Horizon states and the sign of their index in ${\cal N}=4$ dyons

TL;DR

The paper investigates the positivity of the index of horizon states in 1/4 BPS dyons within ${ m extbf{N}=4}$ theories, demonstrating that removing hair degrees of freedom reveals positive horizon state indices across various models.

Contribution

It introduces a method to isolate horizon degrees of freedom by removing hair, proving the positivity of the horizon state index in multiple ${ m extbf{N}=4}$ dyon models.

Findings

Horizon state index is positive after hair removal in ${ m extbf{N}=4}$ dyons.

Positivity holds for dyons in type IIB on $K3\times T^2$ and CHL orbifolds.

Positivity is violated if hair is not removed, indicating the importance of isolating horizon states.

Abstract

Classical single centered solutions of $1/4$ BPS dyons in ${\cal N}=4$ theories are usually constructed in duality frames which contain non-trivial hair degrees of freedom localized outside the horizon. These modes are in addition to the fermionic zero modes associated with broken supersymmetry. Identifying and removing the hair from the $1/4$ BPS index allows us to isolate the degrees of freedom associated with the horizon. The spherical symmetry of the horizon then ensures that index of the horizon states has to be positive. We verify that this is indeed the case for the canonical example of dyons in type IIB theory on $K3\times T^2$ and prove this property holds for a class of states. We generalise this observation to all CHL orbifolds, this involves identifying the hair and isolating the horizon degrees of freedom. We then identify the horizon states for $1/4$ BPS dyons in ${\cal N}=4$ models obtained by freely acting ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ and ${\mathbb{ Z}}_3$ orbifolds of type IIB theory compactified on $T^6$ and observe that the index is again positive for single centred black holes. This observation coupled with the fact the $1/4$ BPS index of single centred solutions without removal of the hair violates positivity indicates that there exists no duality frame in these models without non-trivial hair.