing up the ambient space along a curve wrapped by B-branes in a Calabi-Yau manifold, we obtain a blow-up new manifold and the period integral satisfying the GKZ-system. Via mirror symmetry to A-model, we calculate the superpotentials and extract Ooguri-Vafa invariants for concrete examples of several open-closed moduli in Calabi-Yau manifolds.
It is shown that the supergravity moduli spaces of D1-D5 and D2-D6 brane systems coincide with those of the Coulomb branches of the associated non-abelian gauge theories. We further discuss situations in which worldvolume brane actions include a potential term generated by probing certain supergravity backgrounds. We find that in many cases, the appearance of the potential is due to the application of the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. We give some examples and discuss the existence of novel supersymmetric brane configurations.
We present a Kahler potential for four dimensional heterotic M-theory which includes moduli describing a gauge five brane living on one of the orbifold fixed planes. This result can also be thought of as describing compactifications of either of the weakly coupled heterotic strings in the presence of a gauge five brane. This is the first example of a Kahler potential in these theories which includes moduli describing background gauge field configurations. Our results are valid when the solitons width is much smaller than the size scale of the Calabi-Yau threefold and can be used to provide a m…
We study cosmological consequences of non-constant brane world moduli in five dimensional brane world models with bulk scalars and two boundary branes. We focus on the case where the brane tension is an exponential function of the bulk scalar field, $U_b \propto \exp{(αϕ)}$. In the limit $α\to 0$, the model reduces to the two-brane model of Randall-Sundrum, whereas larger values of $α$ allow for a less warped bulk geometry. Using the moduli space approximation, we derive the four-dimensional low-energy effective action from a supergravity-inspired five-dimensional theory. For arbitrary values …
We show that a system of parallel D3 branes near a conifold singularity can be mapped onto an intersecting configuration of orthogonal branes in type IIA string theory. Using this brane configuration, we analyze the Higgs moduli space of the associated field theory. The dimension of the Higgs moduli space is computed from a geometrical analysis of the conifold singularity. Our results provide evidence for an extended s-rule. In addition, a discrepancy between the prediction of the brane configuration and the result obtained from a geometrical anaysis is noted. This discrepancy is traced back t…
We calculate the effective action for small velocity scattering of localized 1-branes and 5-branes. Momentum is allowed to flow in the direction along the 1-branes so that the moduli space has only 1/8 of the full supersymmetry. Relative to the more familiar case with the 1-branes delocalized along the 5-branes, this introduces new moduli associated with the motion of the 1-branes along the 5-branes. We consider in detail the moduli space metric for the associated two body problem. Even for motion transverse to the 5-brane, our results differ substantially from the delocalized case. However, t…
A large class of equivalence relations between the moduli spaces of instantons on ALE spaces and the Higgs branches of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories, are found by means of a certain kind of duality transformation between brane configurations in superstring theories. 4d, N=2 and 5d, N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories with product gauge groups turn out to correspond to the ALE-instanton moduli of type II B and type II A superstring theories, respectively.
We study the classification of D-branes in all compact Lie groups including non-simply-laced ones. We also discuss the global structure of the quantum moduli space of the D-branes. D-branes are classified according to their positions in the maximal torus. We describe rank 2 cases, namely $B_2$, $C_2$, $G_2$, explicitly and construct all the D-branes in $B_r$, $C_r$, $F_4$ by the method of iterative deletion in the Dynkin diagram. The discussion of moduli space involves global issues that can be treated in terms of the exact homotopy sequence and various lattices. We also show that singular D-b…
We present the first example of a Kahler potential for heterotic M-theory which includes gauge bundle moduli. These moduli describe the background gauge field configurations living on the orbifold fixed planes. We concentrate on the bundle moduli describing the size and SU(2) orientation of a gauge five brane - a soliton which is primarily composed of these gauge fields. Our results are valid when the width of this object is small compared to the overall size of the Calabi-Yau threefold. We find that, in general, it is not consistent to truncate away these moduli in a simple manner.
