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# References

RUNHETC-2002-52

A Moduli Fixing Mechanism in $`M`$ theory.
B.S. Acharya111bacharya@physics.rutgers.edu
Department of Physics,
Rutgers University,
126 Freylinghuysen Road,
NJ 08854-0849.

Abstract

We study $`M`$ theory compactifications on manifolds of $`G_2`$-holonomy with gauge and matter fields supported at singularities. We show that, under certain topological conditions, the combination of background $`G`$-flux and background fields at the singularities induces a potential for the moduli with an isolated minimum. The theory in the minimum is supersymmetric and has a negative cosmological constant in the simplest case. In a more realistic scenario, we find that the fundamental scale is around 10 Tev and the heirarchy between the four dimensional Planck and electroweak scales may be explained by the value of a topological invariant. Hyperbolic three-manifolds enter the discussion in an interesting way.

1. Introduction.

One of the traditional problems which has plagued string theory and subsequently $`M`$ theory is the lack of predictivity of the low energy effective action. There are apparently many vacua of the theory. For example, in vacua with compact extra dimensions, there are many ways to choose the compactification data. Each such choice describes different physics and most of these choices do not seem to describe anything resembling physics as we know it. At present we know of no compelling reason why the theory might favour universes with three spatial dimensions let alone a local symmetry group $`SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)`$ with the elementary particles living in three complex representations. On the other hand, we presently dont know of any other non-anthropic explanations of these facts either, so string theory is no better than any other theory in this regard.

A simple manifestation of the vacuum degeneracy/predictivity problem is that string and $`M`$ theory compactifications have moduli. At the classical level this is due to the fact that the low energy effective potential has many flat directions and the values of scalar fields which determine the size and shape of the extra dimensions remain undetermined by the theory. At the quantum level there is a similar sort of problem in that non-perturbative effects such as instantons appear to generate a potential which pushes the fields off to extreme weak coupling and large volume . In this regime, the potential is approximately flat again.

Naively one might think that the runaway potential might be useful for inflation or quintessence but the non-perturbative potentials that arise this way apparently do not inflate .

In this paper we will study $`M`$ theory compactifications to four dimensions on manifolds of $`G_2`$-holonomy. Many such compactifications arise as a certain limit of Calabi-Yau compactifications of the heterotic string. Calabi-Yau compactifications have traditionally been regarded as the most promising for obtaining realistic particle physics from string theory. The limit we will study is not very well approximated by weakly coupled heterotic strings and is much better described by $`M`$ theory on a compact manifold $`X`$ of $`G_2`$-holonomy. Note that $`X`$ must have certain kinds of singularities in order for the low energy dynamics to be described by a non-Abelian gauge theory coupled to chiral fermions. The singularities leading to non-Abelian gauge groups were first studied in  and in more detail in  whereas singularities which support chiral fermions have been studied in . Applications of these studies to more detailed questions of phenomenology have been made in .

In particular, in order to obtain non-Abelian local symmetries, the $`G_2`$-manifold $`X`$ contains a three manifold $`Q`$ of orbifold singularities . Near $`Q`$, $`X`$ looks like $`𝐑^\mathrm{𝟒}/\mathrm{\Gamma }\times Q`$. Hence, $`X`$ has an orbifold singularity along $`Q`$. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a finite subgroup of $`SU(2)`$ acting as a subgroup of $`SO(4)`$ on $`𝐑^\mathrm{𝟒}`$. Quarks and leptons emerge from additional singularities of $`X`$ through which $`Q`$ passes.

Up until relatively recently, most studies of string compactification focussed on vacua without fluxes. Typically the metric (as well as non-Abelian gauge fields in the case of heterotic strings) is the only non-zero background field and one studies the theory around a minimum of the classical potential. Our comments above on flat directions in the classical potential apply to these cases. More recently however, attention has been devoted to the study of compactifications with flux. These are compactifications in which the various $`p`$-form gauge fields present in the theory have been activated: the theory is studied in the presence of non-zero electric and/or magnetic fields. Since the kinetic energy of the $`p`$-form field depends upon the spacetime metric, which in turn depends upon the moduli, flux compactifications lead to a potential for the moduli. Moduli stabilisation due to fluxes has been studied in a variety of papers $`[12][30]`$. An open question is can this approach lead to a potential which fixes all the moduli in a compactification to four dimensions?

In the context of $`G_2`$-compactifications, the flux induced potential is positive  and so also suffers from a runaway problem. Since most of the interesting physics of $`G_2`$-compactifications involves the fields localised at singularities a simple question that one can ask is can this runaway be stabilised by turning on the fields supported at singularities of the $`G_2`$-manifold? We will study this question in this paper.

We will be interested in the sorts of singular $`G_2`$-manifolds that give rise to Yang-Mills theory and chiral fermions and will study the effect of turning on these fields which are supported at the singularities. We will show that, as long as a certain topological invariant, $`c_2`$, is non-zero and suitably large, that the combination of both fluxes and the fields supported at singularities is enough to fix the all the moduli of the $`G_2`$-manifold.

The size of the $`G_2`$-manifold in the minimum of the potential is large if $`c_2`$ is large, so that the approximation to the potential that we use is valid. Thus, if this is indeed the case then these minima produce four dimensional vacua of $`M`$ theory with no undetermined parameters. All masses and couplings are in principle calculable by the theory, although this is difficult in practice.

In the next section we describe the equations describing the absolute minimum of the supergravity potential and explain how they can be solved and why the solution is isolated. An important role is played by a certain complex Chern-Simons invariant $`c_1+ic_2`$ which gives an additive contribution to the superpotential. We show that $`c_2`$ is non-zero and can be large when $`Q`$ is a hyperbolic three manifold.

The moduli fixing mechanism presented here involves only the gauge fields along 3-manifolds $`Q`$ (and their superpartners) and as such can be applied to non-realistic $`G_2`$-compactifications which do not include quarks and leptons. In this case, the vacuum we describe is supersymmetric and has a negative cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$. In the concluding section, we consider the possibility that the moduli fixing mechanism is useful in a more realistic context. For this it is necessary to assume that the singularities of $`X`$ support also a supersymmetric standard model and a supersymmetry breaking sector. Since by assumption supersymmetry is broken, particle physics interactions will generate a contribution $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ to the cosmological constant and the main idea is to balance $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ against $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$. This is necessary if one is to obtain (at the very least) a positive cosmological constant.

In this scenario, we find that the fundamental Planck scale is 10 Tev (or smaller) and that the much higher four dimensional Planck scale emerges because the topological invariant $`c_2`$ is large. Thus, the heirarchy of scales that we observe between particle physics and gravity in four dimensions might be explained in these models by the fact that a topological invariant takes the value that it does.

2. Vacuum Equations for Moduli.

$`M`$ theory on a compact $`G_2`$-manifold $`X`$ has a low energy description in terms of a minimally supersymmetric supergravity theory in four dimensions. This theory is coupled to $`b_3(X)`$ moduli superfields. If $`X`$ contains a 3-manifold $`Q`$ along which there is an orbifold singularity then there will also be non-Abelian gauge fields. Note that there could be several different three manifolds $`Q_a`$ of orbifold singularities so there can be more than one gauge group factor. If $`Q_a`$ passes through certain additional conical singularities there can be chiral superfields in a complex representation of the gauge group associated to $`Q_a`$.

For the purposes of explaining the simple mechanism which fixes the moduli we will only require that there is a single gauge group and therefore a single $`Q`$. We wont need to talk about the matter fields. The classical solution to the low energy equations of motion is a solution of eleven dimensional supergravity in which the only non-zero field is the 11-metric. This is a product of the $`G_2`$-holonomy metric on $`X`$ and flat four dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Since the superpotential is exactly zero in this classical low energy limit, the potential for the moduli fields is also exactly zero.

We will ask the simple question: what happens to the theory if we turn on a background four-form field $`G`$ and a background gauge field $`A`$ along $`Q`$ ? In the case with $`A=0`$, this question has already been studied. The answer is that $`G`$ induces a superpotential which is linear in the moduli superfields. In this case, the resulting potential for the moduli is positive and runs off to zero at infinity . This corresponds to the large volume limit.

As we will explain momentarily, turning on the gauge field and its bosonic superpartners leads to a modification of the superpotential, which in the simplest non-trivial possibility is via the addition of a constant, $`c_1+ic_2`$. This constant, or rather its imaginary part, has a dramatic effect on the potential: its presence implies a supersymmetric minimum with negative cosmologial constant. Moreover, all the moduli fields are fixed in the minimum. In the remainder of this section we will explain these results in more detail. In order to do that we need to provide some basic background material. A more detailed explanation of some of the mathematics may be found in .

2.1. Kaluza-Klein on $`G_2`$-manifolds.

A manifold of $`G_2`$-holonomy always comes equipped with a 3-form $`\phi `$ which is covariantly constant (parallel) in the $`G_2`$-holonomy metric. The existence of $`\phi `$ is equivalent to the existence of a $`G_2`$-holonomy metric. Given a fixed $`G_2`$-holonomy metric on a compact 7-manifold $`X`$, a new metric with the same holonomy can be constructed by perturbing $`\phi `$ by any small harmonic three-form. Thus the moduli space of compact $`G_2`$-manifolds is locally isomorphic to a small neighbourhood of a point in $`H^3(X,𝐑)`$. There are thus $`b_3(X)`$ moduli fields in the four dimensional effective action. These combine with harmonic fluctuations of the 3-form potential $`C`$ of low energy $`M`$ theory to give $`b_3(X)`$ complex scalars which become the lowest components of scalar superfields in four dimensions.

