Related papers: Analytic Classes of Metastable de Sitter Vacua
We find non-supersymmetric metastable vacua in four dimensional N=2 gauge theories softly broken to N=1 by a superpotential term. First we study the simplest case, namely the SU(2) gauge theory without flavors. We study the spectrum and…
We use the embedding tensor formalism to analyse maximally symmetric backgrounds of N=2 gauged supergravities which have the full N=2 supersymmetry. We state the condition for N=2 vacua and discuss some of their general properties. We show…
We describe two new types of vacua for ten-dimensional string models without supersymmetry, in which dilaton potentials are compensated by constant electric or magnetic fields. These arise from $\alpha '$ corrections to the equations of…
We explicitly construct and study the statistics of flux vacua for type IIB string theory on an orientifold of the Calabi-Yau hypersurface $P^4_{[1,1,2,2,6]}$, parametrised by two relevant complex structure moduli. We solve for these moduli…
The first part of this review tries to provide a self-contained view of supersymmetry breaking from the bottom-up perspective. We thus describe N=1 supersymmetry in four dimensions, the Standard Model and the MSSM, with emphasis on the…
We propose a simple, well-motivated and robust alternative to a metastable de Sitter vacuum in string theory, consistent with current observations of dark energy and naturally satisfying conjectured swampland constraints. Inflation ends in…
It has been proposed that flux compactifications of supercritical string theories (i.e., with spacetime dimension $D>10$) have dS vacua, with large $D$ acting as a control parameter for corrections to the classical spacetime effective…
In addition to the familiar string theories with spacetime supersymmetry, there exist a number of non-supersymmetric ten-dimensional superstrings. Nearly all of these theories have closed string tachyons, indicating a misidentification of…
Recently the authors have introduced a new gauged supergravity theory with a positive definite potential in D=6, obtained through a generalised Kaluza-Klein reduction from D=7. Of particular interest is the fact that this theory admits…
The properties of the effective scalar potential are studied in the framework of type IIB string theory, taking into account perturbative and non-perturbative corrections. The former modify the K\"ahler potential and include $\alpha'$ and…
We study the effect of anomalous U(1) gauge groups in string theory compactification with fluxes. We find that, in a gauge invariant formulation, consistent AdS vacua appear breaking spontaneously supergravity. Non vanishing D-terms from…
A new approach to vacuum decay in quantum field theory, based on a simple variational formulation in field space using a tunneling potential, is ideally suited to study the effects of gravity on such decays. The method allows to prove in…
Recently it was shown that there is a unique Z_4^R symmetry for the MSSM which allows the Yukawa couplings and dimension five neutrino mass operator, forbids the mu term and commutes with SO(10). This Z_4^R symmetry contains matter parity…
Some N=1 gauge theories, including SQED and N_F=1 SQCD have the property that, for arbitrary superpotentials, all stationary points of the potential V = F+D are D-flat. For others, stationary points of V are complex gauge transformationss…
We investigate the existence of dS vacua in supersymmetry-breaking Scherk-Schwarz toroidal compactifications of type II string theory, using the well-understood ingredients of curvature, fluxes and 1-loop Casimir energy. Starting from the…
Within four dimensional (4d) N=1 supergravity theories we present extreme dilatonic domain wall solutions with a general overall coupling $\alpha$ in the dilaton K\" ahler potential. We concentrate on extreme Type I walls, which are static,…
We describe a new procedure to obtain consistent backgrounds that uplift vacua and deformations of various maximal gauged supergravities by taking a known solution and performing singular limits along the moduli space of the corresponding…
We discuss the coupling of heavy moduli fields to light fields when the dynamics of the latter, absent such couplings, yields metastable vacua. We show that the survival of the vacuum structure of the local model depends nontrivially on the…
We consider quiver gauge theories arising on D-branes at simple Calabi-Yau singularities (quotients of the conifold). These theories have metastable supersymmetry breaking vacua. The field theoretic mechanism is basically the one exhibited…
We analyze the stability of the moduli at the quantum level in an open-string model realizing the $\mathcal{N}=2\to \mathcal{N}=0$ spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. In the region of moduli space…