Supersymmetry breaking and α'-corrections to flux induced potentials

We obtain the vacuum solutions for M-theory compactified on eight-manifolds with non-vanishing four-form flux by analyzing the scalar potential appearing in the three-dimensional theory. Many of these vacua are not supersymmetric and yet have a vanishing three-dimensional cosmological constant.We show that in the context of type-IIB compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds with fluxes and external brane sources α'-corrections generate a correction to the supergravity potential proportional to the Euler number of the internal manifold which spoils the no-scale structure appearing in the classical potential. This indicates that α'-corrections may indeed lead to a stabilization of the radial modulus appearing in these compactifications. (author)