Supersymmetry breaking by fluxes

Abstract

Type II string theory and M-theory admit flux configurations that break supersymmetry below the Kaluza-Klein scale. These backgrounds play a central role in most models of the string landscape. I argue that the behavior of such backgrounds at weak coupling is generically a rolling solution, not a static space-time. Quantum corrections to the space-time potential are computed around this classical time-dependent background. This is particularly important for non-perturbative corrections. This change in perspective offers an explanation for why there appear to be many effective field theory models that seemingly evade the known no-go theorems forbidding de Sitter space-times. This has interesting implications for type IIB string landscape models.