Gravitational couplings and Z2 orientifolds

Abstract

The interplay between gravitational couplings on branes and the occurrence of fractional flux in low-dimensional orientifolds is examined. It is argued that gravitational couplings need to be assigned not only to D-branes but also to orientifold planes. The fractional charges of the orientifold d-planes can be understood in terms of flux quantization of the d − 3 form potential and modified Bianchi identities. Detailed results are presented for the case of the type IIB orientifold on T 6/ Z 2, which is dual to F-theory on a complex 4-fold with terminal singularities.