In more detail, let $`\varphi _j(x)`$ $`j=1,\mathrm{}b_3`$ be a basis for $`H^3(X,𝐑)`$. Then the Kaluza-Klein harmonic ansatz is

$$C+i\phi =\mathrm{\Sigma }_jZ_j(y)\varphi _j(x)$$
(1)
The $`Z_j(y)`$’s are complex scalar fields in four dimensions and $`y`$ denotes coordinates of four dimensional spacetime. We define the real and imaginary parts of the complex scalars by

$$Z_j=t_j+is_j$$
(2)
The $`t_j`$’s are axions because of $`C`$-field gauge transformations. The $`s_j`$’s are the moduli fields whose vacuum expectation values determine the size and shape of the $`G_2`$-holonomy metric on $`X`$. This is because changing the $`s_j`$’s changes $`\phi `$ and therefore also the metric on $`X`$.

As argued in  and proven in , turning on a background field strength $`G`$ for $`C`$ induces the following superpotential into the four dimensional theory

$$W=\frac{1}{8\pi ^2}_X(\frac{C}{2}+i\phi )G$$
(3)
Note that as explained in the real part of $`W`$ is classically an angular variable of period $`\frac{1}{2}`$. In the quantum theory, to account for the effects of $`G`$-flux through the four-dimensional spacetime, we should accept all possible values of $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐞}W`$ which differ by $`\frac{N}{2}`$, for all integers $`N`$. Although important, the vacuum states distinguished by $`N`$ will not figure much in what follows.

Since $`G`$ does not depend upon the metric and is harmonic and quantised, we may expand it in terms of a basis of harmonic 4-forms $`\rho _j`$ which are dual to the $`\varphi _j`$. This means that the superpotential can be written as

$$W=\frac{1}{8\pi ^2}\mathrm{\Sigma }_kZ_kG_k$$
(4)
and is therefore linear in the moduli superfields with coefficients which are the flux quanta222The quanta $`G_k`$ are integer multiples of $`2\pi `$..

Finally, since we will be interested in general supersymmetric vacua, we will require the Kahler potential and its derivatives. The Kahler potential depends only on the $`s_k`$’s and not on the axions. It is given by

$$K=3ln(a_X\phi \phi )$$
(5)
where $`a`$ is $`\frac{1}{14\pi ^2}`$ and $`\phi `$ is the 4-form which is Hodge dual of $`\phi `$ in the metric on $`X`$. Note that since $``$ depends nonlinearly on the metric, $`e^K`$ is a nonlinear function of the moduli. The first derivative of the Kahler potential with respect to the $`Z_k`$ is

$$\frac{K}{Z_k}=\frac{7}{2}i\frac{_X\varphi _k\phi }{_X\phi \phi }$$
(6)
2.2. Superpotential for Gauge Fields.

In this subsection we will derive the contribution to the superpotential from the gauge fields and their superpartners which are localised along $`Q`$ (times four dimensional spacetime $`M^{3,1}`$). When the eleven dimensional spacetime has an $`A`$, $`D`$ or $`E`$ orbifold singularity along a 7-manifold $`Y`$ such as $`Q\times M^{3,1}`$, as long as $`Y`$ is large compared to the Planck length, there is a description of the $`M`$ theory physics near $`Y`$ in terms of seven dimensional super Yang-Mills theory on $`Y`$ with an $`A`$, $`D`$, $`E`$ gauge group $`G`$ determined by the orbifold singularity . The bosonic fields of 7d super Yang-Mills in flat space are a gauge field $`A`$ and three scalars $`B`$. In our context, the Yang-Mills theory is on a curved spacetime, but because $`Q`$ is a supersymmetric three cycle in a manifold of $`G_2`$-holonomy the classical description of the physics for large $`Q`$ is still supersymmetric even though the spacetime is curved333See  for a detailed discussion of supersymmetry and a description of the low energy physics in this context.. Of the sixteen supersymmetries present in the flat space gauge theory, only four remain once we compactify on $`Q`$. For large $`Q`$ there is then a description of the dynamics in terms of a supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on $`M`$ with minimal supersymmetry.

An important point is that the three scalars $`B`$ actually become the components of a 1-form on $`Q`$ because of supersymmetry. A very simple way to see this is that if we consider the fluctuations of the three components of $`A`$ which are along $`Q`$, then these fluctuations look like scalar fields in four dimensions. But a real scalar field in four dimensional supersymmetry must combine with either a 2-form potential or another scalar field in order to form a representation of the supersymmetry algebra. In this case the three components of $`B`$ transform as 1-forms on $`Q`$ and not as 2-forms on $`M`$ . Thus the components of $`A`$ tangential to $`Q`$ have bosonic superpartners which are a 1-form $`B`$ on $`Q`$. All fields transform in the adjoint representation of the gauge group.

One can check explicitly (see appendix) that the conditions for unbroken supersymmetry imply that

$$F(A)=BB$$
(7)
and

$$D_AB=0$$
(8)
ie that the field strength of the gauge field components along $`Q`$ are equal to the commutator of the $`B`$’s and that the covariant derivative of $`B`$ with respect to $`A`$ is zero.

These equations are the critical points of the following complex functional

$$\omega _Qtr(A+iB)d(A+iB)+\frac{2}{3}(A+iB)(A+iB)(A+iB)$$
(9)
with respect to the complex gauge field $`A+iB`$. $`\omega `$ is the complex Chern-Simons functional. Its critical points are complex flat connections. These are equivalent to a representation of the fundamental group of $`Q`$ in the complexification of the ADE gauge group $`G^𝐂`$ modulo conjugation.

This implies that the Chern-Simons functional $`\omega `$ is the contribution to the superpotential of the four dimensional theory from fluctuations of $`A`$ and $`B`$ along $`Q`$. $`\omega `$ is invariant under gauge transformations of the complexification of the gauge group as $`F`$-terms should be. In fact we can use the latter fact to rederive $`\omega `$:

The contribution to the four dimensional potential energy coming from the fluctuations of $`A`$ and $`B`$ along $`Q`$ is given by the bosonic part of the super Yang-Mills action on $`Q`$. This includes the Yang-Mills action for $`A`$

$$V=_QtrF(A)F(A)+\mathrm{}$$
(10)
Then we can ask, what is the superpotential $`W`$ for which

$$V=|\frac{\delta W}{\delta (A+iB)}|^2$$
(11)
Since the real Chern-Simons functional, $`\omega _𝐑`$ for $`A`$ (which is $`\omega `$ with $`B=0`$ ) has the property that

$$\delta \omega _𝐑F(A)$$
(12)
complex gauge invariance of the $`F`$-term uniquely fixes $`\omega `$ to be the complex Chern-Simons functional444Strictly speaking, our derivation of $`\omega `$ thus far applies only in the limit of global supersymmetry. In subsection $`3.2`$ we will explicitly verify that $`\omega `$ is indeed the superpotential.

As an aside, we note that for $`G_2`$-compactifications which are dual to heterotic or Type I or other IIB orientifold compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds, $`\omega `$ is the $`M`$ theory ‘dual’ of the holomorphic Chern-Simons functional which is the superpotential in these string compactifications.

We are going to pick our background gauge field $`A_o+iB_o`$ to simply be a critical point of $`\omega `$ ie a flat complex gauge field. We are also going to assume that the moduli space of complex flat connections is zero dimensional ie that the flat connection we choose is isolated. This means from the low energy four dimensional point of view that all the fluctuations of the gauge field around this background are massive. If this were not the case then the low energy theory would contain phenomenologically undesirable massless adjoint fields and the Kahler potential above would also require modification to include these additional light degrees of freedom.

The Chern-Simons functional $`\omega `$ is a topologically invariant functional. In particular, its value on a background flat connection is a constant

$$\omega |_{A_0+iB_0}c=c_1+ic_2$$
(13)
In general this constant555Note that if we had chosen a more general non-flat connection, then $`\omega `$ will not be constant and the formulae below become more complicated. is complex as we have emphasised in the above formula. In particular the real part is only well defined modulo 1 (in appropriate units) and is essentially the more familiar real Chern-Simons invariant. Its imaginary part however can in general be any real number. In particular $`c_2`$ can - as we will demonstrate - be large. This fact will be important for us in the following.

Summarising the results of this subsection: the contribution of the fields supported at the singularities to the superpotential is given by a complex number, $`c`$ \- the Chern-Simons invariant of a flat complex connection.

3. Minima of the Supergravity Lagrangian.

Having identified the contribution to the superpotential we can add it to the $`G`$-flux induced linear superpotential and study the minima of the supergravity potential. The absolute minima of the potential are supersymmetric vacua with a negative cosmological constant. These vacua are characterised by solutions to the following equations:

$$\frac{W}{Z_k}+\frac{K}{Z_k}W=0$$
(14)
With $`W`$ given by666We have redefined $`c_1`$ and $`c_2`$ for convenience

$$W=\frac{1}{8\pi ^2}(\mathrm{\Sigma }_jZ_jG_j+c_1+ic_2)$$
(15)
and the first derivative of the Kahler potential by

$$\frac{K}{Z_k}=\frac{7}{2}i\frac{_X\varphi _k\phi }{_X\phi \phi }$$
(16)
we see that minima exist if,

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }t^jG_j+c_1=0$$
(17)
and

$$G_k=\frac{7}{2}\frac{_X\varphi _k\phi }{_X\phi \phi }(\mathrm{\Sigma }_js_jG_j+c_2)$$
(18)
3.1. Solution to Vacuum Equations.

