Supersymmetry Breaking by Fluxes

TL;DR

This paper explores how flux configurations in string theory break supersymmetry and lead to dynamic, time-dependent backgrounds, providing insights into the string landscape and the nature of de Sitter space-times.

Contribution

It demonstrates that supersymmetry-breaking flux backgrounds are generally time-dependent at weak coupling, challenging static assumptions and explaining the evasion of no-go theorems for de Sitter space.

Findings

Flux configurations induce time-dependent solutions.

Quantum corrections are computed around classical backgrounds.

Implications for de Sitter space in string landscape models.

Abstract

Type II string theory and M-theory admit flux configurations that break supersymmetry below the Kaluza-Klein scale. These backgrounds play a central role in most models of the string landscape. I argue that the behavior of such backgrounds at weak coupling is generically a rolling solution, not a static space-time. Quantum corrections to the space-time potential are computed around this classical time-dependent background. This is particularly important for non-perturbative corrections. This change in perspective offers an explanation for why there appear to be many effective field theory models that seemingly evade the known no-go theorems forbidding de Sitter space-times. This has interesting implications for type IIB string landscape models.