Fayet-Iliopoulos Couplings, and Flux Vacua

Kähler Anomalies in Supergravity and Flux Vacua

We review the subject of Kähler anomalies in gauged supergravity, emphasizing that field equations are inconsistent when the Kähler potential is non-invariant under gauge transformations or when there are elementary Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings. Flux vacua solutions of string theory with gauged U(1) shift symmetries appear to avoid this problem. The covariant Kähler anomalies involve tensors whic...

Anomaly Cancellation in Supergravity with Fayet-Iliopoulos Couplings

We review and clarify the cancellation conditions for gauge anomalies which occur when N = 1, D = 4 supergravity is coupled to a Kähler non-linear sigma-model with gauged isometries and Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings. For a flat sigma-model target space and vanishing Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings, consistency requires just the conventional anomaly cancellation conditions. A consistent model with non-v...

Three-family Perturbative String Vacua: Flat Directions and Effective Couplings

The properties of a class of quasi-realistic three-family perturbative heterotic string vacua are addressed. String models in this class generically contain an anomalous U(1), such that the nonzero Fayet-Iliopoulos term triggers certain fields to acquire string scale VEV’s along flat directions. This vacuum shift reduces the rank of the gauge group and generates effective mass terms and effecti...

Metastable Vacua in Perturbed Seiberg-Witten Theories, Part 2: Fayet-Iliopoulos Terms and Kähler Normal Coordinates

Renormalisation of the Fayet - Iliopoulos D - term

We consider the renormalisation of the Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term in a softly-broken Abelian supersymmetric theory. We show that there exists (at least through three loops) a renormalisation group invariant trajectory for the coefficient of the D-term, corresponding to the conformal anomaly solution for the soft masses and couplings.