The equation involving the axions implies that one linear combination of axions has a fixed vev. Note that in the quantum theory this equation gets modified by the addition of half an integer, determined by which “theta vacuum” is picked.

The equations for the moduli fields $`s_i`$ imply that in any given solution the 4-form field $`G`$ is proportional to $`\phi `$, with a coefficient $`\alpha `$ which depends upon the moduli. To see this explicitly, expand $`\phi `$ in terms of the basis of harmonic 4-forms $`\rho _i`$ which are dual to the $`\varphi _i`$:

$$\phi =\mathrm{\Sigma }_ju_j\rho _j$$
(19)
Note that the $`u_j`$ depend upon the moduli fields $`s_i`$. The $`u_j`$ are homogeneous of degree $`\frac{4}{3}`$. Then the equations above may be rewritten as

$$G_k=\frac{7}{2}\frac{u_k}{\mathrm{\Sigma }_js_ju_j}(\mathrm{\Sigma }_is_iG_i+c_2)$$
(20)
Therefore,

$$G=\alpha \phi $$
(21)
where

$$\alpha =\frac{7}{2\mathrm{\Sigma }_js_ju_j}(\mathrm{\Sigma }_is_iG_i+c_2)=\frac{1}{2Vol(X)}(\mathrm{\Sigma }_is_iG_i+c_2)$$
(22)
Since a solution of the equations implies that $`\phi `$ is proportional to an integral cohomology class, any solution has at most one modulus - the volume. This is because changes in the moduli which preserve the volume of $`X`$ will always change the direction in $`H^4(X,𝐑)`$ in which $`\phi `$ points. We will now describe a way to solve these equations and demonstrate that the volume modulus is also fixed.

The idea is simple and we are indebted to Dominic Joyce for proposing it. We assume that our $`G_2`$-manifold $`X`$ has a $`G_2`$-structure $`\phi ^{}`$ which is proportional to the flux $`G`$,

$$\alpha ^{}\phi ^{}=G$$
(23)
Then we simply rescale the moduli of this $`G_2`$-metric and try to solve equation $`(21)`$. Note that if $`X`$ does not have a $`G_2`$-structure for which $`(23)`$ is true for some fixed $`G`$-flux, then we will typically be able to change the flux and adjust the moduli so that it is true. Hence we can typically find combinations of $`G_2`$-manifolds and fluxes for which $`(23)`$ is true.

Under a rescaling of the moduli,

$`\phi ^{}\lambda ^3\phi ^{}`$ (24)
$`\phi ^{}\lambda ^4\phi ^{}`$ (25)
$`\alpha ^{}\lambda ^4\alpha ^{}`$ (26)
Thus, denoting the moduli in the $`\phi ^{}`$ metric as $`s_j^{}`$, in order to solve our equations we have that

$$s_j=\lambda ^3s_{j}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$$
(27)
and require that

$$\alpha =\lambda ^4\alpha ^{}$$
(28)
This gives the following equation for the scale factor

$$\lambda ^3\mathrm{\Sigma }_js_{j}^{}{}_{}{}^{}G_j+c_2=2\lambda ^3Vol(X^{})\alpha ^{}$$
(29)
This has a unique solution given by

$$\lambda ^3=\frac{c_2}{2Vol(X^{})\alpha ^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_js_{j}^{}{}_{}{}^{}G_j}$$
(30)
Hence this minimum of the potential is isolated. In fact it is actually clear from the conditions for unbroken supersymmetry $`(18)`$ that the volume modulus will be fixed in a given solution. This is because the equations are not invariant under a rescaling of the moduli fields. The left hand side and the first term on the right are invariant, but the last term involving $`c_2`$ is not invariant.

In summary, we have shown that if $`X`$ admits a $`G_2`$-metric which is such that $`\phi ^{}`$ is proportional to $`G`$ then there exists an isolated minimum of the supergravity potential with negative cosmological constant. Note that $`X`$ must be such that the topology of $`Q`$ is rich enough to admit flat connections with non-zero $`c_2`$. We will discuss this issue later. For the moment we wish to outline a dual Type IIA description of the moduli fixing mechanism 777We thank E. Witten for suggesting this. which may serve to clarify the origin of $`c_2`$.

3.2 Type IIA dual description.

In addition to being dual to compactifications of the heterotic string theory, $`G_2`$-compactifications of $`M`$ theory can also be dual to orientifolds of Type IIA theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold $`Z`$. Such string vacua can be described in the following way. Consider Type IIA on a Calabi-Yau threefold $`Z`$. This theory has $`𝒩=2`$ supersymmetry. If $`Z`$ admits a $`𝐙_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ symmetry $`\sigma `$ under which the Kahler form $`K`$ and holomorphic 3-form $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ behave as

$`KK`$ (31)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ (32)
then one can define an orientifold of the theory by gauging the $`𝐙_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ symmetry generated by the product of $`\sigma `$ and the world-sheet parity operator $`P`$. Gauging this $`𝐙_\mathrm{𝟐}`$ breaks the supersymmetry to $`𝒩=1`$.

The fixed points of $`Z`$ under $`\sigma `$, if non-zero, are 3-dimensional submanifolds $`Z^\sigma `$ of $`Z`$ and will be smooth if $`Z`$ is smooth. The string theory thus has orientifold 6-planes with topology $`Z^\sigma \times M^{3,1}`$, with $`M`$ four-dimensional spacetime. Consequently, the theory also has a tadpole for the RR 7-form potential $`C_7`$, suported on the orientifold planes. The tadpoles may be cancelled by introducting $`D`$6-branes wrapping 3-dimensional submanifolds $`Q_a`$ of $`Z`$. If $`N^a`$ denotes the number of branes wrapping $`Q_a`$, the homology classes of the $`Q_a`$’s must be such that

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_aN^a[Q_a]=4[Z^\sigma ]$$
(33)
This is the tadpole cancellation condition. Some examples of such vacua have been described in .

If all the $`Q_a`$ are special Lagrangian 3-manifolds (ie supersymmetric cycles) then the configuration of branes and orientifolds will be supersymmetric. Since such Type IIA vacua have only the metric, dilaton and RR 1-form potential (dual to $`C_7`$) as the only non-zero fields, they arise in the $`M`$ theory limit solely from the eleven dimensional metric. Supersymmetry then implies that the $`M`$ theory limit is a compactification on a $`G_2`$-manifold. For instance, the $`M`$ theory limit of $`N^a`$ D6-branes on $`Q_a`$ is an $`A_{N_a1}`$-singularity over $`Q_a`$ in a $`G_2`$-manifold.

The description of the fields on the D6-branes at low energies is precisely the 7-dimensional super Yang-Mills theory we discussed in the $`M`$ theory limit. The gauge field $`A`$ on $`Q`$ corresponds to the usual gauge field of the D6-brane and the 1-form $`B`$ on $`Q`$ has three components which locally represent normal fluctuations of the brane inside the Calabi-Yau $`Z`$. The superpotential from the D6-brane sector is again given by the complex Chern-Simons functional, but now we can interpret contributions to its imaginary part as beign associated with non-zero values for the normal bundle fields $`B`$, since the imaginary part vanishes if $`B`$ vanishes.

What kind of brane physics is associated with non-zero normal bundle fields? One natural guess is the Myers effect . For example, a non-zero value for

$$trBBB$$
(34)
on a Dp-brane induces a coupling to the RR (p+4)-form field strength $`F`$ of the form

$$trB^1B^2B^3.F+permutations$$
(35)
where the $`(p+4)`$-form $`F`$ is contracted with the three components of $`B`$ to give a $`(p+1)`$-form which we may integrate over the $`Dp`$-brane world-volume. Since the $`(p+4)`$-form measures the charge distribution of $`D(p+2)`$-branes in Type IIA/B theory, this coupling is associated with $`Dp`$-branes which have “expanded into” $`D(p+2)`$-branes. In our context $`p=6`$ and the non-zero value of $`(34)`$ occurs when $`c_20`$. Hence the $`D6`$-branes of the orientifold compactification expand into $`D8`$-branes.

