Effective Actions Near Singularities: The STU-Model

We derive the low energy effective action of the STU-model in four and five dimensions near the line T=U, where SU(2) gauge symmetry enhancement occurs. By `integrating in' the light W^{\pm} bosons together with their superpartners, the quantum corrected effective action becomes non-singular at T=U and manifestly SU(2) invariant. The four-dimensional theory is found to be consistent with modular invariance and the five-dimensional decompactification limit. This talk concisely summarizes results that have been obtained in collaboration with J. Louis and T. Mohaupt.Comment: 6 pages, LaTeX. Contribution to the proceedings of the 35th Symposium Ahrenshoop, Berlin, Germany, August 2002. v2: reference corrected, paper format adjuste

Curvature-induced Resolution of Anti-brane Singularities

We study AdS$_7$ vacua of massive type IIA string theory compactified on a 3-sphere with $H_3$ flux and anti-D6-branes. In such backgrounds, the anti-brane backreaction is known to generate a singularity in the $H_3$ energy density, whose interpretation has not been understood so far. We first consider supersymmetric solutions of this setup and give an analytic proof that the flux singularity is resolved there by a polarization of the anti-D6-branes into a D8-brane, which wraps a finite 2-sphere inside of the compact space. To this end, we compute the potential for a spherical probe D8-brane on top of a background with backreacting anti-D6-branes and show that it has a local maximum at zero radius and a local minimum at a finite radius of the 2-sphere. The polarization is triggered by a term in the potential due to the AdS curvature and does therefore not occur in non-compact setups where the 7d external spacetime is Minkowski. We furthermore find numerical evidence for the existence of non-supersymmetric solutions in our setup. This is supported by the observation that the general solution to the equations of motion has a continuous parameter that is suggestive of a modulus and appears to control supersymmetry breaking. Analyzing the polarization potential for the non-supersymmetric solutions, we find that the flux singularities are resolved there by brane polarization as well.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. v2: minor changes, discussion of scalar masses adde

General Matter Coupled N=4 Gauged Supergravity in Five Dimensions

We construct the general form of matter coupled N=4 gauged supergravity in five dimensions. Depending on the structure of the gauge group, these theories are found to involve vector and/or tensor multiplets. When self-dual tensor fields are present, they must be charged under a one-dimensional Abelian group and cannot transform non-trivially under any other part of the gauge group. A short analysis of the possible ground states of the different types of theories is given. It is found that AdS ground states are only possible when the gauge group is a direct product of a one-dimensional Abelian group and a semi-simple group. In the purely Abelian, as well as in the purely semi-simple gauging, at most Minkowski ground states are possible. The existence of such Minkowski ground states could be proven in the compact Abelian case.Comment: 30 pages, Latex, some references modified, typos in eq. (4.18) and (5.3) corrected. Version to appear in Nuclear Physics

N=4 Supersymmetric AdS5 Vacua and their Moduli Spaces

We classify the N=4 supersymmetric AdS5 backgrounds that arise as solutions of five-dimensional N=4 gauged supergravity. We express our results in terms of the allowed embedding tensor components and identify the structure of the associated gauge groups. We show that the moduli space of these AdS vacua is of the form SU(1,m)/(U(1)x SU(m)) and discuss our results regarding holographically dual N=2 SCFTs and their conformal manifolds.Comment: 29 pages; v2: published versio

Cosmological Constant, Near Brane Behavior and Singularities

We show that the classical cosmological constant in type II flux compactifications can be written as a sum of terms from the action of localized sources plus a specific contribution from non-trivial background fluxes. Exploiting two global scaling symmetries of the classical supergravity action, we find that the flux contribution can in many interesting cases be set to zero such that the cosmological constant is fully determined by the boundary conditions of the fields in the near-source region. This generalizes and makes more explicit previous arguments in the literature. We then discuss the problem of putting \bar{D3}-branes at the tip of the Klebanov-Strassler throat glued to a compact space in type IIB string theory so as to engineer a de Sitter solution. Our result for the cosmological constant and a simple global argument indicate that inserting a fully localized and backreacting \bar{D3}-brane into such a background yields a singular energy density for the NSNS and RR 3-form field strengths at the \bar{D3}-brane. This argument does not rely on partial smearing of the \bar{D3}-brane or a linearization of field equations, but on a few general assumptions that we also discuss carefully.Comment: 30 pages, no figures, v2: Minor modifications and references added. Version to appear in JHE