Heterotic string from a higher dimensional perspective Original Research Article

The (abelian bosonic) heterotic string effective action, equations of motion and Bianchi identity at order image in ten dimensions, are shown to be equivalent to a higher dimensional action, its derived equations of motion and Bianchi identity. The two actions are the same up to the gauge fields: the latter are absorbed in the higher dimensional fields and geometry. This construction is inspired by heterotic T-duality, which becomes natural in this higher dimensional theory. We also prove the equivalence of the heterotic string supersymmetry conditions with higher dimensional geometric conditions. Finally, some known Kähler and non-Kähler heterotic solutions are shown to be trivially related from this higher dimensional perspective, via a simple exchange of directions. This exchange can be encoded in a heterotic T-duality, and it may also lead to new solutions.