D-term Strings Research Articles

ON GEOMETRICAL INTERPRETATION OF NON-ABELIAN FLAT DIRECTION CONSTRAINTS

In order to produce a low-energy effective field theory from a string model, it is necessary to specify a vacuum state. In order that this vacuum be supersymmetric, it is well known that all field expectation values must be along so-called flat directions, leaving the F- and D-terms of the scalar potential to be zero. The situation becomes particularly interesting when one attempts to realize such directions while assigning vacuum expectation values to fields transforming under non-Abelian representations of the gauge group. Since the expectation value is now shared among multiple components of a field, satisfaction of flatness becomes an inherently geometrical problem in the group space. Furthermore, the possibility emerges that a single seemingly dangerous F-term might experience a self-cancellation among its components. The hope exists that the geometric language can provide an intuitive and immediate recognition of when the D and F conditions are simultaneously compatible, as well as a powerful tool for their comprehensive classification. This is the avenue explored in this paper, and applied to the cases of SU (2) and SO (2N), relevant respectively to previous attempts at reproducing the MSSM and the flipped SU (5) GUT. Geometrical interpretation of non-Abelian flat directions finds application to M-theory through the recent conjecture of equivalence between D-term strings and wrapped D-branes of Type II theory.1 Knowledge of the geometry of the flat direction "landscape" of a D-term string model could yield information about the dual brane model. It is hoped that the techniques encountered will be of benefit in extending the viability of the quasirealistic phenomenologies already developed.

The energy and stability ofD-term strings

Cosmic strings derived from string theory, supergravity or any theory of choice should be stable if we hope to observe them. In this paper we consider D-term strings in D=4, N=1 supergravity with a constant Fayet-Iliopoulos term. We show that the positive deficit angle supersymmetric D-term string is non-perturbatively stable by using standard Witten-Nester techniques to prove a positive energy theorem. Particular attention is paid to the negative deficit angle D-term string, which is known to violate the dominant energy condition. Within the class of string solutions we consider, this violation implies that the negative deficit angle D-term string must have a naked pathology and therefore the positive energy theorem we prove does not apply to it. As an interesting aside, we show that the Witten-Nester charge calculates the total gravitational energy of the D-term string without the need for a cut-off, which may not have been expected.

D-branes on general Script N = 1 backgrounds: superpotentials and D-terms

We study the dynamics governing space-time filling D-branes on Type II flux backgrounds preserving four-dimensional = 1 supersymmetry. The four-dimensional superpotentials and D-terms are derived. The analysis is kept on completely general grounds thanks to the use of recently proposed generalized calibrations, which also allow one to show the direct link of the superpotentials and D-terms with BPS domain walls and cosmic strings respectively. In particular, our D-brane setting reproduces the tension of D-term strings found from purely four-dimensional analysis. The holomorphicity of the superpotentials is also studied and a moment map associated to the D-terms is proposed. Among different examples, we discuss an application to the study of D7-branes on SU(3)-structure backgrounds, which reproduces and generalizes some previous results.

D-term cosmic strings fromN= 2 supergravity

We describe new half-BPS cosmic string solutions in N=2, d=4 supergravity coupled to one vector multiplet and one hypermultiplet. They are closely related to D-term strings in N=1 supergravity. Fields of the N=2 theory that are frozen in the solution contribute to the triplet moment map of the quaternionic isometries and leave their trace in N=1 as a constant Fayet-Iliopoulos term. The choice of U(1) gauging and of special geometry are crucial. The construction gives rise to a non-minimal Kaehler potential and can be generalized to higher dimensional quaternionic-Kaehler manifolds.

CosmicD-strings as axionicD-term strings

In this work we derive non-singular BPS string solutions from an action that captures the essential features of a D-brane-anti-D-brane system compactified to four dimensions. The model we consider is a supersymmetric abelian Higgs model with a D-term potential coupled to an axion-dilaton multiplet. The strings in question are axionic D-term strings which we identify with the D-strings of type II string theory. In this picture the Higgs field represents the open string tachyon of the D-Dbar pair and the axion is dual to a Ramond Ramond form. The crucial term allowing the existence of non-singular BPS strings is the Fayet-Iliopoulos term, which is related to the tensions of the D-string and of the parent branes. Despite the presence of the axion, the strings are BPS and carry finite energy, due to the fact that the space gets very slowly decompactified away from the core, screening the long range axion field (or equivalently the theory approaches an infinitely weak 4D coupling). Within our 4D effective action we also identify another class of BPS string solutions (s-strings) which have no ten dimensional analog, and can only exist after compactification.

Formation of cosmological brane defects

We study cosmological formation of D-term strings, axionic strings, domain walls and Q-balls in braneworld models of the Hanany-Witten type. For the D-term strings, we show that the strings are the daughter branes extended between mother branes. We show that the domain walls can be produced by conventional cosmological phase transitions. In this case, the formation of the domain walls is induced by the continuous deformation of the branes, which means that they are not created as daughter branes. First we consider classical configurations of the axionic strings and the domain walls, then we investigate the quantum effect of the brane dynamics. We also study brane Q-balls and show how they can be distinguished from conventional Q-balls.

