Related papers: Light hidden-sector U(1)s in string compactificati…
Recent string constructions with intersecting D6 and D5 brane models succeeded in predicting in the low energy limit a symmetry group and a fermionic spectrum similar to that of the SM. In such constructions additional U(1) fields are a…
In string compactification on a manifold X, in addition to the string scale and the normal scales of low-energy particle physics, there is a Kaluza-Klein scale 1/R associated with the size of X. We present an argument that generic string…
We review several topics of interest in the study of 4d N=1 supersymmetric compactifications of the heterotic string. After a brief introduction to the construction of such models, our focus is on the novel physics which occurs at…
We explore the possibility of unification of gauge couplings near the Planck scale in models of extended technicolor. We observe that models of the form G X SU(3)_c X SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y cannot be realized, due to the presence of massless…
In this paper we study the reduction of heterotic string theory on SU(2)-structure backgrounds. We compute the bosonic low-energy gauged N=2 supergravity specified by the Killing vectors corresponding to the gauged isometries. We check that…
We present a fermionic dark matter model mediated by the hidden gauge boson. We assume the QED-like hidden sector which consists of a Dirac fermion and U(1)$_X$ gauge symmetry, and introduce an additional scalar electroweak doublet field…
We present a new scenario for gauge coupling unification in flipped SU(5) string models, which identifies the $M_{32}$ scale of SU(3) and SU(2) unification with the empirical $M_{\rm LEP}\sim10^{15-16}$~GeV scale, and the $M_{51}$ scale of…
I review the Higgs sector of the $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). I will show that the gauge kinetic mixing plays a crucial role in the Higgs phenomenology. Two light bosons are present, a…
For a gauge theory which includes a light massive vector field interacting with the familiar photon U(1)_{QED} via a Chern-Simons- like coupling, we study the static quantum potential. Our analysis is based on the gauge-invariant, but…
We demonstrate that asymmetric reheating arises in a large ensemble of string compactifications with many axions and gauged dark sectors. This phenomenon may help avoid numerous cosmological problems that may arise if the sectors were…
We present a class of heterotic compactifications where it is possible to lower the string unification scale down to the GUT scale, while preserving the validity of the perturbative analysis. We illustrate this approach with an explicit…
In this work we present some new results obtained in a study of the phase diagram of charged compact boson stars in a theory involving a complex scalar field with a conical potential coupled to a U(1) gauge field and gravity. We here obtain…
We study covariant open bosonic string field theory in lightcone gauge. When lightcone gauge is well-defined, we find two results. First, the vertices of the gauge-fixed action consist of Mandelstam diagrams with stubs covering specific…
We investigate orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string, addressing in detail their construction, classification and phenomenological potential. We present a strategy to search for models resembling the minimal supersymmetric…
The most general Lagrangian for a model with two U(1) gauge symmetries contains a renormalizable operator which mixes their gauge kinetic terms. Such kinetic mixing can be generated at arbitrarily high scales but will not be suppressed by…
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 point out that a cold dark matter condensate made of gauge bosons from an extra hidden U(1) sector - dubbed hidden- photons - can create a small, oscillating electric density current. Thus, they could also be searched for in the recently…
We study the phenomenological implications of effective supergravities based on string vacua with spontaneously broken N=1 supersymmetry by dilaton and moduli $F$-terms. We further require Minimal String Unification, namely that large…
The totality of neutrino-oscillation phenomena appears to require the existence of a light singlet neutrino. As pointed out recently, this can be naturally accommodated with a specific extra U(1) factor contained in the superstring-inspired…
We study gauge coupling unification in the presence of extra dimensions compactified at a few TeV. Achieving unification requires a large number of gauge boson Kaluza-Klein excitations lighter than the string scale, such that the…