Fluxes in Heterotic and Type II String Compactifications

We review here some of the checks of string-string duality between N=2, D=4 Heterotic and Type II models. The heterotic low energy field theory is reproduced on the type II side. It is also shown to be a generalization in the string context of the rigid $N=2$ Yang-Mills theory of Seiberg and Witten which is exactly known. The non perturbative information of this rigid theory is then recovered on the type II side. This talk is based on a work done in collaboration with I. Anto...

We search for $N=2$, $d=4$ theories which can be realized both as heterotic string compactifications on $K_{3}\times T^{2}$ and as type II string compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds. In such cases, the exact non-perturbative superpotential of one string theory is given in terms of tree level computations in the other string theory. In particular we find concrete examples which provide the stringy realization of the results of Seiberg and Witten on N=2 Yang-Mills theory...

We discuss how transitions in the space of heterotic K3*T^2 compactifications are mapped by duality into transitions in the space of Type II compactifications on Calabi-Yau manifolds. We observe that perturbative symmetry restoration, as well as non-perturbative processes such as changes in the number of tensor multiplets, have at least in many cases a simple description in terms of the reflexive polyhedra of the Calabi-Yau manifolds. Our results suggest that to many, perhaps...

In this review article we present an analysis of several aspects of four-dimensional, non-perturbative N=1 compactifications of string theory. Our study focuses on brane dynamics and their effective physics as encoded in the holomorphic couplings of the low-energy N=1 effective action, most prominently the superpotential W. This article is divided into three parts. In part one we derive the effective action of a spacetime-filling D5-brane in generic Type IIB Calabi-Yau orient...

We discuss the compactification of type IIB supergravity on a Calabi-Yau manifold in the presence of both RR and NS fluxes for the three-form fields. We obtain the classical potential both by direct compactification and by using the techniques of N=2 gauged supergravity in four-dimensions. We briefly discuss the properties of such potential and compare the result with previous derivations.

We use open-closed string duality between F-theory on K3xK3 and type II strings on CY manifolds without branes to study non-perturbative superpotentials in generalized flux compactifications. On the F-theory side we obtain the full flux potential including D3-instanton contributions and show that it leads to an explicit and simple realization of the three ingredients of the KKLT model for stringy dS vacua. The D3-instanton contribution is highly non-trivial, can be systematic...

Recent work on four dimensional effective descriptions of the heterotic string has identified the moduli of such systems as being given by kernels of maps between ordinary Dolbeault cohomology groups. The maps involved are defined by the supergravity data of the background solutions. Such structure is seen both in the case of Calabi-Yau compactifications with non-trivial constraints on moduli arising from the gauge bundle and in the case of some non-Kahler compactifications o...

We generalize the recent proposal that invariance under T-duality leads to additional non-geometric fluxes required so that superpotentials in type IIA and type IIB orientifolds match. We show that invariance under type IIB S-duality requires the introduction of a new set of fluxes leading to further superpotential terms. We find new classes of N=1 supersymmetric Minkowski vacua based on type IIB toroidal orientifolds in which not only dilaton and complex moduli but also Kahl...

We study the duality between M-theory compactified on Calabi-Yau fourfolds and the heterotic string compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds times a circle. Our analysis is based on a comparison of the low energy effective actions in three dimensions.

We propose a way to describe compactifications of Type II supergravities with fluxes directly from superspace. The superspace used is the one that arises naturally from the pure spinor superstring. We show how previous results of flux compactifications can be obtained from our method.