BPS Action and Superpotential for Heterotic String Compactifications with Fluxes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that heterotic string compactifications with fluxes can be described by a sum of squares of BPS-like quantities up to order O(α'^2), linking supersymmetry conditions to solutions of equations of motion and exploring superpotential and modulus stabilization.

Contribution

It provides a new formulation of the heterotic string action with fluxes as a sum of squares, connecting supersymmetry, Bianchi identities, and equations of motion.

Findings

Equations of motion are satisfied by backgrounds fulfilling supersymmetry and Bianchi identities.

The action can be expressed as a sum of squares of BPS-like quantities up to order O(α'^2).

Discussion of superpotential and radial modulus stabilization in specific examples.

Abstract

We consider N =1 compactifications to four dimensions of heterotic string theory in the presence of fluxes. We show that up to order O(\alpha'^2) the associated action can be written as a sum of squares of BPS-like quantities. In this way we prove that the equations of motion are solved by backgrounds which fulfill the supersymmetry conditions and the Bianchi identities. We also argue for the expression of the related superpotential and discuss the radial modulus stabilization for a class of examples.