Stable Vacua with Realistic Phenomenology and Cosmology in Heterotic M-theory Satisfying Swampland Conjectures

Abstract

We recently described a protocol for computing the potential energy in heterotic M-theory for the dilaton, complex structure and K\"ahler moduli. This included the leading order non-perturbative contributions to the complex structure, gaugino condensation and worldsheet instantons assuming a hidden sector that contains an anomalous U(1) structure group embedded in $E_8$. In this paper, we elucidate, in detail, the mathematical and computational methods required to utilize this protocol. These methods are then applied to a realistic heterotic M-theory model, the $B-L$ MSSM, whose observable sector is consistent with all particle physics requirements. Within this context, it is shown that the dilaton and universal moduli can be completely stabilized at values compatible with every phenomenological and mathematical constraint -- as well as with $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. We also show that the heterotic M-theory vacua are consistent with all well-supported Swampland conjectures based on considerations of string theory and quantum gravity, and we discuss the implications of dark energy theorems for compactified theories.