Sixteen-fermion and related terms in M-theory on T**2

Abstract

Certain one-loop processes in eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on T**2 determine exact, non-perturbative, terms in the effective action of type II string theories compactified on a circle. One example is the modular invariant U(1)-violating interaction of sixteen complex spin-1/2 fermions of ten-dimensional type IIB theory. This term, together with the (curvature)**4 term, and many other terms of the same dimension are all explicitly related by supersymmetry.