where the subscript๐ฟ/๐ denotes the left- and right-part of the lattice vectors and ฮ[โ]
6,6 =
ฮ6,6+ โ 2 ๐ฟ
(5.8) is the Narain lattice associated with๐6, depending on the value ofโshifted by half of the null vector ๐ฟ=(06; 06โ1,1)(i.e., vanishing momentum quantum numbers but a single unit of winding charge along the CHL circle). This in accordance with the CHL action on๐6, which is just a translation along the last circle in๐6 (the CHL circle) by half a period. We already use the symbol๐ in the lattice summation since the momentum-winding vectors along the compact dimensions eventually give rise to electric charges of the four-dimensional BPS state (the remaining components of the electric charge being sourced by momentum in the๐ธ
8-directions). Thusโ =0 means summation over untwisted sector charges,๐ โฮ6,6 ๐โ6, the winding number along the CHL circle taking integral values.
On the other hand,โ=1 gives twisted sector charges๐โฮ
6,6+ ๐ฟ
2 with the winding number along the CHL circle taking values inZ+ 1
2. The for๐ =1 inserted phase factor(โ1)๐ฟยท๐then becomes (โ1)for an odd number of momentum quanta along the CHL circle and(+1)for an even number of such quanta. Furthermore, in (5.6) we introduced the orbifold blocksZ
8
โ ๐
for the 16 chiral bosons compactified on the๐ธ
8ร๐ธ
8root lattice, where the orbifold involution exchanges the two๐ธ
8factors6 and one finds
Z8
0 0
= h
๐๐ธ
8(1)(๐)i2 ๐16(๐)
, Z
8
0 1
= ๐
๐ธ8(1)(2๐) ๐8(2๐)
, (5.9)
Z8
1 0
= ๐๐ธ
8(1)(๐
2) ๐8(๐
2) and Z
8
1 1
=๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐๐ธ
8(1)(๐+1
2 ) ๐8(๐+1
2 )
. (5.10)
Especially, the ๐ธ
8theta series ๐
๐ธ8(1)(๐) = ร
๐ฃโ๐ธ 8(1)๐
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฃ2
= ๐ธ
4(๐) is the weight four Eisenstein series.
As a remark, the terms in the first line of (5.6) should arise for all heteroticZ๐ CHL orbifolds (including the trivial one), as the superconformal sector of the heterotic string is unaffected by the orbifold action. On the other hand, the terms in the second line of (5.6) are the orbifold blocks specific to the order๐ =2 shift along one of the circles of๐6and the order๐permutation on the left-moving chiral bosons.
Helicity supertraces can be obtained from the generating function (5.4) by taking appropriate derivatives with respect to the generalized chemical potentials๐ฃand ยฏ๐ฃcoupling to the left and right helicity, respectively:
๐ต๐(๐,๐ยฏ) = 1
2๐๐
๐
๐ ๐ฃ + 1
2๐๐
๐
๐๐ฃยฏ ๐
Z(๐,๐ยฏ;๐ฃ ,๐ฃยฏ) ๐ฃ=0=๐ฃยฏ
. (5.11)
We now want to obtain the fourth helicity supertrace๐ต
4.7 The fermion terms in the first line of (5.6)
6Recall from chapter 2 that upon diagonalization this gives eight invariant chiral bosons and eight chiral bosons that pick up a minus sign under theZ2action.
7Strictly speaking, this is rather another generating function, not yet a helicity supertraceฮฉ4(๐ ,0)for fixed charge (orbit).
