Related papers: Symmetry Breaking in Six Dimensional Flux Compacti…
Global aspects of Scherk-Schwarz dimensional reduction are discussed and it is shown that it can usually be viewed as arising from a compactification on the compact space obtained by identifying a (possibly non-compact) group manifold G…
We consider a 6-dimensional supersymmetric SU(6) gauge theory and compactify two extra-dimensions on a multiply-connected manifold with non-trivial topology. The SU(6) is broken down to the Standard Model gauge groups in two steps by an…
Higher dimensional grand unified theories, with gauge symmetry breaking by orbifold compactification, possess SU(5) breaking at fixed points, and do not automatically lead to tree-level gauge coupling unification. A new framework is…
We derive the three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ effective theories obtained by compactifying all five ten-dimensional string theories on generic seven-dimensional manifolds with $G_2$ structure. The resulting flux compactifications are…
In order to lift the continuous moduli space of string vacua, non-trivial fluxes may be the essential input. In this talk I summarize aspects of two approaches to compactifications in the presence of fluxes: (i) generalized Scherk-Schwarz…
We analyze some features of the role that extra dimensions, of radius $R$ in the TeV$^{-1}$ range, can play in the soft breaking of supersymmetry and the spontaneous breaking of electroweak symmetry. We use a minimal model where the gauge…
A ten-dimensional supersymmetric $E_8$ gauge theory is compactified over six-dimensional coset spaces, establishing further our earlier conjecture that the resulting four dimensional theory is a softly broken supersymmetric gauge theory in…
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…
Within a supersymmetric unified framework we explore the resolution of the gauge hierarchy problem taking account of the non-renormalizable terms in the superpotential. For $[SU(3)]^3$ supplemented by a discrete R parity, we find the…
Reduction in effective spacetime dimensionality can occur in field-theory models more general than the widely studied dimensional reductions based on technically consistent truncations. Situations where wavefunction factors depend…
We discuss compactifications of heterotic string theory to four dimensions in the presence of H-fluxes, which deform the geometry of the internal manifold, and a gaugino condensate which breaks supersymmetry. We focus on the compensation of…
We consider heterotic string backgrounds in four-dimensional Minkowski space, where N=1 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken at a low scale m_{3/2} by a stringy Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. We review how the effective gauge couplings at…
We construct the first D = 4 Minkowski string theory vacua of flux compactification which are (i) chiral, (ii) free of NSNS and RR tadpoles, and (iii) N = 1 or N = 0 supersymmetric. In the latter case SUSY is softly broken by the fluxes,…
We study heterotic backgrounds with non-trivial $H$-flux and non-vanishing expectation values of fermionic bilinears, often referred to as gaugino condensates. The gaugini appear in the low energy action via the gauge-invariant three-form…
Using F-theory/heterotic duality, we describe a framework for analyzing non-geometric T2-fibered heterotic compactifications to six- and four-dimensions. Our results suggest that among T2-fibered heterotic string vacua, the non-geometric…
Gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions whose gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken to a finite group enjoy a quantum group symmetry which includes the residual gauge symmetry. This symmetry provides a framework in which fundamental excitations…
The global symmetry data of a $D$-dimensional absolute quantum field theory can sometimes be packaged in terms of a $(D+1)$-dimensional bulk system obtained by extending along an interval, with a relative QFT$_D$ at one end and suitable…
In this set of five lectures we present a basic toolbox to discuss the dynamics of four dimensional supersymmetric quantum field theories. In particular we overview the program of geometrically engineering the four dimensional…
In this thesis, we consider heterotic string vacua based on a warped product of a four-dimensional domain wall and a six-dimensional internal manifold preserving only two supercharges. Thus, they correspond to half-BPS states of heterotic…
We consider the problem of supersymmetry and electroweak breaking in a 5d theory compactified on an $S^{1}/Z_{2}$ orbifold, where the extra dimension may be large or small. We consider the case of a supersymmetry breaking 4d brane located…