Mariana Graña, CEA/Saclay

"The Tadpole Problem"

Abstract: One of the biggest problems in string compactifications is the large number of massless fields associated to deformations of the internal geometry.  These "moduli" get masses from fluxes wrapping non-trivial cycles on the manifold. Fluxes have an associated charge, which on a compact manifold has to satisfy tadpole cancelation conditions.  The tadpole conjecture proposes that the charge induced by the fluxes needed to stabilise a large number of moduli grows linearly with the number of moduli. In this talk I will go over the basics of flux compactifications, explain the conjecture, present its motivation, supporting evidence and consequences.