Single-step de Sitter vacua from non-perturbative effects with matter

Abstract: A scenario of moduli stabilisation based on the interplay between closed and open string sectors is explored in a bottom-up approach. We study N=1 effective supergravities inspired by type IIB orientifold constructions that include background fluxes and non-perturbative effects. The former generate the standard flux superpotential for the axiodilaton and complex structure moduli. The latter can be induced by gaugino condensation in a non-Abelian sector of D7-branes and involve the overall Kaehler modulus of the compactification as well as matter fields. We analyse the dynamics of this coupled system and show that it is compatible with single-step moduli stabilisation in a metastable de Sitter vacuum. A novelty of the scenario is that the F-term potential suffices to generate a positive cosmological constant and to stabilise all moduli, except for a flat direction that can be either lifted by a mass term or eaten up by an anomalous U(1).