Recounting Dyons in N=4 String Theory

A recently discovered relation between 4D and 5D black holes is used to derive weighted BPS black hole degeneracies for 4D N=4 string theory from the well-known 5D degeneracies. They are found to be given by the Fourier coefficients of the unique weight 10 automorphic form of the modular group Sp(2,Z). This result agrees exactly with a conjecture made some years ago by Dijkgraaf, Verlinde and Verlinde.Comment: 5 page

Walls of Marginal Stability and Dyon Spectrum in N=4 Supersymmetric String Theories

The spectrum of quarter BPS dyons in N=4 supersymmetric string theories can change as the asymptotic moduli cross walls of marginal stability on which the dyon can break apart into a pair of half BPS states. In this paper we classify these marginal stability walls and examine this phenomenon in the context of exact dyon spectrum found in a class of N=4 supersymmetric string theories. We argue that the dyon partition functions in different domains separated by marginal stability walls are the same, but the choice of integration contour needed for extracting the degeneracies from the partition function differ in these different regions. We also find that in the limit of large charges the change in the degeneracy is exponentially suppressed compared to the leading contribution. This is consistent with the fact that in the computation of black hole entropy we do not encounter any change as the asymptotic moduli fields move across the walls of marginal stability. Finally we carry out some tests of S-duality invariance in the theory.Comment: LateX file, 1 figure, 42 pages; v2 more tests of S-duality added with complete proof for all N<7; v3: minor change

Spectrum of CHL Dyons from Genus-Two Partition Function

We compute the genus-two chiral partition function of the left-moving heterotic string for a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ CHL orbifold. The required twisted determinants can be evaluated explicitly in terms of the untwisted determinants and theta functions using orbifold techniques. The dependence on Prym periods cancels neatly once summation over odd charges is properly taken into account. The resulting partition function is a Siegel modular form of level two and precisely equals recently proposed dyon partition function for this model. This result provides an independent weak coupling derivation of the dyon partition function using the M-theory lift of string webs representing the dyons. We discuss generalization of this technique to general $\mathbb{Z}_N$ orbifolds.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures, minor typos correcte

Adding Charges to N=4 Dyons

The spectrum of dyons in a class of N=4 supersymmetric string theories has been found for a specific set of electric and magnetic charge vectors. We extend the analysis to more general charge vectors by considering various charge carrying collective excitations of the original system.Comment: LaTeX file, 16 page

Degeneracy of Decadent Dyons

A quarter-BPS dyon in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory is generically `decadent' in that it is stable only in some regions of the moduli space and decays on submanifolds in the moduli space. Using this fact, and from the degeneracy of the system close to the decay, a new derivation for the degeneracy of such dyons is given. The degeneracy obtained from these very simple physical considerations is in precise agreement with the results obtained from index computations in all known cases. Similar considerations apply to dyons in $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories. The relation between the $\mathcal{N} =4$ field theory dyons and those counted by the Igusa cusp form in toroidally compactified heterotic string is elucidated.Comment: Some typos corrected and references adde

Dyon Spectrum in N=4 Supersymmetric Type II String Theories

We compute the spectrum of quarter BPS dyons in freely acting Z_2 and Z_3 orbifolds of type II string theory compactified on a six dimensional torus. For large charges the result for statistical entropy computed from the degeneracy formula agrees with the corresponding black hole entropy to first non-leading order after taking into account corrections due to the curvature squared terms in the effective action. The result is significant since in these theories the entropy of a small black hole, computed using the curvature squared corrections to the effective action, fails to reproduce the statistical entropy associated with elementary string states.Comment: LaTeX file, 32 pages; v2:minor change

Dyon Death Eaters

We study general two-body decays of primitive and non-primitive 1/4-BPS dyons in four-dimensional type IIB string compactifications. We find a ``master equation'' for marginal stability that generalises the curve found by Sen for half-BPS decay, and analyse this equation in a variety of cases including decays to 1/4-BPS products. For half-BPS decays, an interesting and useful relation is exhibited between walls of marginal stability and the mathematics of Farey sequences and Ford circles. We exhibit an example in which two curves of marginal stability intersect in the interior of moduli space.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure, v2: section on non-primitive dyons slightly modified and expanded, few other small change

Dying Dyons Don't Count

The dyonic 1/4-BPS states in 4D string theory with N=4 spacetime supersymmetry are counted by a Siegel modular form. The pole structure of the modular form leads to a contour dependence in the counting formula obscuring its duality invariance. We exhibit the relation between this ambiguity and the (dis-)appearance of bound states of 1/2-BPS configurations. Using this insight we propose a precise moduli-dependent contour prescription for the counting formula. We then show that the degeneracies are duality-invariant and are correctly adjusted at the walls of marginal stability to account for the (dis-)appearance of the two-centered bound states. Especially, for large black holes none of these bound states exists at the attractor point and none of these ambiguous poles contributes to the counting formula. Using this fact we also propose a second, moduli-independent contour which counts the "immortal dyons" that are stable everywhere.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures; one minus sign correcte

Three String Junction and N=4 Dyon Spectrum

The exact spectrum of dyons in a class of N=4 supersymmetric string theories gives us information about dyon spectrum in N=4 supersymmetric gauge theories. This in turn can be translated into prediction about the BPS spectrum of three string junctions on a configuration of three parallel D3-branes. We show that this prediction agrees with the known spectrum of three string junction in different domains in the moduli space separated by walls of marginal stability.Comment: LaTeX file, 14 page

Rare Decay Modes of Quarter BPS Dyons

The degeneracy of quarter BPS dyons in N=4 supersymmetric string theories is known to jump across walls of marginal stability on which a quarter BPS dyon can decay into a pair of half BPS dyons. We show that as long as the electric and magnetic charges of the original dyon are primitive elements of the charge lattice, the subspaces of the moduli space on which a quarter BPS dyon becomes marginally unstable against decay into a pair of quarter BPS dyons or a half BPS dyon and a quarter BPS dyon are of codimension two or more. As a result any pair of generic points in the moduli space can be connected by a path avoiding these subspaces and there is no jump in the spectrum associated with these subspaces.Comment: LaTeX file, 9 pages; v2: a minor logical error corrected with no change in the result