can be rewritten using the Riemann identity to give ยฏ๐4
1(๐ฃยฏ/2). This implies that the only combination of๐ฃ- and ยฏ๐ฃ-derivatives that does not vanish when evaluated at๐ฃ =๐ฃยฏ =0 is taking four ยฏ๐ฃ-derivatives, since๐
1(0|๐) =0. Using further
๐๐ฃห๐ยฏ h1/2
1/2
i (๐ฃห|๐)
๐ฃห=0
=2๐๐ยฏ(๐)3 (5.12)
and๐(0) =๐ยฏ(0)=1 we obtain8 ๐ต4(๐,๐ยฏ)= 3
2 1 ๐2
1 ๐2+6
รยฉ
ยญ
ยซ 1 2
โ๏ธ1
๐, โ=0
Z6,6
โ ๐
Z
8
โ ๐
ยช
ยฎ
ยฌ
. (5.13)
Inserting the identities (5.9) and (5.10) we can also write ๐ต4(๐,๐ยฏ) = 3
2๐
2
1 2
"
๐2
๐ธ8(1)(๐) ๐24(๐) Z
6,6
0 0
+ ๐๐ธ
8(1)(2๐) ๐8(๐)๐8(2๐)Z
6,6
0 1
+ ๐๐ธ
8(1)(๐
2) ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2)Z
6,6
1 0
+๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐๐ธ
8(1)(๐+1
2 ) ๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 ) Z6,6
1 1
#
. (5.14)
Before interpreting the result (5.14), we interlude with a reminder of the unorbifolded case. The contribution withZ
6,6
0 0
corresponds (up to the factor 1/2) to helicity supertraces of perturbative states in the unorbifolded theory Het[๐6]:
๐ตunorb
4 (๐,๐ยฏ) = 1 ๐2
ร Z6,6
0 0
(๐,๐ยฏ)๐2
๐ธ
8(1)(๐) ร 3 2
1 ๐24(๐)
. (5.15)
Let us pause to recall the semantics of this factorization. We have a continuous degeneracy due to the momenta ๐
3, ๐
4 in the non-compact directions transverse to the light-cone, leading to a factor of 1/๐
2. Also we have the Narain lattice sum of vectors๐ โฮ22,6 ๐ธ
8(1)โ2โ๐โ6 and a factor ๐โ24(๐) corresponding to oscillator modes of 24 chiral bosons (transverse to the light-cone). As seen from the four-dimensional spacetime perspective for each momentum(๐
3, ๐
4) and electric charge vector๐โฮ
22,6(momentum and winding) we have the full tower of DH states generated by allowing arbitrary left-moving oscillators while keeping the superconformal sector in the ground state. The latter is, due to the GSO projection, a Weyl spinor with 28/2 =16 components. Hence for fixed (๐
3, ๐
4)we can relate the fourth helicity supertrace of states with charge๐to the absolute degeneracy of states with charge๐as9
๐โ(๐ ,0) = ฮฉ
4(๐ ,0)= 3 32
ฮฉabs(๐ ,0) = 3 2
๐24(๐) . (5.16)
8The factor 3/2 arises as 24ร (1/2)4coming from the 4!=24 permutations of ยฏ๐ฃ-derivatives and the inner derivative, c.f.
the argument ห๐ฃ=๐ฃยฏ/2.
9Recall that๐
24(๐)is the number of ways of writing the non-negative integer๐as a sum of 24 non-negative integers.
This is also the Fourier coefficient of๐๐โ1in๐โ24(๐). For any๐โHthe Fourier series of the latter converges, so there is no ambiguity, i.e., no wall-crossing for these half-BPS states and no moduli dependence inฮฉ4.
The (left-moving) level number๐ (not to be confused with the order of the CHL orbifold group) is related to the charge๐ โฮ
22,6via the level matching condition ๐โ1= 1
2
๐2
๐ โ๐2
๐ฟ
= 1 2
๐2. (5.17)
Note that the result (5.16) has the structure demanded by (3.24).
As another remark, we recall that in the unorbifolded case the discriminant functionฮ(๐)=๐24(๐) appears in the diagonal divisor limit๐ง โ0 of๐โ1
10(๐), which is the (complete๐ผ =1) quarter-BPS partition function of heterotic strings on๐6(c. f. the discussion of poles in 4.4):
๐โ1
10(๐, ๐, ๐ง) โ
ฮ(๐)โ1ฮ(๐)โ1 ๐งโ2+ O ๐ง0
. (5.18)
Historically the appearance of this perturbative half-BPS partition function and its magnetic counterpart, together with manifest electric-magnetic (S-)duality between them, was a crucial point in the proposal of [21].
