Flux Vacua Near the Boundary of Large Complex Structure

Abstract

Three-form fluxes generate a potential for the complex structure moduli in type IIB string compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds. In the large complex structure patch, the potential consists of a perturbative contribution and a convergent series of instanton corrections. We present examples of vacua near the boundary of large complex structure, where the minimum of the potential is essentially determined by the perturbative contribution and the first instanton correction, while the effect of all higher instantons is negligible. This phenomenon occurs when fluxes are such that the magnitude of the perturbative potential in certain directions in moduli space is of the same size as the first instanton contribution. Analysing an ensemble of flux vacua, we find that this phenomenon is statistically quite common. We also discover more subtle phenomena where instanton terms affect the multiplicity of the solutions and induce monodromy shifts.