String theory dualities and supergravity divergences

Abstract

We demonstrate how duality invariance of the low energy expansion of the four-supergraviton amplitude in type II string theory determines the precise coefficients of multiloop logarithmic ultraviolet divergences of maximal supergravity in various dimensions. This is illustrated by the explicit moduli-dependence of terms of the form ∂2k R4, with k ≤ 3, in the effective action. Furthermore, we show that in the supergravity limit the perturbative contributions are swamped by an accumulation of non-perturbative effects of zero-action instantons.