Heterotic String Theory with Background Fluxes

TL;DR

The paper analyzes heterotic string compactifications with background fluxes on several manifolds (T^6, T^5, K3×T^2, K3×S^1) and derives the bosonic low-energy actions. It demonstrates that these actions are consistent with known gauged supergravities in four, five, and six dimensions, identifying which isometries are gauged in vector- and hypermultiplet sectors and how fluxes generate potentials. A key result is the explicit matching of flux-induced theories to N=4 gauged supergravity in d=4, and to corresponding five- and six-dimensional generalizations, including dualization of fields where needed. Nevertheless, the induced scalar potentials typically exhibit dilaton instabilities, and not all couplings of gauged supergravities are reproduced solely by fluxes, highlighting limitations and guiding future explorations of flux landscapes and dualities.

Abstract

We discuss compactifications of the heterotic string in the presence of background fluxes. Specifically we consider compactifications on T^6, T^5, K3 x T^2 and K3 x S^1 for which we derive the bosonic sector of the low energy effective action. The consistency with the corresponding gauged supergravities is demonstrated.