Freely acting orbifolds of type IIB string theory on T5

Abstract

Abstract We study freely acting orbifolds of type IIB string theory on T5 that spontaneously break supersymmetry from $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 8 to $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 6, 4, 2 or 0 in five dimensions. We focus on orbifolds that are a ℤp quotient by a T-duality acting on T4 and a shift on the remaining S1. Modular invariant partition functions are constructed and detailed examples of both symmetric and asymmetric orbifolds are presented, including new examples of five-dimensional non-supersymmetric string theories with no tachyons. The orbifolds we consider arise at special points in the moduli space of string theory compactifications with a duality twist. The supergravity limit of these are Scherk-Schwarz reductions which generate gauged supergravities with positive definite classical potentials on the moduli space in five dimensions. Both symmetric and asymmetric freely acting orbifolds give a landscape of Minkowski vacua. For gauged supergravities to belong to this landscape, we find a number of constraints and conditions. Firstly, the scalar potential should lead to a massive spectrum with masses that obey quantization conditions arising from a string theory orbifold, which we discuss in detail. Secondly, we find constraints on the massless sector, e.g. in the examples of orbifolds preserving sixteen supersymmetries in five dimensions that we consider, only an odd number of vector multiplets arises. Lastly, we present new examples of candidate asymmetric orbifolds with modular invariant partition functions, but with non-integral coefficients in the $$ q\overline{q} $$ q q ¯ -expansion in the twisted sectors.