We study the moduli space of the D0-brane system on Dp-branes realized in the noncommutative super Yang-Mills theory. By examining the fluctuations around the solitonic solutions generated by solution generating technique, we confirm the interpretation of the moduli as the positions of D0-branes on Dp-branes. Low-energy scattering process is also examined for two D0-branes. We find that the D0-branes scatter at right angle for head-on collision in the D0-D4 system. For D0-D6 and D0-D8 systems we find special solutions which reduce to the D0-D4 case, giving the same behavior. This suggests that…
We study D-branes transverse to an abelian orbifold C^3/Z_n Z_n. The moduli space of the gauge theory on the D-branes is analyzed by combinatorial calculation based on toric geometry. It is shown that the calculation is related to a problemto count the number of ground states of an antiferromagnetic Ising model. The lattice on which the Ising model is defined is a triangular one defined on the McKay quiver of the orbifold.
We develop a method to analyze systematically the configuration space of a D-brane localized at the orbifold singular point of a Calabi--Yau $d$-fold of the form ${\Bbb C}^d/Γ$ using the theory of toric quotients. This approach elucidates the structure of the Kähler moduli space associated with the problem. As an application, we compute the toric data of the $Γ$-Hilbert scheme.
We consider a compactification with a six-dimensional torus in the type II brane gas models. We show that the dilaton and the scale of each cycle of the internal space are fixed in the presence of NS5-brane and Kaluza-Klein monopoles as well as D-branes with the gauge fields. We can construct various models that lead to fixed moduli by using T-duality transformations.
We study the correspondence between the moduli space of vacua of three-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills (Maxwell) Chern-Simons theories and brane configurations with (p,q)5-brane. For Coulomb branches, the number of the massless adjoint scalar fields in various supersymmetric theories exactly coincides with the number of the freely moving directions of D3-branes stretched between two 5-branes. When we include a matter superfield into the supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory two distinct symmetric and asymmetric phase appear. The symmetric phase is peculiar to this Chern-Simons Higgs system.…
We demonstrate the validity of the String Lamppost Principle-that all consistent theories of quantum gravity are in the String Landscape-for supersymmetric theories in $d>6$ using compactness and connectedness of the moduli space of small instantons, as well as the classification of the associated Coulomb branch.
By extending the calculation of Kahler moduli stabilization to account for an embiggened antibrane, we reevaluate brane/flux annihilation in a warped throat with one stabilized Kahler modulus. We find that depending on the relative size of various fluxes three things can occur: the decay process proceeds unhindered, the anti-D3-branes are forbidden to decay classically, or the entire space decompactifies. Additionally, we show that the Kahler modulus receives a contribution from the collective 3-brane tension. This allows for a significant change in compactified volume during the transition an…
D-branes in curved backgrounds can be treated with techniques of boundary conformal field theory. We discuss the influence of scalar condensates on such branes, i.e. perturbations of boundary conditions by marginal boundary operators. A general criterion is presented that guarantees a boundary perturbation to be truly marginal in all orders of perturbation theory. Our results on boundary deformations have several interesting applications which are sketched at the end of this note.
Warped string compactifications are central to many attempts to stabilize moduli and connect string theory with cosmology and particle phenomenology. We present a first-principles derivation of the low-energy 4D effective theory from dimensional reduction of a D3-brane in a warped Calabi-Yau compactification of type IIB string theory with imaginary self-dual 3-form flux, including effects of D3-brane motion beyond the probe approximation, and find the metric on the moduli space of brane positions, the universal volume modulus, and axions descending from the 4-form potential. As D3-branes may b…
We study the quantum moduli space of N=2 Chern-Simons quivers with generic ranks and CS levels, proving along the way exact formulas for the charges of bare monopole operators. We then derive N=2 Chern-Simons quiver theories dual to AdS_4 x Y^{p,q}(CP2) M-theory backgrounds, for the whole family of Sasaki-Einstein seven-manifolds and for any value of the torsion G_4 flux. The derivation of the gauge theories relies on the reduction to type IIA string theory, in which M2-branes become D2-branes while the conical geometry maps to RR flux and D6-branes wrapped on compact four-cycles. M5-branes on…
Eighth-BPS local operators in N=4 SYM are dual to quantum states arising from the quantization of a moduli space of giant gravitons in AdS5xS5. Earlier results on the quantization of this moduli space give a Hilbert space of multiple harmonic oscillators in 3 dimensions. We use these results, along with techniques from fuzzy geometry, to develop a map between quantum states and brane geometries. In particular there is a map between the oscillator states and points in a discretization of the base space in the toric fibration of the moduli space. We obtain a geometrical decomposition of the spac…
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 demonstrate that a gas of wrapped branes in the early Universe can help resolve the cosmological Dine-Seiberg/Brustein-Steinhardt overshoot problem in the context of moduli stabilization with steep potentials in string theory. Starting from this mechanism, we propose a cosmological model with a natural setting in the context of an early phase dominated by brane and string gases. The Universe inflates at early times due to the presence of a wrapped two brane (domain wall) gas and all moduli are stabilized. A natural graceful exit from the inflationary regime is achieved. However, the basic m…
A naive dimensional reduction of the $N=1, D=10$ supergravity theory that naturally arises in five-brane models is used to determine the rôle of two fields which are basic ingredients of string models: the dilaton and, among the moduli, the breathing mode. It is shown that, under the duality transformation that relates five-branes and strings, these two fields exchange the rôles of 10-dimensional dilaton and radius of the compact manifold. A description of this phenomenon in terms of the linear multiplets of the 4-dimensional supergravity is also presented.
