F-theory at order $α'^3$

TL;DR

This work shows that the IIB α′^3, eight-derivative couplings involving gravity and the axio-dilaton can be packaged into a purely gravitational 12d expression, enabling a clean derivation of their 10d form and SL(2,Z) structure. Upon compactification on elliptically fibered Calabi–Yau fourfolds with nontrivial τ profiles, a new genuinely N=1 α′^3 correction to the 4d Weyl rescaling emerges, encoded by a base integral of f_0(τ,τ̅) against c_3(X4). In the weak-coupling Sen limit this reduces to the known Antoniadis–Becker–Becker–Becker correction plus a novel N=1 contribution proportional to ∫_{X3} D_O7^3, highlighting the role of 7-brane data. Overall, the results provide a concrete, covariant framework for N=1 higher-derivative corrections in F-theory, with potential implications for Kähler potential corrections and phenomenology.

Abstract

We study the effective physics of F-theory at order $α'^3$ in derivative expansion. We show that the ten-dimensional type IIB eight-derivative couplings involving the graviton and the axio-dilaton naturally descend from pure gravity in twelve dimensions. Upon compactification on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds, the non-trivial vacuum profile for the axio-dilaton leads to a new, genuinely N=1, $α'^3$ correction to the four-dimensional effective action.