Related papers: Mildly sequestered supergravity models and their r…
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 examine whether a minimal string model possessing the same massless spectra as the MSSM can be obtained from $Z_4$, $Z_6$ and $Z_8$ orbifold constructions. Using an anomaly cancellation condition of the target space duality symmetry, we…
We consider hidden sector supersymmetry breakdown in the strongly coupled heterotic $E_8\times E_8$ theory of Ho\v{r}ava and Witten. Using effective field theory methods in four dimensions, we can show that gravitational interactions induce…
A new supergravity D-term, not associated to gauged R-symmetry, was recently discovered and used to construct new supergravity models. In this paper we use a generalization of the new D-term that we used in previous works, to construct a…
Embeddings of the standard model in type II string theory typically contain a variety of U(1) gauge factors arising from D-branes in the bulk. In general, there is no reason why only one of these - the one corresponding to weak hypercharge…
Explicit examples of the AdS/CFT correspondence where both bulk and boundary theories are tractable are hard to come by, but the minimal tension string on $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ is one notable example. In this paper, we discuss how…
A model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking is constructed in which the low-energy physics depends on a single dynamical scale. Strong coupling dynamics of gauge theories plays an important role, in particular through its effects on…
We perform a systematic analysis of soft supersymmetry breaking terms at the one loop level in a large class of string effective field theories. This includes the so-called anomaly mediated contributions. We illustrate our results for…
Spinor--Vector Duality (SVD) has been observed in worldsheet constructions of heterotic--string compactifications. Recently, its realisation in the effective field theory limit of string vacua in six and five dimensions has been…
We show that the minimal supergravity extension of the standard model automatically contains topologically stable electroweak strings if the hidden sector is invariant under the exact R-symmetry. These defects appear in the form of the…
In order to produce a low energy effective field theory from a string model, it is necessary to specify a vacuum state. In order that this vacuum be supersymmetric, it is well known that all field expectation values must be along so-called…
We propose a scenario with string theory in the deep ultraviolet, an intermediate asymptotically safe scaling regime for gravity and matter, and the Standard Model in the infrared. This could provide a new perspective to tackle challenges…
The Standard Model is the low-energy limit of a microscopic theory which includes extra dimensions and new symmetries. A part of my thesis consisted in constructing a new class of models with two extra dimensions. We showed that these…
We show that supersymmetry can be broken mainly by hidden matter condensates in the observable matter direction in generic superstring models. This happens only when the fields whose VEVs give masses to hidden matter do not decouple at the…
We study gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking in four-dimensional effective theories derived from six-dimensional brane-world supergravity. Using the Noether method we construct a locally supersymmetric action for a bulk-brane system…
Non-linear sigma models with extended supersymmetry have constrained target space geometries, and can serve as effective tools for investigating and constructing new geometries. Analyzing the geometrical and topological properties of sigma…
Light moduli fields in string compactifications can have interesting implications for particle physics and cosmology. Fifth force bounds impose stringent constraints on the interactions of such moduli with the visible sector. To be…
The mixing of graviphotons and dark brane photons to the Standard Model hypercharge is analyzed in full generality, in weakly-coupled string theory. Both the direct mixing as well as effective terms that provide mixing after inclusion of SM…
We show that small soft terms can create a supersymmetry breaking minimum along a pseudo-flat direction of a hidden sector which would otherwise be incapable of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. As this minimum lies along a pseudo-flat…
String theory avoids the ultraviolet infinities that arise in trying to quantize gravity. It is also more predictive than conventional quantum field theory, one aspect of this being the way that it contributed to the emergence of the…