Black holes and higher depth mock modular forms
Abstract
By enforcing invariance under S-duality in type IIB string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold, we derive modular properties of the generating function of BPS degeneracies of D4-D2-D0 black holes in type IIA string theory compactified on the same space. Mathematically, these BPS degeneracies are the generalized Donaldson-Thomas invariants counting coherent sheaves with support on a divisor , at the large volume attractor point. For irreducible, this function is closely related to the elliptic genus of the superconformal field theory obtained by wrapping M5-brane on and is therefore known to be modular. Instead, when is the sum of irreducible divisors , we show that the generating function acquires a modular anomaly. We characterize this anomaly for arbitrary by providing an explicit expression for a non-holomorphic modular completion in terms of generalized error functions. As a result, the generating function turns out to be a (mixed) mock modular form of depth .
Cite
@article{arxiv.1808.08479,
title = {Black holes and higher depth mock modular forms},
author = {Sergei Alexandrov and Boris Pioline},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.08479},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
43+35 pages, 11 figures; v2: various cosmetic changes, index of notations added to aid the reader; v3: minor corrections and clarifications, added refs and new prop. 9 on the shadow of the completion