D-terms and D-strings in open string models

We study the Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) D-terms on D-branes in type-II Calabi-Yau backgrounds. We provide a simple worldsheet proof of the fact that, at tree level, these terms only couple to scalars in closed string hypermultiplets. At the one-loop level, the D-terms get corrections only if the gauge group has an anomalous spectrum, with the anomaly cancelled by a Green-Schwarz mechanism. We study the local type-IIA model of D6-branes at SU(3) angles and show that, as in field theory, the one-loop correction suffers from a quadratic divergence in the open string channel. By studying the closed string channel, we show that this divergence is related to a closed string tadpole, and is cancelled when the tadpole is cancelled. Next, we study the cosmic strings that arise in the supersymmetric phases of these systems in light of recent work of Dvali et al. In the type-IIA intersecting D6-brane examples, we identify the D-term strings as D4-branes ending on the D6-branes. Finally, we use = 1 dualities to relate these results to previous work on the FI D-term of heterotic strings.

F-term strings in the Bogomolnyi limit are also BPS states

We derive the Bogomol'nyi equations for supersymmetric abelian F-term cosmic strings in four-dimensional flat space and show that, contrary to recent statements in the literature, they are BPS states in the Bogomol'nyi limit, but the partial breaking of supersymmetry is from N = 2. The second supersymmetry is not obvious in the N = 1 formalism, so we give it explicitly in components and in terms of a different set of N = 1 chiral superfields. We also discuss the appearance of a second supersymmetry in D-term models, and the relation to N = 2 F-term models. The analysis sheds light on an apparent paradox raised by the recent observation that D-term strings remain BPS when coupled to N = 1 supergravity, whereas F-term strings break the supersymmetry completely, even in the Bogomol'nyi limit. Finally, we comment on their semilocal extensions and their relevance to cosmology.

Fayet–Iliopoulos terms in supergravity and cosmology

We clarify the structure of N = 1 supergravity in 1+3 dimensions with constant Fayet–Iliopoulos (FI) terms. The FI terms gξ induce non-vanishing R-charges for the fermions and the superpotential. Therefore the D-term inflation model in supergravity with constant FI terms has to be revisited. We present all corrections of order gξ/M2P to the classical supergravity action required by local supersymmetry and provide a gauge-anomaly-free version of the model. We also investigate the case of the so-called anomalous U(1) when a chiral superfield is shifted under U(1). In such a case, in the context of string theory, the FI terms originate from the derivative of the Kähler potential and they are inevitably field dependent. This raises an issue of stabilization of the relevant field in applications to cosmology. The recently suggested equivalence between the D-term strings and D-branes of type II theory shows that brane–anti-brane systems produce the FI terms in the effective 4d theory, with the Ramond–Ramond axion shifting under the U(1) symmetry. This connection gives the possibility to interpret many unknown properties of systems in the more familiar language of 4d supergravity D-terms, and vice versa. For instance, the shift of the axion field in both cases restricts the possible forms of the moduli-stabilizing superpotential. We provide some additional consistency checks of the correspondence of D-term strings to D-branes and show that instabilities of the two are closely related. Surviving cosmic D-strings of the type II theory may be potentially observed in the form of D-term strings of 4d supergravity. We study such string solutions of supergravity with constant FI terms with one half supersymmetry unbroken and explain some of the puzzling properties of the zero modes around cosmic strings, such as the difference between the numbers of fermionic and bosonic modes.

Cosmic D-term Strings as Wrapped D3 Branes

We describe cosmic D--term strings as D3 branes wrapped on a resolved conifold. The matter content that gives rise to D--term strings is shown to describe the world--volume theory of a space--filling D3 brane transverse to the conifold which itself is a wrapped D5 brane. We show that, in this brane theory, the tension of the wrapped D3 brane mathces that of the D--term string. We argue that there is a new type of cosmic string which arises from fractional D1 branes on the world--volume of a fractional D3 brane.

D-term strings

We study the embedding of cosmic strings, related to the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortex solution, into d=4, N=1 supergravity. We find that the local cosmic string solution which saturates the BPS bound of supergravity with $D$-term potential for the Higgs field and with constant Fayet--Iliopoulos term, has 1/2 of supersymmetry unbroken. We observe an interesting relation between the gravitino supersymmetry transformation, positive energy condition and the deficit angle of the cosmic string. We argue that the string solutions with magnetic flux with F-term potential cannot be supersymmetric, which leads us to a conjecture that D1-strings (wrapped D(1+q)-branes) of string theory in the effective 4d supergravity are described by the D-term strings that we study in this paper. We give various consistency checks of this conjecture, and show that it highlights some generic properties of non-BPS string theory backgrounds, such as brane-anti-brane systems. Supersymmetry breaking by such systems can be viewed as FI D-term breaking, which implies, under certain conditions, the presence of gauged R-symmetry on such backgrounds. The D-term nature of the brane-anti-brane energy can also provide information on the superpotential for the tachyon, which Higgses the R-symmetry. In this picture, the inter-brane force can be viewed as a result of the world-volume gauge coupling renormalization by the open string loops.