de Sitter String Vacua from Perturbative Kahler Corrections and Consistent D-terms

TL;DR

The paper addresses constructing metastable de Sitter vacua in type IIB flux compactifications by stabilizing the volume modulus $T$ via perturbative Kaehler corrections, thereby preserving a shift symmetry that can be gauged to induce a D-term. Closed-string fluxes fix $S$ and $U$, while perturbative corrections stabilize $T$ at large volume in an AdS$_4$ minimum; a magnetized D7-brane gauges the shift symmetry and provides a field-dependent D-term that uplifts to a dS$_4$ minimum in a fully consistent 4d ${ m N}=1$ supergravity framework. The authors illustrate the mechanism in a semi-explicit $T^6/ obreak\\mathbb{Z}_6'$ orientifold with $ obreak obreak\\chi>0$, showing how $V_F$ and $V_D$ can be tuned to yield a metastable dS minimum while keeping $S$ and $U$ stabilized by fluxes. This work introduces a viable, string-theoretic route to spontaneously broken SUSY uplifts and motivates further explicit calculations of loop corrections with gauged symmetries and explorations of inflationary and phenomenological implications.

Abstract

We present a new way to construct de Sitter vacua in type IIB flux compactifications, in which moduli stabilization and D-term uplifting can be combined in a manner consistent with the supergravity constraints. Here, the closed string fluxes fix the dilaton and the complex structure moduli while perturbative quantum corrections to the Kahler potential stabilize the volume Kahler modulus in an AdS_4-vacuum. Then, the presence of magnetized D7-branes in this setup provide supersymmetric D-terms in a fully consistent way which uplift the AdS_4-vacuum to a metastable dS-minimum.