We return to the CHL orbifold and apply a similar logic to๐ต
4(๐,๐ยฏ)in eq. (5.14), which we split into the untwisted and twisted sector contribution,
๐ต4=๐ตuntw
4 +๐ตtw
4 . (5.19)
Untwisted sector. To read off the degeneracies of DH states with fixed electric charge, the Narain lattice vectors(๐
1, ๐
2) โ๐ธ
8(1)โ2are decomposed10with respect to their sum โ which is invariant underZ2and hence a physical charge โ and their difference. That is,
๐1ยฑ๐
2 =2๐
ยฑยฑ P (5.20)
for some root lattice vectors ๐
+, ๐
โ โ ๐ธ
8(1) and a shift vectorP โ ๐ธ
8(1)/(2๐ธ
8(1)). The latter represents an element of a finite group of rank 28, which is by a simple rescaling by 1/โ
2 isomorphic to the residue component from๐ธ
8(1/2)/๐ธ
8(2) in eq. (2.52). In terms of๐ธ
8(2) theta functions with characteristicsP, defined as
๐๐ธ
8(2),P(๐) B
โ๏ธ
ฮโ๐ธ8(1)
exp
"
๐๐ ๐ โ
2ฮโ P
โ 2
2#
, (5.21)
the theta function for๐ธ
8(1)โ2may be expressed as ๐2
๐ธ
8(1) =๐2
๐ธ
8(2),1+120๐2
๐ธ
8(2),248+135๐2
๐ธ
8(2),3875. (5.22) Here it has been used that๐
๐ธ8(2),P only depends on the orbitOโofPunder the Weyl group of๐ธ
8. There are three such orbits, namely the orbit of the fundamental weight of the trivial, of the adjoint and of the 3875 representation of respective lengths 1+120+135=28, i.e.,
๐ธ8(1) 2๐ธ
8(1) =O
1โช O
248โช O
3875, (5.23)
10Also see [78] for a relation to numerators of affine characters of ห๐ธ
8at level two.
where the subscript labels the dimension of the respective representation. In general, any vector๐0in ๐ธ8(1
2) = โ1
2
๐ธ8(1)decomposes as
๐0= 1
โ 2
(2๐00+ P) (5.24)
for appropriate elements๐00โ๐ธ
8(1)andP โ ๐ธ
8(1)/(2๐ธ
8(1)), and therefore one also has ๐ธ8(1
2) = ๐ธ
8(2) โช ๐ธ
8(2) + O
248
โช ๐ธ
8(2) + O
3875
(5.25)
๐
๐ธ
8(12) (๐) = ๐
๐ธ
8(2),1 + 120๐
๐ธ
8(2),248 + 135๐
๐ธ
8(2),3875. (5.26) Both (5.22) and (5.26) are easily checked by writing๐
๐ธ
8(2),P(๐) in terms of theta constants (see appendix A). Note that under๐โฆโ๐+1 only the sign of the term corresponding to the 248-orbit in (5.26) flips, sinceP2โก2(mod 4) for this orbit, whileP2 โก0(mod 4) for the other two orbits.
The untwisted sector contribution reads in terms of the๐
๐ธ
8(2),P(๐)functions11 ๐ตuntw
4 (๐,๐ยฏ) = 3 2๐
2
ร โ๏ธ
๐โ {+1,โ1}
Z6,6
0 0
+๐Z
6,6
0 1
2
"
๐๐ธ
8(2),1ร 1 2
๐๐ธ 8(2),1
๐24
+๐ 1
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐)
!
+120๐
๐ธ8(2),248ร ๐๐ธ
8(2),248
2๐24
!
+135๐
๐ธ8(2),3875ร ๐๐ธ
8(2),3875
2๐24
! #
. (5.27)
In this form๐ตuntw
4 corresponds to the non-orbifold counterpart (5.15), with the modular form on the right-hand side of each โรโ-sign playing the role of๐โ24. The๐ธ
8theta series inside the parentheses sums only over the unphysical charge(๐1โ๐2
2 )2. The sign๐ corresponds to two kinds of DH states in the untwisted sector. It specifies the sign picked up by the oscillator monomial under Z2 (c.f.
section 2.2). This goes along with an even (+1) or odd (โ1) number of momentum quanta along the CHL circle, such that the two phases coming from the (left-moving) oscillators and the (left-moving) zero-mode cancel out to give an invariant state. As can be seen, e.g., from the explicit form of the T-transformations on charges in [11], this โmomentum parityโ along the CHL circle is also invariant under T-transformations, so we have a splitting into two disjoint T-orbits. Correspondingly, we find that untwisted sectorP=0 DH states with odd (even) momentum parity possess a separate half-BPS partition function
1 2
๐๐ธ 8(2)
๐24
+๐ 1
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐)
!
(5.28) with๐ =โ1 (๐ =+1), as was implicitly used in writing down [22, eq. (6.5.12)]. For untwisted sector states withPโ 0 the parity of the CHL momentum does not play a role in the counting, as seen from eq. (5.27).
