On de Sitter Vacua in Type IIA Orientifold Compactifications

TL;DR

This work analyzes de Sitter uplift mechanisms in type IIA orientifolds of rigid Calabi–Yau compactifications, focusing on the universal hypermultiplet. By combining perturbative corrections to the Kahler potential with leading membrane instanton effects, the authors show that the perturbative term $- c W_0^2/(r^2 (r+2c))$ yields a meta-stable dS vacuum for $c<0$, providing an uplift analogous to KKLT's $\overline{D3}$ scenario. They demonstrate that the leading $N=2$ membrane instanton corrections furnish a holomorphic contribution to the $N=1$ superpotential $W$, enabling a consistent truncation to a two-dimensional Kähler sector with a stabilized modulus. The results connect to the DSTV framework with Przanowski–Tod metrics, offering a concrete, minimal uplift mechanism within this IIA orientifold setup.

Abstract

This letter discusses the orientifold projection of the quantum corrections to type IIA strings compactified on rigid Calabi-Yau threefolds. It is shown that N=2 membrane instanton effects give a holomorphic contribution to the superpotential, while the perturbative corrections enter into the Kahler potential. At the level of the scalar potential the corrections to the Kahler potential give rise to a positive energy contribution similar to adding anti-D3-branes in the KKLT scenario. This provides a natural mechanism to lift an AdS vacuum to a meta-stable dS vacuum.