Four-Dimensional Effective Supergravity and Soft Terms in M-Theory

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We provide a simple macroscopic analysis of the four-dimensional effective supergravity of the Hořava-Witten M-theory which is expanded in powers of κ²/³/ρV¹/³ and κ²/³ρ/V²/³ where κ², V and ρ denote the eleven-dimensional gravitational coupling, the Calabi-Yau volume and the eleventh length respectively. Possible higher order terms in the Kähler potential are identified and matched with the heterotic string corrections. In the context of this M-theory expansion, we analyze the soft supersymmetry-breaking terms under the assumption that supersymmetry is spontaneously broken by the auxiliary components of the bulk moduli superfields. It is examined how the pattern of soft terms changes when one moves from the weakly coupled heterotic string limit to the M-theory limit.