Four-dimensional M-theory and supersymmetry breaking Original Research Article

Abstract We investigate compactifications of M-theory from 11 → 5 → 4 dimensions and discuss the geometrical properties of 4D moduli fields related to the structure of 5D theory. We study supersymmetry breaking by compactification of the fifth dimension and find that a universal superpotential is generated for the axion-dilaton superfield S. The resulting theory has a vacuum with 〈S〉 = 1, zero cosmological constant and a gravitino mass depending on the fifth radius as m32 ≈ R52/MPl. We discuss the phenomenological aspects of this scenario, mainly string unification and the decompactification problem