I consider the implications for brane-world scenarios of the rather robust quantum-gravity expectation that there should be a quantum minimum limit on the uncertainty of all physical length scales. In order to illustrate the possible significance of this issue, I observe that, according to a plausible estimate, the quantum limit on the length scales that characterize the bulk geometry could affect severely the phenomenology of a recently-proposed brane-world scenario.
We study toroidal compactifications of Type II string theory with D-branes and nontrivial antisymmetric tensor moduli and show that turning on these fields modifies the supersymmetry projections imposed by D-branes. These modifications are seen to be necessary for the consistency of T-duality. We also show the existence of unusual BPS configurations of branes at angles that are supersymmetric because of conspiracies between moduli fields. Analysis of the problem from the point of view of the effective field theory of massless modes shows that the presence of a 2-form background must modify the…
Boundary conformal field theory is the suitable framework for a microscopic treatment of D-branes in arbitrary CFT backgrounds. In this work, we develop boundary deformation theory in order to study the changes of boundary conditions generated by marginal boundary fields. The deformation parameters may be regarded as continuous moduli of D-branes. We identify a large class of boundary fields which are shown to be truly marginal, and we derive closed formulas describing the associated deformations to all orders in perturbation theory. This allows us to study the global topology properties of th…
We study the moduli space of the boundary conformal field theories describing an unstable D-brane of type II string theory compactified on a circle of critical radius. This moduli space has two branches, -- a three dimensional branch S^3/Z_2 and a two dimensional branch described by a square torus T^2. These two branches are joined along a circle. We compare this with the moduli space of classical solutions of tachyon effective field theory compactified on a circle of critical radius. This moduli space has a very similar structure to that of the boundary conformal field theory with the only di…
In the context of brane gas cosmology in superstring theory, we show why it is impossible to simultaneously stabilize the dilaton and the radion with a general gas of strings (including massless modes) and D-branes. Although this requires invoking a different mechanism to stabilize these moduli fields, we find that the brane gas can still play a crucial role in the early universe in assisting moduli stabilization. We show that a modest energy density of specific types of brane gas can solve the overshoot problem that typically afflicts potentials arising from gaugino condensation.