3.2 The Potential.

Up to now, we have described the conditions for unbroken supersymmetry and their solutions. Also of interest is the supergravity potential, $`V`$. $`V`$ is determined by the standard formula

$$V=e^K(g^{i\overline{j}}(\frac{W}{Z_i}+\frac{K}{Z_i}W)(\frac{\overline{W}}{\overline{Z_{\overline{j}}}}+\frac{K}{\overline{Z_{\overline{j}}}}\overline{W})3|W|^2)$$
(36)
This turns out to be given by

$$V=\frac{\pi ^2}{2}(\frac{_XG_XG_X}{Vol(X)^2}+\frac{(_X\frac{C}{2}G_X+c_1)^2}{Vol(X)^3}+\frac{(c_2)^2}{Vol(X)^3}+\frac{c_2_X\mathrm{\Phi }G_X}{Vol(X)^3})$$
(37)
Note that $`c_1`$ and $`_X\frac{C}{2}G`$ appear on an equal footing in the effective potential. We can see this explicitly from the $`C`$-field equations of motion in the presence of the $`ADE`$-singularity supported on $`Y=Q\times M^{3,1}`$. In the presence of such an $`ADE`$ singularity the $`M`$ theory Lagrangian has a contribution coupling the gauge fields on $`Y`$ to the $`C`$-field:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }L=\delta _Y^4\omega _3(A)G$$
(38)
where $`\omega _3`$ is the Chern-Simons 3-form as a functional of the gauge field and $`\delta _Y^4`$ is a 4-form delta-function supported on $`Y`$. This means that the $`C`$-field equation of motion is

$$dG+\frac{1}{2}GG+\delta _Y^4trFF=0$$
(39)
This implies that the gauge field makes a contribution to the conserved Page charge, $`P`$, defined by

$$P=_X(G+\frac{1}{2}CG)/4\pi ^2+c_1$$
(40)
Hence, turning on $`A`$ is equivalent to shifting the Page charge by the Chern-Simons invariant $`c_1`$. We can also use this analysis to reconfirm our calculation of $`W`$ using the fact that $`BPS`$ domain walls in the supergravity theory have a tension which is porportional to the change in $`W`$ as the wall is crossed.

Consider an $`M2`$-brane whose world-volume is $`q\times 𝐑^{2,1}`$ $``$ $`Q\times 𝐑^{3,1}`$. From the effective field theory point of view this domain wall in four dimensions can be described as an instanton on $`Q\times 𝐑`$ for the gauge field $`A`$. Here $`𝐑`$ is the direction transverse to the wall. The reason for this is precisely the equation of motion $`(39)`$ which implies that gauge field configurations of non-zero instanton number have non-zero membrane charge888In the Type IIA description the instanton is a D2-brane inside the D6-brane..

To specify the instanton field requires boundary conditions at $`\pm \mathcal{1}`$ which consist of two copies of $`Q`$. The requisite boundary conditions are a flat connection on each copy of $`Q`$. The $`M2`$-brane domain wall is then an instanton which interpolates between the two flat connections at the two ends. The tension of such a domain wall is then given by evaluating the Yang-Mills action on $`Q\times 𝐑`$

$$T=_{Q\times 𝐑}trFF=_{Q\times 𝐑}trFF=c_1^+c_1^{}\mathrm{\Delta }c_1$$
(41)
ie is the difference in the Chern-Simons invariants of the two flat connections. Since the supersymmetry algebra implies that

$$T=\mathrm{\Delta }(e^{\frac{K}{2}}W)$$
(42)
we find (by comparing with the formulae for $`V`$) that $`W`$ receives a contribution which is directly propotional to $`c_1`$, since $`e^KVol(X)^3`$. Holomorphy ie the fact that the gauge field on $`Q`$ naturally gets complexified, then implies the $`c_2`$ contribution. This completes the derivation of $`W`$ that we have used throughout this paper.

An open question is what kinds of domain walls in the theory shift the value of $`c_2`$ ?? The answer appears to be domain walls which couple only to the gravitational field. This is because the $`C`$-field equation of motion does not detect changes in $`c_2`$ and therefore the Einstein equations presumably do.

3.4. The One Modulus Case.

We have shown above that the equations formally have an isolated minimum. However, for consistency, we must also show that the minimum exists in a region of field space where the supergravity approximation is valid, since this after all is where we obtained the Kahler potential. This requires showing that the minimum exists at values of the $`s_j`$ for which the size of $`X`$ is large compared to the Planck length. Although this is a straightforward exercise in the general case we will restrict our attention so the very simple case of $`G_2`$-manifolds with one modulus, $`s`$. In this case we can be very explicit about the dependence of the equations on $`s`$ and the formulae are a little less abstract.

With one modulus, homogeneity of $`e^K`$ fixes the Kahler potential to be

$$K=ln(\frac{1}{14\pi ^2}s^7)$$
(43)
Then the vacuum equations assert that

$$G=\frac{7}{2s}(Gs+c_2)$$
(44)
This has the unique solution

$$s=\frac{7}{5}\frac{c_2}{G}$$
(45)
Note that, since $`s`$ is positive in the supergravity approximation, the signs of $`c_2`$ and $`G`$ must be opposite. Since $`c_2`$ is fixed by the topology there is a solution for only one sign of $`G`$.

The supergravity approximation is valid when the volume of $`X`$ is large and this corresponds to $`s`$ being large. Therefore as long as $`c_2`$ is large compared to $`G`$, the minimum exists in a region of field space within the approximation. In $`M`$ theory $`s`$ has length dimension three, so a $`c_2`$ of order $`10^3`$ or bigger and a minimal flux quantum is presumably enough to put the minimum in the regime of validity. Before we discuss in more detail the nature of $`c_2`$ and the existence of $`G_2`$-manifolds with non-zero $`c_2`$ we can compute using the supergravity potential the value of the potential in the minimum. This is the cosmological constant of the anti-de Sitter space. This turns out to be

$$V_0=\mathrm{\Lambda }_0=\frac{21\pi ^25^5}{2\times 7^5}(\frac{G}{c_2})^5G^220\frac{G^7}{c_2^5}$$
(46)
which if $`G`$ is minimal is small for large $`c_2`$.

The potential also has another critical point at finite $`s`$. This critical point is a de Sitter maximum. The cosmological constant of de Sitter space is of the same order as it is in the minimum. The multi modulus case also presumably has a de Sitter maximum. This follows simply from the fact that, as we have seen, the potential has a minimum below zero at some finite value of the $`s`$-fields. But for extremely large values of the fields the terms involving $`c_2`$ are negligible compared to the flux induced terms calculated in . These terms are purely positive and for large $`s_i`$ the potential approaches zero from above. Hence, presuming the potential does not blow up at finite distance, it must have a maximum above zero. In the multi-modulus case we actually expect the existence of de Sitter minima as well although we have not been able to prove this. This is simply because there are in general many fields. If this is the case, the theory would have non-supersymmetric metastable vacua with positive cosmological constant. Aspects of cosmology of these compactifications are being investigated in .

We now turn to the question of the existence of $`G_2`$-manifolds with the properties required for this moduli fixing mechanism to be implemented.

4. On the Existence of $`G_2`$-manifolds with $`c_20`$.

Recall that our $`G_2`$-manifold $`X`$ has an $`ADE`$-singularity supported along a 3-manifold $`Q`$. $`c_2`$ is the imaginary part of the Chern-Simons invariant of the flat complex $`ADE`$-connection on $`Q`$. In particular if $`B`$, the imaginary part of the gauge field is gauge equivalent to zero $`c_2`$ will vanish. For example, consider the case when the gauge group is $`G^𝐂=SL(N,𝐂)`$. The flat connection is then a set of matrices in $`G^𝐂`$ which generate a group which is homomorphic to $`\pi _1(Q)`$. If, by conjugation by elements in $`G^𝐂`$, one can unitarise these matrices ie conjugate them into $`G^𝐑`$ $`=SU(n)`$, $`B`$ is gauge equivalent to zero and $`c_2`$ vanishes. This is certainly the case when $`\pi _1(Q)`$ is finite. We should therefore consider the case of infinite fundamental group.

As far as we are aware, the only known examples of flat connections with non-zero $`c_2`$ are in the cases in which,

$$Q=𝐇^\mathrm{𝟑}/\mathrm{\Gamma }$$
(47)
ie when $`Q`$ is diffeomorphic to a compact 3-manifold which admits a hyperbolic metric999In , a link between $`G_2`$-manifolds and hyperbolic geometry was also made.. A hyperbolic metric is a metric of constant negative curvature ie is locally isometric to Euclidean anti-de Sitter space.

Now, since

$$𝐇^\mathrm{𝟑}=SO(1,3)/SO(3)=PSL(2,𝐂)/PSU(2)$$
(48)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is therefore a subgroup of $`PSL(2,𝐂)`$ and canonically defines a representation of $`\pi _1(Q)`$ in $`PSL(2,𝐂)`$ ie a flat $`PSL(2,𝐂)`$ connection on $`Q`$. This representation can always be lifted to a representation of $`SL(2,𝐂)`$. This is the flat connection that we will consider using, by regarding $`SL(2,𝐂)`$ as a subgroup of $`G^𝐂`$. The coresponding gauge field in the standard hyperbolic metric is given by

$`A+iB=\left(\begin{array}{c}fg\\ hf\end{array}\right)`$ (51)
where $`f,g,h`$ are complex one forms given in terms of the dreibein $`e_i`$ and spin connection $`\omega _{ij}`$ by

$`2f=ie_1\omega _{23}`$ (52)
$`2g=i(e_2+\omega _{12})+e_3+\omega _{13}`$ (53)
$`2h=i(e_2\omega _{12})e_3+\omega _{13}`$ (54)
Then, one can readily compute $`c`$ the Chern-Simons invariant in the hyperbolic metric to learn that

$$c_2Vol(𝐇^\mathrm{𝟑}/\mathrm{\Gamma })$$
(55)
So in this case $`c_2`$ is the volume of $`Q`$ computed in its canonically normalised hyperbolic metric. $`c_2`$ can in fact be large in practise. To see this, consider a hyperbolic 3-manifold $`Q^{}`$ with a volume invariant $`V^{}`$. Then $`Q^{}`$ admits a finite cover $`Q`$ whose volume invariant is $`NV^{}`$. $`N`$ can be an integer of arbitrarily high order!

