Abstract
We extend the recent construction of 4d \( \mathcal{N}=1 \) three-form Lagrangians by including the most general three-form multiplets necessary to reproduce any F-term potential in string flux compactifications. In this context we find an obstruction to dualize all fluxes to three-forms in the effective field theory. This implies that, generically, a single EFT cannot capture all the membrane-mediated flux transitions expected from a string theory construction, but only a sublattice of them. The obstruction can be detected from the maximal number of three-forms per scalar in any supermultiplet, and from the gaugings involving three-forms that appear in the EFT. Some gaugings are related to the appearance of fluxes in the tadpole conditions, and give a general obstruction. Others are related to the anomalous axionic strings present in a specific compactification regime. We illustrate the structure of the three-form Lagrangian in type II and F/M-theory setups, where we argue that the above obstructions correlate with the different 4d membrane tensions with respect to the EFT energy scales.
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Lanza, S., Marchesano, F., Martucci, L. et al. How many fluxes fit in an EFT?. J. High Energ. Phys. 2019, 110 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2019)110
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2019)110