Flux compactifications in string theory: a comprehensive review

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of flux compactifications in string theory, focusing on closed string fluxes in type II theories, their effective theories, and moduli stabilization, including recent developments and statistical analyses.

Contribution

It offers a detailed pedagogical review of flux compactifications, covering supersymmetric configurations, no-go theorems, effective theories, corrections, and statistical studies, highlighting recent progress.

Findings

Analysis of supersymmetric flux configurations

Discussion of no-go theorems and their evasion

Review of statistical studies of flux backgrounds

Abstract

We present a pedagogical overview of flux compactifications in string theory, from the basic ideas to the most recent developments. We concentrate on closed string fluxes in type II theories. We start by reviewing the supersymmetric flux configurations with maximally symmetric four-dimensional spaces. We then discuss the no-go theorems (and their evasion) for compactifications with fluxes. We analyze the resulting four-dimensional effective theories, as well as some of its perturbative and non-perturbative corrections, focusing on moduli stabilization. Finally, we briefly review statistical studies of flux backgrounds.