There are two main approaches to duality covariant first order higher derivative corrections to the heterotic string, one extending the duality structure and the other deforming the gauge transformations. In this paper we introduce a framework from which both approaches can be derived, proving their equivalence and extending them to higher orders.

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HSZ Double Field Theory is a higher-derivative theory of gravity with exact and manifest T-duality symmetry. The first order corrections in the massless sector were shown to be governed solely by Chern-Simons deformations of the three-form field strength. We compute the full action with up to six derivatives O(α ′2 ) for the universal sector containing the metric, two-form and dilaton fields. The Green-Schwarz transformation of the two-form field remains uncorrected to second order. In addition to the expected ChernSimons-squared and Riemann-cubed terms the theory contains a cubic Gauss-Bonnet interaction, plus other six-derivative unambiguous terms involving the three-form field strength whose presence indicates that the theory must contain further higher-derivative corrections.

We construct the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 supersymmetric extension of the generalized Kerr-Schild ansatz in the flux formulation of Double Field Theory. We show that this ansatz is compatible with $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 supersymmetry as long as it is not written in terms of generalized null vectors. Supersymmetric consistency is obtained through a set of conditions that imply linearity of the generalized gravitino perturbation and unrestricted perturbations of the generalized background dilaton and dilatino. As a final step we parametrize the previous theory in terms of the field content of the low energy effective 10-dimensional heterotic supergravity and we find that the perturbation of the 10-dimensional vielbein, Kalb-Ramond field, gauge field, gravitino and gaugino can be written in terms of vectors, as expected.

We present a model of (double) kinetic theory which paves the way to describe matter in a Double Field Theory background. Generalized diffeomorphisms acting on double phase space tensors are introduced. The generalized covariant derivative is replaced by a generalized Liouville operator as it happens in relativistic kinetic theory. The section condition is consistently extended and the closure of the generalized transformations is still given by the C-bracket. In this context we propose a generalized Boltzmann equation and compute the moments of the latter, obtaining an expression for the generalized energymomentum tensor and its conservation law.