The existence of such a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ implies that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ contains a normal subgroup of index $`N`$. Equivalently, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is homomorphic to a finite group of order $`N`$.

To show this recall that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is finitely generated by determinant one complex matrices (modulo $`\pm 1`$). The entries of these matrices are complex numbers. Let $`𝐅`$ $`𝐂`$ denote the sub-ring of the complex numbers generated by the entries of these matrices. $`𝐅`$ is also finitely generated. In fact $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is conjugate to a representation in which the entries of the matrices are all algebraic101010ie contained in a finite algebraic extension of the field of rational numbers.. This implies that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is conjugate to $`PSL(2,𝐅)`$, for some $`𝐅`$.

For instance $`𝐅`$ might be a subset of $`𝐂`$ of the form $`\{a+ib|a,b𝐙\}`$. We can then consider the subrings of $`𝐅`$ called “prime ideals” which we denote by $`𝐏`$. For example, $`𝐏`$ might be $`\{cp+idp|c,d𝐙\}`$ with $`p`$ a prime number. Then $`𝐅/𝐏`$ is a finite field and we have maps

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }PSL(2,𝐅)PSL(2,𝐅/𝐏)$$
(56)
This gives a map from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to a finite group $`PSL(2,𝐅/𝐏)`$ which by choosing the “prime number” in $`𝐏`$ is of arbitrarily large order. The kernel of this map is then the fundamental group of a hyperbolic 3-manifold whose volume is of arbitrary order.

Note that if a $`G_2`$-manifold has an $`ADE`$-singularity supported along a 3-manifold $`Q`$ of hyperbolic type then the metric induced on $`Q`$ will typically not be the constant curvature metric. However, a flat connection with the same Chern-Simons invariant exists on $`Q`$ regardless of the metric induced upon it. Therefore $`c_2`$ is not the actual volume of $`Q`$ which in general depends upon the $`s_j`$. However, because $`Q`$ is a supersymmetric 3-cycle its volume form is given by $`\phi `$. Hence the volume of $`Q`$ is linear in the $`s_j`$. Formula $`(45)`$ (and its generalisation to the multi-modulus case) then shows that the actual volume of $`Q`$ and its volume in the hyperbolic metric are linearly related.

Another important point about the canonical flat connection on a hyperbolic 3-manifold is that it is rigid ie that it admits no deformations preserving flatness. This was another property that we were assuming in the calculation of the minimum of the effective potential. This property follows from the uniqueness property of hyperbolic 3-manifolds called Mostow Rigidity. The algebraic version of Mostow rigidity asserts that any two isomorphic subgroups of $`PSL(2,𝐂)`$ which occur as the fundamental groups of finite volume hyperbolic three-manifolds are conjugate. This implies that the flat connection is unique111111The proof of Mostow rigidity is somewhat outside the scope of this paper..

In summary, we have seen that if the $`G_2`$-manifold has an $`ADE`$-singularity supported along a 3-manifold $`Q`$ which admits a hyperbolic metric then there exists an isolated connection with non-zero $`c_2`$. Moreover $`c_2`$ can be a large number. Do such $`G_2`$-manifolds exist?

An important result which emerged from Thurston’s work on 3-manifolds is that “most” compact 3-manifolds are of hyperbolic type. The Thurston program  resulted in a picture of a 3-manifold in which it can be decomposed into a collection of ‘prime pieces’ which consist of other 3-manifolds. Each prime 3-manifold then admits one of eight types of locally homogeneous metrics. Seven of these eight types are 3-manifolds which are classified. For example they include finite quotients of $`S^3`$ and $`T^3`$. The remaining geometry, namely hyperbolic 3-space, makes up all of the remaining prime 3-manifolds and since the list of the other 7-types is so small, hyperbolic 3-manifolds make up “most” prime 3-manifolds.

A more concrete argument pertaining to the existence of hyperbolic submanifolds of $`G_2`$-manifolds is perhaps the following. From various string duality  and mathematical arguments , one expectation about some $`G_2`$-manifolds is that they admit $`K3`$-fibrations over $`𝐒^\mathrm{𝟑}`$ (or a quotient). Imagine that the generic $`K3`$-fiber has not one but several $`ADE`$-singularities of the same type. For example three $`A_2`$-singularities. Then locally, each such singularity, as we follow it around on $`𝐒^\mathrm{𝟑}`$, gives a section of the fibration. However, along a codimension two locus $`L`$ in $`𝐒^\mathrm{𝟑}`$ the three singularities of the $`K3`$-fibers above $`L`$ could meet. In this way the $`K3`$-fibration would not have a section but an order 3 multi-section. This produces in the total space of $`X`$ a single $`A_2`$-singularity supported on a 3-manifold $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is in fact a 3-fold branched cover of $`𝐒^\mathrm{𝟑}`$. An important fact about 3-manifolds is that any 3-manifold can be regarded as a 3-fold branched cover of $`𝐒^\mathrm{𝟑}`$ . So, in this way one can imagine that $`X`$ is such that the branching is hyperbolic. Unfortunately, developing this argument further requires understanding better the branching locus121212$`X`$ could have an additional singularity along $`L`$ at which additional light degrees of freedom might be found. $`L`$.

We should also point out an analagous situation in which plenty of examples may be found. This consists of a compact Calabi-Yau threefold $`Z`$ with an $`ADE`$-singularity localised along a hyperbolic 2-manifold ie a Riemann surface of genus $`>1`$.

Having given some arguments which might suggest that $`G_2`$-manifolds exist with non-zero $`c_2`$ we now return to the physics - assuming the existence of a solution.

5. Holography and AdS/CFT.

The alert reader may have noticed something which at first sight appears peculiar from our discussion of the minima of the supergravity potential. This is the fact that the potential for the $`s_i`$ had an isolated minimum but only one linear combination of axions had a fixed vev in the vacuum. It thus appears that we have an $`𝒩`$ $`=1`$ vacuum configuration in which $`b_3(X)1`$ real scalars (the axions) are massless. This seems peculiar at first because the usual representations of the $`𝒩`$ $`=1`$ supersymmetry algebra contain two bosonic degrees of freedom not one. As we shall explain this appears to be related to the holographic dual description of these vacua.

The resolution of this peculiarity is that the vacuum we are talking about is a supersymmetric anti-de Sitter vacuum. In anti-de Sitter space, in addition to supermulitplets with two bosonic degrees of freedom, there does indeed exist a supermultiplet with one bosonic degree of freedom. This is the so called singleton representation. Therefore, our axions must be singletons.

An important point about singleton representations is that they naturally reside on the boundary of anti-de Sitter space131313See the introduction of  for a review with detailed references on the representation theory of the anti-de Sitter group.. Thus, the excitations of the axion fields in our vacua represent boundary degrees of freedom.

A very natural question to ask is what is the holographic dual description of these adS vacua? Because of the symmetries, this dual description is almost certainly a three dimensional conformal field theory which must - in some natural sense - reside on the boundary of anti-de Sitter space. In the better understood adS vacua of $`M`$ theory, this $`CFT`$ is the world-volume theory of some collection of $`M`$2-branes on the boundary of the spacetime. In that context it was realised that the singleton representation in the gravity theory represented the center of mass degree of freedom of the branes.

Since we have identified $`b_3(X)1`$ axionic singleton fields in the adS vacua under discussion here, it is natural to propose that the holographic dual description corresponds to the world-volume field theory of $`b_3(X)1`$ collections of branes at the boundary of the spacetime (although it is not clear which kind of branes these actually are). One could try and verify this proposal by finding the corresponding brane solution of $`M`$ theory on $`X`$.

6. Phenomenology.

Presuming that compact $`G_2`$-manifolds with non-zero $`c_2`$ exist, we have shown that vacua of $`M`$ theory exist with no moduli. This means that such $`G_2`$-manifolds would provide solutions of the eleven dimensional theory which describe four dimensional universes with no undetermined parameters except the fundamental Planck scale. In principle therefore all masses and couplings are calculable by the theory in the isolated vacuum state.

The main phenomenological difficulties with the vacua we have described here are a) they are supersymmetric and b) they have a negative cosmological constant. However, as we have seen, the moduli fixing mechanism that we have described here can in principle be implemented in a $`G_2`$-manifold whose associated low energy physics contains no light charged matter, since we did not have to consider the matter fields supported at “chiral singularities” of $`X`$. We should therefore consider the utility of the mechanism in compactifications which include quarks and leptons.

The basic idea that we consider is that the moduli fixing mechanism considered here is the dominant contribution to the moduli potential in a more realistic scenario. In order to investigate this possibility, it seems necessary to assume that in addition to the singularities which produce a supersymmetric standard model sector, $`X`$ also has singularities which produce a supersymmetry breaking sector. Once supersymmetry is broken (at a scale $`m_{susy}`$) the zero point energies of the charged fields will generate a contribution $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ to the cosmological constant of order $`m_{susy}^4`$ and we will simply consider the consequences of requiring that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ and the contribution $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ of section three are of the same order. This is necessary if one is to obtain a positive cosmological constant. Under the strong assumption that a suitable supersymmetry breaking mechanism exists for which this is true, there are a couple of quite striking consequences.

