World-sheet Instanton Superpotentials in Heterotic String theory and their Moduli Dependence

Abstract

To understand in detail the contribution of a world-sheet instanton to the superpotential in a heterotic string compactification, one has to understand the moduli dependence (bundle and complex structure moduli) of the one-loop determinants from the fluctuations, which accompany the classical exponential contribution (involving K\"ahler moduli) when evaluating the world-volume partition function. Here we use techniques to describe geometrically these Pfaffians for spectral bundles over rational base curves in elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds, and provide a (partially exhaustive) list of cases involving {\em factorising} (or vanishing) superpotential. This gives a conceptual explanation and generalisation of the few previously known cases which were obtained just experimentally by a numerical computation.Comment: 57 pages; minor changes, discussion section 1.3 adde