Superpotential

About: Superpotential is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3836 publications have been published within this topic receiving 137867 citations.

Membrane instantons from mirror symmetry

Abstract: We use mirror symmetry to determine and sum up a class of membrane instanton corrections to the hypermultiplet moduli space metric arising in Calabi-Yau threefold compactifications of type IIA strings. These corrections are mirror to the D1 and D(-1)-brane instantons on the IIB side and are given explicitly in terms of a single function in projective superspace. The corresponding four-dimensional effective action is completely fixed by the Euler number and the genus zero Gopakumar-Vafa invariants of the mirror Calabi-Yau.

Symplectically invariant flow equations for N = 2, D = 4 gauged supergravity with hypermultiplets

Abstract: We consider N = 2 supergravity in four dimensions, coupled to an arbitrary number of vector- and hypermultiplets, where abelian isometries of the quaternionic hyperscalar target manifold are gauged. Using a static and spherically or hyperbolically symmetric ansatz for the fields, a one-dimensional effective action is derived whose variation yields all the equations of motion. By imposing a sort of Dirac charge quantization condition, one can express the complete scalar potential in terms of a superpotential and write the action as a sum of squares. This leads to first-order flow equations, that imply the second-order equations of motion. The first-order flow turns out to be driven by Hamilton’s characteristic function in the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism, and contains among other contributions the superpotential of the scalars. We then include also magnetic gaugings and generalize the flow equations to a symplectically covariant form. Moreover, by rotating the charges in an appropriate way, an alternative set of non-BPS first-order equations is obtained that corresponds to a different squaring of the action. Finally, we use our results to derive the attractor equations for near-horizon geometries of extremal black holes.

D4-D0 branes on the quintic

Abstract: It is proposed that the quantum mechanics of N D4-branes and M D0-branes on the quintic is described by the dimensional reduction of a certain U(N)xU(M) quiver gauge theory, whose superpotential encodes the defining quintic polynomial. It is shown that the moduli space on the Higgs branch exactly reproduces the moduli space of degree N hypersurfaces in the quintic endowed with the appropriate line bundle, and that the cohomology growth reproduces the D4-D0 black hole entropy.

Yukawa Textures From Heterotic Stability Walls

Abstract: A holomorphic vector bundle on a Calabi-Yau threefold, X, with h^{1,1}(X)>1 can have regions of its Kahler cone where it is slope-stable, that is, where the four-dimensional theory is N=1 supersymmetric, bounded by "walls of stability". On these walls the bundle becomes poly-stable, decomposing into a direct sum, and the low energy gauge group is enhanced by at least one anomalous U(1) gauge factor. In this paper, we show that these additional symmetries can strongly constrain the superpotential in the stable region, leading to non-trivial textures of Yukawa interactions and restrictions on allowed masses for vector-like pairs of matter multiplets. The Yukawa textures exhibit a hierarchy; large couplings arise on the stability wall and some suppressed interactions "grow back" off the wall, where the extended U(1) symmetries are spontaneously broken. A number of explicit examples are presented involving both one and two stability walls, with different decompositions of the bundle structure group. A three family standard-like model with no vector-like pairs is given as an example of a class of SU(4) bundles that has a naturally heavy third quark/lepton family. Finally, we present the complete set of Yukawa textures that can arise for any holomorphic bundle with one stability wall where the structure group breaks into two factors.