A note on brane/flux annihilation and dS vacua in string theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of anti-D3 branes in the Klebanov-Strassler geometry, revealing how they can blow up into D5-branes or NS5-branes, and discusses conditions for achieving metastable de Sitter vacua.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of brane polarization and flux annihilation processes, including quantum tunneling effects and stability conditions, in the context of string theory compactifications.

Findings

Anti-D3 branes can blow up into spherical D5-branes via quantum tunneling.

The D5-brane's stability depends on background flux, influencing flux annihilation.

System can achieve metastable de Sitter vacua through flux tuning.

Abstract

We reconsider the dynamics of p anti-D3 branes inside the Klebanov-Strassler geometry, in which M units of R-R 3-form flux and K units of NS-NS 3-form flux are presented in deformed conifold. We find that anti-D3 branes blow up into a spherical D5-brane at weak string coupling via quantum tunnelling. The D5-brane can be either stable or unstable, depending on number of background flux. The nucleation rate of D5-brane is suppressed by \exp{-Mp^2}. The classical mechanically the evolution of unstable D5-brane annihilates one unit of R-R flux and ends with (K-p) D3-branes. This observation is consistent with one by Kachru, Pearson and Verlinde, who shew that anti-D3 branes in KS geometry can blow up into a spherical NS5 brane at strong string coupling, because NS5-brane is lighter that D5-brane at strong string coupling. We also argue that the system can end with a meta-stable dS vacuum by fine tuning of number of background flux.