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In this work we analyze the role of α′-corrections to type IIB orientifold compactifications in Kähler moduli stabilization and inflation. In particular, we propose a model independent scenario to achieve non-supersymmetric Minkowski and de Sitter vacua for geometric backgrounds with positive Euler-characteristic and generic number of Kähler moduli. The vacua are obtained by a tuning of the flux superpotential. Moreover, in the one-modulus case we argue for a mechanism to achieve model independent slow-roll.

We perform a Kaluza–Klein reduction of eleven-dimensional supergravity on a Calabi–Yau fourfold including terms quartic and cubic in the Riemann curvature and determine the induced corrections to the three-dimensional two-derivative N=2 effective action. We focus on the effective Einstein–Hilbert term and the kinetic terms for vectors. Dualizing the vectors into scalars, we derive the resulting Kähler potential and complex coordinates. The classical expressions for the Kähler coordinates are non-trivially modified by terms containing the third Chern form of the background Calabi–Yau fourfold, while the functional form of the Kähler potential is shown to be uncorrected. We omit terms proportional to the non-harmonic part of the third Chern form. For elliptically fibered Calabi–Yau fourfolds the corrections can be uplifted to a four-dimensional F-theory compactification. We argue that also the four-dimensional N=1 Kähler coordinates receive non-trivial corrections. We find a simple expression for the induced corrections for different Abelian and non-Abelian seven-brane configurations by scanning over many Calabi–Yau fourfolds with resolved singularities. The interpretation of this expression leads us to conjecture that the higher-curvature corrections correspond to α′2 corrections that arise from open strings at the self-intersection of seven-branes.

We study solutions to the eleven-dimensional supergravity action, including terms quartic and cubic in the Riemann curvature, that admit an eight-dimensional compact space. The internal background is found to be a conformally Kähler manifold with vanishing first Chern class. The metric solution, however, is non-Ricci-flat even when allowing for a conformal rescaling including the warp factor. This deviation is due to the possible non-harmonicity of the third Chern-form in the leading order Ricci-flat metric. We present a systematic derivation of the background solution by solving the Killing spinor conditions including higher curvature terms. These are translated into first-order differential equations for a globally defined real two-form and complex four-form on the fourfold. We comment on the supersymmetry properties of the described solutions.