First, the heirarchy problem reduces to explaining why a topological invariant $`c_2`$ takes the value that it does. Second, the fundamental Planck scale is roughly 10 TeV, if we take $`m_{susy}=`$ 1 Tev. Thus, if these sorts of models actually existed, they would provide a concrete realisation of the ideas proposed in .

Note that the cosmological constant problem in this context then reduces to the problem of explaining why $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ cancels $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ to at least $`10^{56}`$ orders of magnitude. We now turn to an explanation of these statements.

Once supersymmetry is broken, the mass splittings between fermions and bosons will generate a contribution to the cosmological constant of the form $`m_{susy}^4`$, where $`m_{susy}`$ is the scale of supersymmetry breaking. If this contribution to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is going to be comparable to the cosmological constant calculated in section three, we require that

$$20\frac{G^7}{c_2^5}m_p^4m_{susy}^4$$
(57)
where $`m_p`$ is the four dimensional Planck mass. Thus, the heirarchy problem essentially reduces to explaining why

$$\frac{c_2^5}{G^7}20(\frac{m_p}{m_{susy}})^4$$
(58)
The minimal value for $`G`$ is $`2\pi `$, so the smallest $`c_2`$ can be is around $`10^{13}10^{14}`$, if we assume that $`1Tevm_{susy}10Tev`$. So in this scenario, the heirarchy problem reduces to explaining why a certain topological invariant is $`10^{13}`$ (or bigger if the fluxes are larger).

On the other hand, $`m_p`$ is determined in terms of the eleven dimensional Planck mass, $`M_p`$ through the formula

$$m_p^2(\frac{c_2}{G})^{7/3}M_p^2$$
(59)
Hence, assuming that $`m_{susy}`$ is around the $`TeV`$ scale and we know $`m_p`$, we can determine the fundamental Planck scale. For the minimal value of $`c_2`$, we find that the fundamental scale is one order larger than $`m_{susy}`$

$$M_p(10100)TeV10m_{susy}$$
(60)
For a much larger $`G`$-flux, say of order $`10^{10}`$,

$$c_210^{27}$$
(61)
and

$$M_p1GeV$$
(62)
so vacua in which $`c_2`$ and $`G`$ are vastly different, have fundamental scales which differ by a much milder amount. However, a fundamental scale which is lower than the scales already probed by particle physics experiments is surely problematic and hence models with flux-quanta which are too large are ruled out.

We should also compute the masses of Kaluza-Klein particles. These are given by

$$m_{kk}(\frac{G}{c_2})^{1/3}M_p$$
(63)
For minimal $`G`$-flux, this is roughly 10 GeV. For larger fluxes these masses are smaller.

An important comment is in order. If $`X`$ is isotropic in the minimum all its moduli are of the same order of magnitude in the minimum of the potential. Naively this would imply that these vacua are ruled out by accelerator experiments, because Kaluza-Klein excitations of the gauge fields along the $`Q_a`$ which supports the standard model gauge group would produce charged particles of mass 10 GeV or less. Renormalisable couplings between these particles and those of the standard model would then imply that such isotropic vacua are inconsistent else the Kaluza-Klein modes would have been observed in particle physics experiments above 10 GeV.

However, recall that the standard model particles are supported at singular points on $`X`$ and therefore transform only under four-dimensional gauge transformations, whereas the gauge fields transform under seven dimensional gauge transformations. The charged Kaluza-Klein modes therefore transform under seven dimensional gauge transformations. Because of this, renormalisable interactions between standard model particles and the Kaluza-Klein modes are difficult to imagine and hence the interactions of these modes will presumably be much harder to detect.

Even if the charged Kaluza-Klein modes do have conventional couplings to quarks and leptons, many models could exist in which their masses are 100 GeV or much larger. To see this, we consider the generalisation of $`(45)`$ to the general case,

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_is^iG_i=\frac{7c_2}{5}$$
(64)
The $`Q`$’s which support the gauge fields have volumes which are linear in the $`s^i`$ because they are supersymmetric cycles. Hence if $`s^1`$ is the volume of one of the $`Q`$’s the above formula asserts that as $`G_1`$ is increased, $`s^1`$ decreases. So a larger flux in one particular direction in the cohomology of $`X`$ corresponds to shrinking a 3-manifold in $`X`$. Therefore, the $`Q`$ which supports the standard model gauge group can easily be much smaller than the largest scale of $`X`$ and if the mass scale of $`Q`$ is 100 GeV or bigger the model is consistent with accelerator experiments. These smaller 3-cycles make a negligible contribution to the volume of $`X`$. This implies that the cosmological constant of section three is still given by $`(46)`$ , but with the $`G`$ which appears there the smallest component of $`G`$-flux in $`X`$.

It would certainly be of interest to develop some of the ideas presented here further. In particular, a construction of $`G_2`$-manifolds with some of the properties described here would be an important step.

Appendix: Supersymmetry.

A relatively efficient method to derive the equations for unbroken supersymmetry on the fields supported at the $`ADE`$-singularity along $`Q`$ is actually in a dual context. Namely when $`Q`$ is a supersymmetric 3-cycle in a Calabi-Yau threefold $`Z`$ in Type IIA and some number of $`D`$6-branes are wrapping $`Q`$. Then, as shown in , the supersymmetry conditions for the world-volume fields are identical to those in $`M`$ theory. This is because the strong coupling limit of this Type IIA configuration is precisely an $`ADE`$-singularity along $`Q`$.

In flat space the world-volume theory of $`N`$ $`D`$6-branes is $`U(N)`$ super Yang-Mills in seven dimensions. We can derive the conditions for unbroken supersymmetry by dimensional reduction of the corresponding conditions in ten dimensional super Yang-Mills theory on a $`D`$9-brane. In curved space, the analagous procedure is to dimensionally reduce the conditions for unbroken supersymmetry for gauge fields along $`Z`$ to $`Q`$. Namely, we should consider the dimensional reduction of the Hermitian Yang-Mills equations on $`Z`$ onto $`Q`$.

In components in a locally flat frame, the Hermitian Yang-Mills equations are linear equations on the field strength $`F_{AB}`$ of a gauge field $`a_B`$ on $`Z`$:

$`F_{12}+F_{34}+F_{56}=0`$ (65)
$`F_{13}F_{24}=0`$ (66)
$`F_{14}+F_{23}=0`$ (67)
$`F_{15}F_{26}=0`$ (68)
$`F_{16}+F_{25}=0`$ (69)
$`F_{35}F_{46}=0`$ (70)
$`F_{36}+F_{45}=0`$ (71)
The first equation depends upon the metric on $`Z`$ via the Kahler form which we have chosen to be

$$\omega =dx_1dx_2+dx_3dx_4+dx_5dx_6$$
(73)
The remaining six equations are the conditions that the gauge field is holomorphic. These do not depend upon the Kahler metric. These equations correspond to $`F`$-terms in four dimensions and are the critical points of the holomorphic Chern-Simons functional.

$`Q`$ is a supersymmetric 3-cycle in $`Z`$ and as such

$$\omega |_Q=0$$
(74)
So in the local frame $`e_i`$ we will choose the frames along $`Q`$ to be spanned by $`(e_1,e_3,e_5)`$. The $`𝐑^\mathrm{𝟑}`$-subspace of $`𝐂^\mathrm{𝟑}`$ thus defined is indeed special Lagrangian with the complex structure defined by $`\omega `$. Correspondingly we will define the gauge field components tangential and normal to $`Q`$ by

$`(a_1,a_3,a_5)(A_1,A_2,A_3)`$ (75)
$`(a_2,a_4,a_6)(B_1,B_2,B_3)`$ (76)
Dimensionally reducing the Hermitian Yang-Mills equations onto $`Q`$ then corresponds to setting to zero the normal derivatives:

$$_2=_4=_6=0$$
(77)
If we regard both $`A_i`$ and $`B_i`$ as components of a 1-form on $`Q`$ (with values in the Lie algebra of the gauge group) then the above seven equations become:

$`dB+AB+BA=0`$ (78)
$`dA+AA=BB`$ (79)
$`dB+ABBA=0`$ (80)
The first of these depends upon the metric on $`Q`$ and corresponds in four dimensions to a $`D`$-term. The remaining six equations do not depend upon the metric and are $`F`$-terms. They are the critical points of a complex Chern-Simons action, as described in the text.

Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank M. Atiyah, T. Banks, M. Douglas, N. Dunfield, F. Denef, D. Friedan, D. Joyce, S. Kachru, N. Lambert, D. Long, J. Maldacena, G. Moore, E. Silverstein and E. Witten for very useful discussions.


