Minkowski vacuum transitions in (non-geometric) flux compactifications

TL;DR

This paper explores how D-branes can transform into fluxes via instantonic mediation in flux compactifications, revealing implications for vacuum stability and the landscape of solutions in string theory.

Contribution

It generalizes twisted homology to non-geometric backgrounds and analyzes conditions for brane-flux transitions affecting vacuum solutions.

Findings

Flux superpotential varies under brane-flux transitions.

Certain Minkowski vacua are protected from such transitions.

Non-geometric fluxes impose topological restrictions on transitions.

Abstract

In this work we study the generalization of twisted homology to geometric and non-geometric backgrounds. In the process we describe the necessary conditions to wrap a network of D-branes on twisted cycles. If the cycle is localized in time, we show how by an instantonic brane mediation, some D-branes transform into fluxes on different backgrounds including non-geometric fluxes. As a consequence, we show that in the case of a IIB six-dimensional torus compactification on a simple orientifold, the flux superpotential is not invariant by this brane-flux transition, allowing the connection among different Minkowski vacuum solutions. For the case in which non-geometric fluxes are turned on, we also discuss some topological restrictions for the transition to occur. In this context, we show that there are some vacuum solutions protected to change by a brane-flux transition.