Tree-level R4 correction from O(d, d): NS-NS five-point terms

A bstract The tree-level string effective action reduced from D to D − d dimensions possesses a continuous O ( d, d ) symmetry, closely related to T-duality. A necessary condition for a higher derivative correction to preserve this symmetry is that certain O ( d, d ) violating terms which appear in the dimensional reduction have to cancel out. We use this idea to complete the quartic Riemann correction with all terms involving five NS-NS sector fields. The resulting Lagrangian is considerably simpler than expressions that have previously appeared in the literature.