English

Geometry of Rank Reduction

High Energy Physics - Theory 2009-11-11 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We introduce continuous Wilson lines to reduce the rank of the gauge group in orbifold constructions. In situations where the orbifold twist can be realised as a rotation in the root lattice of a grand unified group we derive an appealing geometric picture of the symmetry breakdown. This symmetry breakdown is smooth and corresponds to a standard field theory Higgs mechanism. The embedding into heterotic string theory is discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-th/0504117,
  title  = {Geometry of Rank Reduction},
  author = {Stefan Forste and Hans Peter Nilles and Akin Wingerter},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/0504117},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

27 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-22T15:29:34.164Z