IIA string theory on Calabi–Yau fourfolds with background fluxes

Abstract

Looking for string vacua with fixed moduli, we study compactifications of type IIA string theory on Calabi–Yau fourfolds in the presence of generic Ramond–Ramond fields. We explicitly derive the (super)potential induced by Ramond–Ramond fluxes performing a Kaluza–Klein reduction of the ten-dimensional effective action. This can be conveniently achieved in a formulation of the massive type IIA supergravity where all Ramond–Ramond fields appear in a democratic way. The result agrees with the general formula for the superpotential written in terms of calibrations. We further notice that for generic Ramond–Ramond fluxes all geometric moduli are stabilized and one finds non-supersymmetric vacua at positive values of the scalar potential.