To get the half-BPS index for states with fixed electric charge from these partition functions we reformulate the level matching condition (5.17), as the quantity๐ โฮ
22,6in (5.17) is no longer the physical electric charge in the orbifold theory. In the untwisted sector we introduce the modified level
11This corrects a typo in [26, eq. (3.42)], where 2
4 ๐4
2๐12 = ๐
4 3๐4
4
๐24 = 1
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐) .
number
๐0B ๐โ (๐
1โ๐
2)2
4 = ๐โ
๐โโ P 2
2
(5.29) and with a physical electric charge๐โ๐ธ
8(1
2) โ๐โ๐โ5we find again๐0โ1= 1
2
๐2. Thus, when expanding eq. (5.28) in terms of๐=๐2
๐ ๐ ๐
, the exponent of๐
๐0โ1
in each term gives
๐2
2 , while the coefficient gives the desired indexฮฉ
4(๐ ,0)for๐in the respective charge sector (re-installing the universal factor 3/2). In the example of (5.28) the charge sector is๐โ ๐ธ
8(2) โ๐(2) โ๐โ5for๐ =+1 and๐ โ๐ธ
8(2) โ (๐\๐(2)) โ๐โ5for๐ =โ1. Here we have identified๐(2) โ๐as the (non-shifted) momentum-winding vectors with an even number of momentum quanta along the CHL circle.
Twisted sector. The twisted sector part of๐ต
4is ๐ตtw
4 (๐,๐ยฏ) = 3 2๐
2
ร โ๏ธ
๐โ {+1,โ1}
Z6,6
1 0
+๐Z
6,6
1 1
2
"
๐๐ธ
8(2),1ร 1 2
1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2) +๐
๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
!
+120๐
๐ธ
8(2),248ร 1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2) โ๐ ๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
!
+135๐
๐ธ
8(2),3875ร 1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2) +๐
๐โ2๐ ๐/3 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
! #
. (5.30)
Note that the relative sign between the two terms in each pair of parentheses is that of (โ1)๐2 = (โ1)P2/2(โ1)๐ยท๐ฟ with(โ1)๐ยท๐ฟ =๐. The twisted sector level-matching equates the exponents in the ๐-expansion of the functions in parentheses in (5.30) to the value of 12(๐2
8+๐2
1+๐2
5) โ 1
2Z, where (๐
8, ๐
1, ๐
5) โ๐ธ
8(1
2) โ (๐+ ๐ฟ
2) โ๐โ5is a physical electric charge vector in the twisted sector.
Comparison of the sectors. In accordance with the analysis of the perturbative spectrum in [32]
(see also [33]), the degeneracies for certain subsectors of the untwisted sector agree with twisted sector degeneracies. This is due to the modular identities
1 2
๐๐ธ 8(2),1
๐24
+ 1
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐)
!
= 1 2
1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2)
+ ๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
!
+ 1
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐) (5.31) 1
2 ๐๐ธ
8(2),1
๐24
โ 1
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐)
!
= 1 2
1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2)
+ ๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
!
(5.32) ๐๐ธ
8(2),248
2๐24
= 1 2
1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2) โ ๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
!
(5.33) ๐๐ธ
8(2),3875
2๐24
= 1 2
1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2)
+ ๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
!
