More modular invariant anomalous U(1) breaking

Abstract

We consider the case of several scalar fields, charged under a number of U(1) factors, acquiring vacuum expectation values due to an anomalous U(1). We demonstrate how to make redefinitions at the superfield level in order to account for tree-level exchange of vector supermultiplets in the effective supergravity theory of the light fields in the supersymmetric vacuum phase. Our approach builds upon previous results that we obtained in a more elementary case. We find that the modular weights of light fields are typically shifted from their original values, allowing an interpretation in terms of the preservation of modular invariance in the effective theory. We address various subtleties in defining unitary gauge that are associated with the noncanonical Kähler potential of modular invariant supergravity, the vacuum degeneracy, and the role of the dilaton field. We discuss the effective superpotential for the light fields and note how proton decay operators may be obtained when the heavy fields are integrated out of the theory at the tree-level. We also address how our formalism may be extended to describe the generalized Green–Schwarz mechanism for multiple anomalous U(1)'s that occur in four-dimensional Type I and Type IIB string constructions.