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# THE FORMATION OF THE SEYFERT X-RAY CONTINUUM

## 1 Introduction and generalities

### 1.1 The UV-X-$`\gamma `$ spectrum of Seyfert galaxies

The typical broad band UV-X-$`\gamma `$ ray spectrum of a Seyfert galaxy, here NGC 5548 has been reported in Fig. 1 This spectrum has been obtained from quasi simultaneous observations of different satellites indicated on the Figure $`^\mathrm{?}`$. We clearly see different components:

* A strong emission in the UV, the UV bump, generally interpreted as the thermal emission of an accretion disc.
* A strong emission in the X-ray band which can be generally fitted by a cut-off power law shape with a power law photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.9`$ $`^\mathrm{?}`$ and a cut-off energy $`E_c`$ near 200-300 keV $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$
* A neutral fluorescence Fe line near 6.4 keV $`^\mathrm{?}`$
* A bump peaking near 30 keV $`^\mathrm{?}`$
* A soft component below 2 keV, in excess to the extrapolation of the high energy power law, called the soft excess $`^\mathrm{?}`$

These different components are generally interpreted in the reprocessing/upscattering model framework. The scheme of this model is reported in Fig. 2. It supposes the presence of 2 phases, a cold one, the accretion disc, which produces the UV emission, and a hot one, the corona, a plasma of energetic particles, supposed to radiate X-rays by Compton upscattering the UV photons coming from the disc. Inversely, part of the X-ray emission of the corona is absorbed by the cold material and reprocessed in X-ray. Finally, part of the X-ray emission ($``$ 10%) is Compton reflected on the disc surface and give birth to the fluorescent Iron line and the reflection bump. The origin of the soft excess is still unclear, it may be the hard tail of the disc emission.

The nature of the high energy source(s), the geometry of the disc-corona configuration and the origin of the variability, which is important in Seyfert galaxies, are still unknown. The presence of a high energy cut-off in most of the Seyfert (Matt 2000) and the lack of any annihilation line have favored a thermal nature for the corona even if it does not rule out the non-thermal hypothesis $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Recent results on spectral variability (cf. section 3) appear to be more conclusive in agreement with the thermal interpretation. We will thus focus below on the thermal solution.

### 1.2 The thermal Comptonization spectrum

As said previously, the X-ray emission in Seyfert is believed to be produce by Compton process of UV seed photons on a thermal population of electrons. For a given geometry, the thermal Comptonization spectral shape depends on few parameters i.e. the temperature and optical depth of the corona, $`kT_e`$ and $`\tau `$, and the temperature of the soft photon field $`kT_{bb}`$.

It generally has a cut-off power law shape (cf. Fig. 3a) and it is often approximate by a spectral function of the type $`F(E)E^\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{exp}(E/E_c)`$. This may be however a very crude approximation especially in the case of anisotropic geometries. Indeed, the Compton process is relatively sensible to the anisotropy of the seed photon field and the X-ray emission may also be strongly anisotropic. In the case of a slab geometry for example, the X-ray photons of the first Compton scattering order are preferentially emitted backward toward the disk than toward the observer. It thus produces a break (the anisotropy break) in the observed X-ray spectrum as shown in Fig. 3b. In this case, the use of a cut-off power-law shape may lead to erroneous parameter values and to wrong physical interpretations $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$.

It is interesting to note that in the case of radiative equilibrium between the UV (i.e. the cooling) and the X-ray (i.e. the heating) sources, the temperature and optical depth of the corona follow an univocal relationship, which depends however on the geometry of the disc-corona configuration $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$. This relationship roughly corresponds to a constant Compton parameter $`y=\left[4{\displaystyle \frac{kT_e}{mc^2}}+16\left({\displaystyle \frac{kT_e}{mc^2}}\right)^2\right](\tau +\tau ^2)`$.

## 2 Geometry of the corona

Geometries more “photon-starved” than the simple slab corona are clearly required by the data $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$.

Fitting BeppoSAX observations of a sample of Seyfert galaxies with a realistic Comptonization model in slab geometry, we were able to constrain the temperature and optical depth of the corona. The corresponding values have been reported in Fig. 4 together with the theoretical relationship expected in the case of a slab (solid line) and hemispherical (dashed line) geometry in radiative equilibrium (cf. Sect. 1.2). The data points tend to fall preferentially in between the two line, indicating that the real configuration is more complex than these two ideal case.

## 3 High energy variability

### 3.1 Long time scale variability

There is growing observational evidence, at least on long (i.e. $`>1day`$) time scale, that the X-ray spectrum of Seyfert softens (i.e. the photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ increases) as the 2-10 keV flux increases $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$. We also generally observed larger amplitude variability in the soft X-ray band than in the hard X-ray band $`^\mathrm{?}`$. These different results indicate that the continuum is mainly pivoting at high energy as indeed observed in some cases (cf. Fig. 5).

This support the idea that the X-ray spectral variability (at least on long time scale) is most likely due to a change of the cooling i.e. the X-ray spectral variability is driven by the UV seed photons, as expected in the upscattering model interpretation.

Recent results from the analysis of the IUE/XTE observation of NGC 7469 strongly agree with this conclusion. NGC 7469 has indeed been observed simultaneously by these 2 satellites during 30 days. Nandra et al. (2000), fitting the XTE data with a simple power law for the continuum, found a clear correlation between $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and the UV flux (cf. Fig. 6). A re-analyze of these data with a realistic Comptonization model$`^\mathrm{?}`$ shows that the increase of the UV flux goes with a decrease of the corona temperature (cf. Fig. 6), supporting a thermal nature for the corona.

### 3.2 Short time scale variability

The rapid variations of the X-ray flux (on time scale of a few hours or less) are generally not present in UV (cf e.g. Nandra et al. 1998 in the case of NGC 7469). This clearly indicates that there is an X-ray variability process distinct from the one occuring on longer time scale. If on the latter case, the variability precursor appears to be the UV source, on smaller time scale it has certainly something to do with the process that heats the corona, for instance reconnection instability in a magnetically dominated corona $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$.

Nandra & Papadakis (2001) have recently shown that the power density spectrum (hereafter PSD) of NGC 7469 hardens for higher energy, i.e. the slope of the PSD computed in the 2-4 keV band was larger than the one in the 10-15 keV band. Moreover these differences between the PSD are in the sense that the high frequency ($`>10^4`$ Hz) power spectrum shows more power at high energies (the opposite is true however at low frequency in agreement with the upscattering model expectations when the seed photon source is variable). This result also indicates that there is a mechanism unrelated to the seed photons that dominates variability on small time scale. As already proposed above, the corona may consist of magnetic flares. The hardening of the PSD could then be explained by the presence of hotter flares in the inner regions of the disc since they would mainly account for the high-energy photons and be also more rapidly variable due to their smaller size scale.

## 4 Variability and correlation with spectral properties between objects

In general, more luminous objects are less variable in X-ray $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$ and this effect is even stronger for smaller time scale$`^\mathrm{?}`$ . It indicates that the variability characteristics between objects differ mainly by their time scale rather than by their amplitude. A natural way to explain this behavior would be that more luminous object have larger black hole mass that is larger length scale and thus less rapid variability.

However, some type of Seyfert galaxies, the Narrow Line Seyfert, show, for a given luminosity, a larger variability than a standard Seyfert galaxy $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$. According to our previous remark, the larger variability of these objects suggests that they possess a central black hole with a relatively small mass. Consequently, they have to possess a larger accretion rate to explain their luminosity.

This thus suggest that Seyferts follow a $`\dot{M}/M_{BH}=\dot{m}`$ classification in the sense that the Broad line Seyferts may have small $`\dot{m}`$ and the Narrow line Seyferts may have large $`\dot{m}`$$`^\mathrm{?}`$ . Many of the details are unclear however. For instance, the more variable objects have in general a softer spectra $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$ which clearly show that the Comptonizing corona have different physical characteristics between objects.

## 5 Corona formation

Different models have tried to explain the formation of the corona and to reproduce the observations and the different correlation described above. The corona may then be produced by disk evaporation and/or particles may be accelerated trough magnetic reconnection like in the solar corona $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$. Such models manage to reproduce the main characteristics of the high energy emission discussed above like the correlation between $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and the X-ray flux, the temperature gradient in the inner regions of the corona, and the dependence of the spectral properties with $`\dot{m}`$ from the existence or not (depending on $`\dot{m}`$) of a radiation pressure dominated area in the central region of the accretion disk. For more details the reader can refer to the references given above.

## Acknowledgments

I would like to thanks the organizing comitee for having invited me to present this talk and for the great interest of this meeting.

## References


text:
# A Resistance Bound via an Isoperimetric Inequality

## 1 Introduction

It is natural and useful to interpret a graph as an electrical network by identifying the edges of the graph with one Ohm resistors. Then the effective resistance between vertices and sets admits a probabilistic and potential theoretic meaning, and is of interest, see for instance , ,  for the standard background and definitions. In the next section we present a useful upper bound for the effective resistance between two vertices in the graph in terms of an isoperimetric quantity for connected sets containing one of these two vertices. We suspect that this bound can’t be truly new, still in section 3 we bring two new applications.

## 2 A resistance bound

For a subset $`A`$ of a graph $`G`$ we denote by $`A`$ the *external* boundary, i.e. the vertices of $`GA`$ with neighbors in $`A`$. As usual, $`s`$ denotes the largest integer $`s`$ and $`s`$ denotes the smallest integer $`s`$. $`\mathrm{log}`$ denotes the logarithm to base $`2`$.

