Flux, Gaugino Condensation and Anti-Branes in Heterotic M-theory

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the potential energy contributions from flux and gaugino condensation in heterotic M-theory with anti-branes, highlighting how anti-branes modify gaugino effects despite not affecting flux contributions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed microscopic analysis showing how anti-branes alter gaugino condensation effects while flux contributions remain unchanged in heterotic M-theory.

Findings

Flux contributions are unaffected by anti-branes.

Anti-branes significantly modify gaugino condensation effects.

Threshold corrections to gauge kinetic functions are greatly altered.

Abstract

We present the potential energy due to flux and gaugino condensation in heterotic M-theory compactifications with anti-branes in the vacuum. For reasons which we explain in detail, the contributions to the potential due to flux are not modified from those in supersymmetric contexts. The discussion of gaugino condensation is, however, changed by the presence of anti-branes. We show how a careful microscopic analysis of the system allows us to use standard results in supersymmetric gauge theory in describing such effects - despite the explicit supersymmetry breaking which is present. Not surprisingly, the significant effect of anti-branes on the threshold corrections to the gauge kinetic functions greatly alters the potential energy terms arising from gaugino condensation.