Related papers: Z_{12-I} Orbifold Compactification toward SUSY Sta…
The motivation for Calabi-Yau-like compactifications of the weakly coupled $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory, its particle spectrum and the issue of dilaton stabilization are briefly reviewed. Modular invariant models for hidden…
We consider heterotic string compactifications to four dimensions when instantons shrink to zero size. If the standard model gauge group originates from the new gauge symmetry associated with the small instantons singularity, then the…
We consider models built on $AdS_5\otimes S^5/\Gamma$ orbifold compactifications of the type $IIB$ superstring, where $\Gamma$ is the abelian group $Z_n$. An attractive three family $\mathcal{N}=0$ SUSY model is found for $n=7$ that is a…
We consider consequences of triviality of cobordism classes and anomaly cancellation in supergravity theories in $d>6$. We argue that this leads to the existence of certain defects which we call "I-folds" (a generalization of orientifolds).…
In this work we provide a self-contained and modern introduction to some of the tools, obstacles and open questions arising in string compactifications. Techniques and current progress are illustrated in the context of smooth heterotic…
We consider compactifications of the matrix model of M-theory on $S^1/Z_2\times T^d$ for $d>0$, and interpret them as orbifolds of the supersymmetric U(N) Yang-Mills theory on $R\times T^{d+1}$. The orbifold group acts both on the gauge…
We analyze the gauge unification in minimal supersymmetric SO(10) grand unified theories in 5 dimensions. The single extra spatial dimension is compactified on the orbifold S^1/(Z_2 x Z_2') reducing the gauge group to that of Pati-Salam…
In this paper we consider compactifications of type I strings on Abelian orbifolds. We discuss the tadpole cancellation conditions for the general case with D9-branes only. Such compactifications have (perturbative) heterotic duals which…
We study the phenomenology of the strong-coupling limit of $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string obtained from M-theory, using a Calabi-Yau compactification. After summarizing the standard embedding results, we concentrate on non-standard…
We use the combined action of Z_2-chiral reflections (T-dualities) and shifts to build N=1,2 supersymmetric four-dimensional string compactifications with few moduli. In particular, we consider Z_2^4 asymmetric orbifolds of Type IIB on the…
In the context of a recently proposed method for computing exactly string loop corrections regularized in the infra-red, we determine and calculate the universal moduli-dependent part of the threshold corrections to the gauge couplings for…
Phenomenological explorations of heterotic strings have conventionally focused primarily on the E8xE8 theory. We consider smooth compactifications of all three ten-dimensional heterotic theories to exhibit the many similarities between the…
We construct orientifolds of type IIA string theory. The theory is compactified on a T^6/Z_N times Z_M orbifold. In addition worldsheet parity in combination with a reflection of three compact directions is modded out. Tadpole cancellation…
The capability of string theories to reproduce at low energy the observed pattern of quark and lepton masses and mixing angles is examined, focusing the attention on orbifold constructions, where the magnitude of Yukawa couplings depends on…
In a certain strong coupling limit, compactification of the $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string on a Calabi-Yau manifold $X$ can be described by an eleven-dimensional theory compactified on $X\times \S^1/\Z_2$. In this limit, the usual…
We study one-loop, moduli-dependent corrections to gauge and gravitational couplings in supersymmetric vacua of the heterotic string. By exploiting their relation to the integrability condition for the associated CP-odd couplings, we derive…
We investigate the quark-lepton symmetric gauge group in five dimensions, with the gauge symmetry broken by a combination of orbifold compactification of the extra dimension and the Higgs mechanism. The gauge sector of the model is…
We investigate the orbifold limits of string theory compactifications with geometric and non-geometric fluxes. Exploiting the connection between internal fluxes and structure constants of the gaugings in the reduced supergravity theory, we…
We study the evolution of the gauge coupling constants in string unification schemes in which the light spectrum below the compactification scale is exactly that of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. In the absence of string…
We study orbifold compactifications of heterotic strings on Enriques surfaces. We classify the inequivalent shift vectors for both the E8\times E8 and Spin(32)/Z2 lattices, and analyse the light spectrum of the resulting models. We show…