We construct cohomogeneity-three, finite temperature stationary black brane solutions dual to a field theory exhibiting checkerboard order. The checkerboards form a backreacted part of the bulk solution, and are obtained numerically from the coupled Einstein-Maxwell-scalar PDE system. They arise spontaneously and without the inclusion of an explicit lattice. The phase exhibits both charge and global U(1)-current modulation, which are periodic in two spatial directions. The current circulates within each checkerboard plaquette. We explore the competition with striped phases, finding first-order…
The worldvolume theory of M5-branes on an ADE singularity $\mathbb{R}^5/Γ_G$ can be Higgsed in various ways, corresponding to the possible nilpotent orbits of $G$. In the F-theory dual picture, this corresponds to activating T-brane data along two stacks of 7-branes and yields a tensor branch realization for a large class of 6D SCFTs. In this paper, we show that the moduli spaces and anomalies of these T-brane theories are related in a simple, universal way to data of the nilpotent orbits. This often works in surprising ways and gives a nontrivial confirmation of the conjectured properties of …
A braneworld model for neutrino Dark Energy (DE) is presented. We consider a five dimensional two-branes set up with a bulk scalar field motivated by supergravity. Its low-energy effective theory is derived with a moduli space approximation (MSA). The position of the two branes are parametrized by two scalar degrees of freedom (moduli). After detuning the brane tensions a classical potential for the moduli is generated. This potential is unstable for dS branes and we suggest to consider as a stabilizing contribution the Casimir energy of bulk fields. In particular we add a massive spinor (neut…
We study intersecting brane systems that realize a class of singular monopole configurations in four-dimensional Yang-Mills-Higgs theory. Singular monopoles are solutions to the Bogomolny equation on R^3 with a prescribed number of singularities corresponding to the insertion of 't Hooft defects. We use the brane construction to motivate a recent conjecture on the conditions for which the moduli space of solutions is non-empty. We also show how branes provide physical intuition for various aspects of the dimension formula derived in {arXiv:1404.5616}, including the contribution to the dimensio…
A numerical solution to the equations of motion for the ekpyrotic bulk brane scenario in the moduli space approximation is presented. The visible universe brane has positive tension, and we use a potential that goes to zero exponentially at large distance, and also goes to zero at small distance. In the case considered, no bulk brane, visible brane collision occurs in the solution. This property and the general behavior of the solution is qualitatively the same when the visible brane tension is negative, and for many different parameter choices.
We consider supergravity compactifications on 6-dimensional twisted tori, which are 5-torus fibrations of the circle. The motion of branes on such manifolds can lead to power-law potentials at low energy, that may be useful for inflation. We classify the possible low energy potentials one can obtain by wrapping branes on different cycles of the fibre. Turning to the problem of moduli stabilization in such models, we prove a no-go result for solutions with parametrically small cosmological constant, under certain assumptions for the orientifolds and D-branes. We also consider the role of discre…
We consider a braneworld scenario with a black brane parallel to our brane, aiming towards a Higgs phase of gravity in string theory. The existence of the black brane spontaneously breaks the Lorentz symmetry on our brane but preserves the rotational and translational invariance. If all moduli are stabilized then this should lead to a Higgs phase of gravity. We investigate moduli stabilization by using a KKLT-type moduli potential in the context of type IIB warped flux compactification.
We analyse the moduli spaces of superconformal field theories (SCFTs). For N=2 we find an enhanced moduli space which in geometrical terms corresponds to tori with two independent complex structures. To explain the precise relation with the moduli space of SCFTs on K3 surfaces as described by Aspinwall and Morrison, we discuss some subtleties with the precise interpretation of the N=2 and N=4 moduli spaces. We also explain why in some cases the SYZ-description of mirror symmetry as fibrewise T-duality seems to break down. Using gluing matrices we give an algebraic description of D-branes and c…
The evolution of moduli fields, which naturally appear in higher dimensional models such as brane worlds, and their effects on the anisotropies of the cosmological microwave background radiation is discussed.
Anti-D3 branes and non-perturbative effects in flux compactifications spontaneously break supersymmetry and stabilise moduli in a metastable de Sitter vacua. The low energy 4D effective field theory description for such models would be a supergravity theory with non-linearly realised supersymmetry. Guided by string theory modular symmetry, we compute this non-linear supergravity theory, including dependence on all bulk moduli. Using either a constrained chiral superfield or a constrained vector field, the uplifting contribution to the scalar potential from the anti-D3 brane can be parameterise…
In a toy model with gases of membranes and strings wrapping over a two-dimensional internal torus, we study the stabilization problem for the shape modulus. It is observed that winding modes of partially wrapped strings and momentum modes give rise to stress in the energy momentum tensor. We show that this stress dynamically stabilizes the shape modulus of the two torus.
We obtain new intersecting 5-brane, string and pp-wave solutions in the heterotic string on a torus and on a K3 manifold. In the former case the 5-brane is supported by Yang-Mills instantons, and in the latter case both the 5-brane and the string are supported by the instantons. The instanton moduli are parameterised by the sizes and locations of the instantons. We exhibit two kinds of phase transition in which, for suitable choices of the instanton moduli, a 5-brane and/or a string can be created. One kind of phase transition occurs when the size of an instanton vanishes, while the other occu…