. (5.34)
Note that on the right-hand-side of eqs. (5.32) to (5.34) the second term is, up to sign, the first term shifted by๐โฆโ๐+1, which is
1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2)
= 1
โ ๐
+8+52
โ
๐+256๐+1122๐3/2+4352๐2+15640๐5/2+๐
๐3
. (5.35) Hence, adding the second term to the first projects to terms with even (eqs. (5.32) and (5.34)) or odd (eq. (5.33)) exponents of
โ ๐=๐2
๐ ๐ ๐
2. The parity of this exponent modulo two matches the parity of ๐2/2 and due to this one might simply regard๐โ8(๐)๐โ8(๐
2) as the half-BPS partition function for twisted sector DH states โ and in fact as the half-BPS partition function for DH states with charge in any of the sectors listed in eqs. (5.32) to (5.34). The only charge sector that is not covered by this is that of even momentumP =0 untwisted states with๐ =+1 in (5.28), i.e., electric charges ๐โ๐ธ
8(2) โ๐(2) โ๐โ5= ฮ๐ โฮ๐. Their degeneracy is not just given by the coefficient of๐
๐2/2
in๐โ8(๐)๐โ8(๐
2)but gets an extra contribution from the coefficient of๐
๐2/2
in๐โ8(๐)๐โ8(2๐), as also observed in [27]. Another way to arrive at the same conclusion is via the following identity. Since the exchange of the two๐ธ
8factors alone without the shift along a circle of the torus gives back an equivalent theory, there is an equality between the partition functions of the two theories [5, app. B]:
๐ธ4(๐)2 ๐16(๐) = 1
2 ๐ธ4(๐)2 ๐16(๐) + 1
2 ๐ธ4(2๐) ๐8(2๐) + 1
2 ๐ธ4(๐
2) ๐8(๐
2) + ๐โ2
๐ ๐/3
2
๐ธ4(๐+1
2 ) ๐8(๐+1
2 )
. (5.36)
Using this observation eq. (5.14) can be re-expressed as ๐ต4(๐,๐ยฏ) = 3
2๐
2
๏ฃฎ
๏ฃฏ
๏ฃฏ
๏ฃฏ
๏ฃฏ
๏ฃฐ
ฮฮโ
๐
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐) +1 2
ฮฮ
๐
๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2) + 1 2
ฮฮ
๐
[(โ1)๐2] ๐2
๐ ๐/3๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
๏ฃน
๏ฃบ
๏ฃบ
๏ฃบ
๏ฃบ
๏ฃป
, (5.37)
where the notation [27]
ฮฮ
0
[X] = โ๏ธ
๐โฮ0
X ๐
1 2๐2
๐ฟ๐ยฏ
1 2๐2
๐ (5.38)
was introduced. Pairs of (Narain) theta functions multiplying the same eta-quotient have been recast into a single lattice sum for the electric latticeฮ๐or the magnetic latticeฮโ๐ โฮ๐, as defined in (2.40).
An equivalent representation is ๐ต4(๐,๐ยฏ) = 3
2๐
2
โ๏ธ
๐โฮ๐
๐
๐2 2
"
๐ฟ๐โฮโ๐
๐8(๐)๐8(2๐) +1
2 1 ๐8(๐)๐8(๐
2) + 1
2
(โ1)๐2 ๐2
๐ ๐/3๐8(๐)๐8(๐+1
2 )
#
, (5.39)
where(โ1)๐2=(โ1)P
2
2 (โ1)โ ๐ยท๐ฟwithโas in (5.8). This also nicely fits the assertion that the DH states are electrically charged with respect toฮ๐as given in (2.40). In chapter 6 a genus two analog of the identity (5.36) will become important.
Quarter-BPS spectra from genus two partition function in the Z
2 model
Our analysis in chapter 4 mostly concerned generic quarter-BPS partition functions. We now turn specifically to unit-torsion quarter-BPS dyons in theZ2CHL model, the prime interest being dyons whose electric charge in the heterotic frame belongs to the untwisted sector. The goal of this chapter1 is to obtain closed expressions for the relevant partition functions by relating them to a genus two chiral partition function for the four-dimensional heteroticZ2CHL model.2 Properties of the candidate dyon partition functions thus obtained will be addressed in chapter 7.
6.1 From string webs to heterotic strings
According to [4, 5, 79, 80] quarter-BPS dyons can be represented as string webs [81, 82], which via an M-theory lift are related to a chiral genus two partition function of the heterotic string. As was argued in [6], the genus๐of the M-theory lift of the string web is actually given by๐ =๐ผ +1, so the genus two partition function is expected to only capture unit-torsion dyons (๐ผ =1). Indeed, in [5] thetwisted sector dyon partition function of [1, 83] was re-derived by identifying appropriate contributions to the genus two orbifold partition function that can be interpreted as arising from states of the relevant charge type.3 Ouruntwistedsector quarter-BPS partition functions should in a similar fashion be found in this heterotic genus two partition function. The latter was recently revisited in [2, section B.2], expanding the results of [5] by, for instance, also writing down the remaining orbifold blocks.
For the sake of a clear and coherent presentation, we will first reproduce the orbifold partition function of [2] and collect the relevant formulae that are needed in our subsequent analysis.
1This chapter appeared as section 4 in the publication [35].
2Left- and right-moving partition function should be understood as in [5, f. n. 2].
3The contour prescription and wall-crossing phenomenon can also be studied in the genus two picture [80, 84], though the analysis was mostly spelled out for the maximal rank theory.