{
  "abstract": "A bstract : We study heterotic Calabi-Yau compactifications with NSNS three-form flux in view of moduli stabilisation and investigate whether the value | W ₀ | of the flux superpotential evaluated at supersymmetric minima can be small. Unlike in type IIB string theory, heterotic compactifications lack a no-scale structure, so that a non-vanishing flux superpotential generically induces a tree-level scalar potential for all moduli. Controlled moduli stabilisation therefore requires the flux superpotential to be sufficiently small in order to compete with non-perturbative effects. Working within a four-dimensional effective field theory and exploiting the special geometry of Calabi-Yau complex structure moduli spaces, we analyse the complex structure F-term equations and derive two no-go theorems: (1) supersymmetric vacua with vanishing | W ₀ |, which would lead to a vanishing tree-level scalar potential as in type IIB, occur only at singular loci in moduli space, and (2) no supersymmetric vacua with small | W ₀ | exist in the large complex structure limit. Motivated by these results, we analyse explicit models away from the large complex structure regime using exact period expressions and identify one- and two-parameter examples in which suitable flux choices allow for values of | W ₀ | of order unity, with some one-parameter models admitting values moderately below unity. Our findings show that small heterotic flux superpotentials are highly constrained, with the values of | W ₀ | found in the examples studied being only marginally compatible with moduli stabilisation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "The University of Western Australia",
    "University of Birmingham",
    "University of Oxford",
    "University of Pennsylvania"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Evgeny I. Buchbinder",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-2133-6852"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Andrei Constantin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0861-5363"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Lucas T. Y. Leung",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-3549-2549"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Andre Lukas",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4969-0447"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Burt Ovrut",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6654-173X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/btvb8psk8r348.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1007/jhep10(2026)085",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "btvb8psk8r348",
  "issns": [
    "1029-8479"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://link.springer.com/10.1007/JHEP10(2026)085",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Black Holes and Theoretical Physics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7160553011",
  "pdf_url": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/JHEP10(2026)085.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-08",
  "publisher": "Springer Science and Business Media LLC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/btvb8psk8r348.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:01Z",
      "native_id": "10.1007/jhep10(2026)085",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://link.springer.com/10.1007/JHEP10(2026)085"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "openalex:3106|Black Holes and Theoretical Physics",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Heterotic flux vacua with a small superpotential",
  "title_text": "Heterotic flux vacua with a small superpotential",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/btvb8psk8r348",
  "venue": "Journal of High Energy Physics",
  "versions": []
}