###### Theorem 2.1.

Let $`G`$ be a finite graph. Let $`w`$ and $`u`$ be vertices of $`G`$. Let $`R_{w,u}`$ be the electric resistance between $`w`$ and $`u`$. Then

$$R_{w,u}C(L_w+L_u),L_v:=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{log}|G|}{}}\underset{\begin{array}{c}vA\\ A\text{ connected}\\ |G|2^{(n+1)}<|A||G|2^n\end{array}}{\mathrm{max}}\frac{|A|}{|A|^2}+\frac{1}{|A|}$$
(1)
The $`1/|A|`$ summands are relevant, of course, only in graphs with very high connectivity. For example, let $`G`$ be a graph with $`2n^2+2n+2`$ vertices, arranged as follows: $`G=A_1\mathrm{}A_5`$, $`|A_1|=|A_5|=1`$, $`|A_2|=|A_4|=n`$ and $`|A_3|=n^2`$, and every vertex of $`A_i`$ is connected to every vertex of $`A_{i+1}`$ and to every vertex of $`A_{i1}`$. It is easy to see that for this graph the resistance between $`A_1`$ and $`A_5`$ is $`O(n^1)`$, but

$$\mathrm{max}\frac{|A|}{|A|^2}=O(n^2).$$

To understand the conditions better it is worthwhile to examine the following silly example: Let $`G`$ contain two components of equal size with $`w`$ in one and $`u`$ in the other. In this case the resistance is infinite. To get $`\mathrm{}`$ on the right hand side of (1) you need to have a set $`A`$ with $`|A|=0`$ and the only such set is the complete half. Therefore replacing $`|A||G|2^n`$ with $`|A||G|2^n1`$ would render the lemma incorrect with any constant $`C`$.

###### Proof.

We may assume that $`w`$ and $`u`$ are in the same component of $`G`$ since otherwise both sides of (1) are infinite. We may assume that $`G`$ has no other components and pay a price of $`2`$ in the constant in (1). Connect a battery to $`w`$ and $`u`$ so that the voltage $`V`$ satisfies $`V(w)=1`$ and $`V(u)=0`$. Denote the electric current by $`I`$. Denote by $`A_m`$ a set of the $`m`$ vertices with lowest voltage. If there are a number of possibilities (because some vertices have equal voltage), we choose $`A_m`$ to be connected, which can always be done due to the maximum principle. Let $`\theta (m)=\mathrm{max}_{vA_m}V(v)`$. Denote

$$r_n:=\mathrm{min}\{|A|:uA\text{}A\text{ connected and }|G|2^{(n+1)}<|A||G|2^n\}.$$

Let $`|G|2^{(n+1)}<m|G|2^n`$. As already remarked, the set $`A_m`$ is connected due to the maximum principal, contains $`u`$ and therefore $`|A_m|r_n`$. For every vertex of $`A_m`$ examine the sum of the currents through all edges connecting it to $`A_m`$ which we will call for simplicity the current through the vertex. Since the average current going through every vertex of $`A_m`$ is $`I/|A_m|`$ we get that for at least $`\frac{1}{2}r_n`$ vertices the current through each is

$$2\frac{I}{|A_m|}\frac{2I}{r_n}.$$

Examine one such vertex $`v`$, and take an edge connecting $`v`$ to $`A_m`$. The current through this edge, which is the difference of voltages, is $`2I/r_n`$. We get at least $`\frac{1}{2}r_n`$ vertices $`v`$ where $`V(v)\theta (m)+\frac{2I}{r_n}`$. This gives that $`\theta \left(m+\frac{1}{2}r_n\right)\theta (m)+\frac{2I}{r_n}`$. We apply this to a series of $`m`$’s from $`|G|2^{(n+1)}`$ to $`|G|2^n`$ and get

$$\theta \left(|G|2^n+1\right)\theta \left(|G|2^{(n+1)}+1\right)\frac{2I}{r_n}\left(\frac{2|G|2^{(n+1)}}{r_n}+1\right)$$

which we sum over $`n`$ and get

$$\theta (|G|/2+1)\theta (1)CIL_u.$$

Since $`\theta (1)=0`$ we are done with the neighborhood of $`u`$. An identical calculation around $`w`$ will show

$$1\theta ^{}(|G|/2+1)CIL_w$$

where $`\theta ^{}(m)=\mathrm{min}_{vA_m^{}}V(m)`$ and $`A_m^{}`$ is a set of $`m`$ vertices with maximal voltage which is a connected neighborhood of $`w`$. Since $`A_{|G|/2+1}`$ and $`A_{|G|/2+1}^{}`$ intersect we get $`\theta (|G|/2+1)\theta ^{}(|G|/2+1)`$ and then

$$1CI(L_u+L_w)$$

which finishes the proof.∎

## 3 Applications

### 3.1 Mean commute time

Let $`\tau ^{}=\mathrm{max}_{v,u}(E_vT_u+E_uT_v)`$. Where $`E_vT_u`$ is the expected hitting time for a random walk starting at $`v`$ to hit $`u`$. By hitting time we mean here continuous hitting time, i.e. one puts on every edge an alarm clock with the ringing time distributed like an exponential variable and then move from a vertex along the first edge that rings, at the time it rings. $`\tau ^{}`$ is the maximal mean commute time.

Open problem 20 in chapter 6 of  asserts the following:

> Show that for real $`1/2<\gamma <1`$ and $`\delta >0`$, there exists a constant $`K_{\gamma ,\delta }`$ with the following property. Let $`G`$ be a regular $`n`$-vertex graph such that, for any subset $`A`$ of vertices with $`|A|n/2`$, there exist at least $`\delta |A|^\gamma `$ edges between $`A`$ and $`A^c`$. Then $`\tau ^{}K_{\gamma ,\delta }n`$.

Theorem 2.1 allows to prove this under the assumption that the graph degree is bounded, in which case there is no difference between an isoperimetric condition phrased in terms of the number of edges (as in the problem) or in terms of the number of vertices (as in theorem 2.1). In this case we use the fact that the mean commute time between any two vertices $`u`$, $`w`$ for simple random walk on a connected graphs equals $`R_{u,w}|G|`$, see chapter 4 of . The isoperimetric condition gives in theorem 2.1 a bounded sum and the answer is positive.

When one removes the assumption of bounded degree, the answer is negative. For example, take a graph with $`n`$ vertices arranged in a circle such that each two neighbors are connected by $`n^{2/3}`$ edges. Then clearly the assumptions hold (with $`\gamma =\frac{2}{3}`$ and $`\delta =1`$) but the conclusion fails as $`\tau ^{}>cn^{4/3}`$. It is not difficult to construct such an example with no multiple edges.

### 3.2 Resistance of the 2D supercritical percolation cluster

2012 update. As was noted by Yoshihiro Abe, the proof in this section is wrong, and in fact the resistance formula, applied naively, only gives that the resistance is bounded by $`C\mathrm{log}^2n`$. Unfortunately, we know of at least one paper who relied on corollary 3.1 since this paper was published. end 2012 update.

Consider supercritical $`(p>1/2)`$ bond percolation on the $`n\times n`$ box of the 2D square lattice. Grimmett (private communication) asked: show that almost surely, with respect to the percolation measure $`_p`$, the maximal resistance between any pair of vertices on the giant component is bounded by $`C\mathrm{log}n`$. Denote by $`R_C^n`$ the maximal resistance between any pair of vertices on the largest cluster of the percolation inside the $`n\times n`$ box. Indeed we have

###### Corollary 3.1.

$$_p(R_C^n<C_p\mathrm{log}n)1.$$

###### Proof.

By theorem 2.1 it is enough to show that for $`C`$ sufficiently large and $`c>0`$ sufficiently small the probability that any connected set $`S`$ in the giant component of size bigger than $`C\mathrm{log}n`$, has boundary of size bigger than $`c|S|^{1/2}`$ goes to $`1`$ with $`n`$. This indeed follows from an old argument of Kesten  and is done explicitly in section 2.3 of . ∎

For more on the relationships between random walks and percolation clusters see ,  and the references therein.

## 4 A Conjecture

The Cheeger constant of a finite *transitive* graph is at least the reciprocal of the diameter (see ). We hope the following stronger conjecture holds.

###### Conjecture 4.1.

Let $`G`$ be finite, connected and vertex transitive. Show that if $`\mathrm{diam}(G)<|G|^\alpha `$ then $`|S|>c_\alpha |S|^{1\alpha }`$ for any $`S`$, $`1|S||G|/2`$ .

If true, the first part of the next conjecture will follow along the lines of proof of theorem 2.1.

###### Conjecture 4.2.

Let $`G`$ be finite, connected and vertex transitive. For any two vertices

$$R_{v,u}<C+\frac{\mathrm{diam}(G)^2\mathrm{log}|G|}{|G|}.$$

In addition, if the diameter is $`o(|G|)`$ then the electric resistance between any two vertices is $`o(\mathrm{diam}(G))`$.

These conjectures should be compared with the case of infinite vertex transitive graphs which was settled by Varopoulos , the only recurrent vertex transitive graphs are roughly isometric to $``$ or $`^2`$.

This might be the point to note that for vertex transitive graphs it is possible to prove isoperimetric inequalities of this kind by examining balls only, using a result of Coulhon and Saloff-Coste . Their theorem (theorem 1 ibid.) is stated for Cayley graphs of finitely generated groups, but it is not difficult to generalize it to edge transitive graphs (or to vertex transitive graphs with bounded degree), e.g. using theorem 6 ibid. with an isometry-invariant flow in the spirit of .