Stabilizing moduli with thermal matter and nonperturbative effects

TL;DR

This paper investigates the compatibility of nonperturbative effects and thermal matter in stabilizing moduli within heterotic string theory, demonstrating that both mechanisms can coexist under certain conditions.

Contribution

It shows that nonperturbative potentials and thermal matter effects can simultaneously stabilize different moduli without interference in heterotic string models.

Findings

Nonperturbative effects stabilize the dilaton.

Thermal matter stabilizes the radion.

Both mechanisms are compatible under certain approximations.

Abstract

Even with recent progress, it is still very much an open question to understand how all compactification moduli are stabilized, since there are several mechanisms. For example, it is possible to generate a scalar potential either classically or through nonperturbative effects, such as gaugino condensation. Such a potential can stabilize certain of the moduli fields, for example the dilaton. On the other hand, a background of thermal matter with moduli-dependent masses can also stabilize certain of the moduli, e.g., the radion. It is important to understand whether these two distinct mechanisms are compatible with each other, that is, that there are no interference terms that could spoil the moduli stabilization. In this paper, we study heterotic string theory on an N=1 orbifold near an enhanced symmetry point. We then consider both a nonperturbatively generated potential and a gas of strings with moduli-dependent masses to stabilize the dilaton and radial modulus, respectively. We conclude that, given certain approximations, these two moduli stabilization mechanisms are compatible.