Type IIB flux vacua and tadpole cancellation

Abstract

We consider flux vacua for type IIB orientifold compactifications and study their interplay with the tadpole-cancellation condition. As a concrete example we focus on ${\mathbb{T}}^6/{\mathbb{Z}}_2\times {\mathbb{Z}}_2$, for which we find that solutions to the F-term equations at weak coupling, large complex structure and large volume require large flux contributions. Such contributions are however strongly disfavored by the tadpole-cancellation condition. We furthermore find that solutions which stabilize moduli in this perturbatively-controlled regime are only a very small fraction of all solutions, and that the space of solutions is not homogenous but shows characteristic void structures and vacua concentrated on submanifolds.

59 pages, 10 figures