Related papers: Stringy surprises
An analysis of a special class of type II string theory compactifications is presented. We focus on recent work in one particular orientifold background of intersecting brane models and the resulting four dimensional gauge group and matter…
We examine several issues pertaining to statistical predictivity of the string theory landscape for weak scale supersymmetry (SUSY). We work within a predictive landscape wherein super-renormalizable terms scan while renormalizable terms do…
In a large class of supersymmetric SO(10) and left-right models, requiring that the effective theory below the scale of $SU(2)_R$ breaking be the MSSM implies partial Yukawa unification with $Y_u=Y_d$ and $Y_e=Y_{\nu^D}$. The same result…
The supersymmetry breaking parameters and the resulting supersymmetric particle spectrum are studied in orbifold compactifications of string theory under the assumption that unification of gauge coupling constants at about $10^{16}$ GeV is…
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…
Grand unification, and its incarnation in the form of heterotic-string unification, are the only extensions of the Standard Model that are rooted in the structure of the Standard Model itself. In this context, it was proposed that the…
The compactification of the heterotic string on six-dimensional orbifolds is reviewed. Some important technical aspects of their construction are clarified and new parameters, called generalized discrete torsion, are introduced and related…
In this dissertation, the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is studied as a low-energy theory stemming from the $SU(5)$ Grand Unified Theory (GUT). We investigate the possibility of satisfying the minimal $SU(5)$ boundary…
We argue that moduli in the adjoint representation of the standard- model gauge group are a natural feature of superstring models, and that they can account for the apparent discrepancy between the string and unification scales.
One of the drawbacks of conventional grand unification scenarios has been that the unification scale is too high to permit direct exploration. In this paper, we show that the unification scale can be significantly lowered (perhaps even to…
The flavor structure of the Standard Model may arise from random selection on a landscape. In a class of simple models, called "Gaussian landscapes," Yukawa couplings derive from overlap integrals of Gaussian zero-mode wavefunctions on an…
We initiate a search for non-perturbative consistency conditions in M theory. Some non-perturbative conditions are already known in Type I theories; we review these and search for others. We focus principally on possible anomalies in…
We consider two questions in string ``phenomenology.'' First, are there any generic string predictions? Second, are there any general lessons which string theory suggests for thinking about low energy models, particularly in the framework…
We point out that supersymmetric warped geometry can provide a solution to the SUSY flavor problem, while generating hierarchical Yukawa couplings. In supersymmetric theories in a slice of AdS_5 with the Kaluza-Klein scale M_KK much higher…
We clarify the structure of Yukawa couplings and mass matrices for matter fields in heterotic string theory on smooth Calabi-Yau threefolds with standard embedding. The topological structure of Calabi-Yau threefolds leads to interesting…
We study the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) constrained by unification assuming mSUGRA SUSY breaking. In particular this means that the three gauge couplings are unified at a {\it per cent} level, third generation yukawa…
The gauge interactions of any supersymmetric extension of the standard model involve new flavor mixing matrices. The assumptions involved in the construction of minimal supersymmetric models, both $SU(3) \times SU(2) \times U(1)$ and grand…
The particle spectrum of the supersymmetric extension of the standard model with a gauge singlet is studied. Soft supersymmetry breaking terms are explicitly chosen to be non-universal according to orbifold string theory. they depend on…
Superstring theories are very promising theoretically, but the enormous landscape of string vacua and the (likely) very large underlying string scale imply that they may never be tested directly. Nevertheless, concrete constructions…
We study how tiny Dirac neutrino masses consistent with experimental constraints can arise in string theory SM-like vacua. We use as a laboratory 4d ${\cal N}=1$ type IIA Calabi--Yau orientifold compactifications, and in particular recent…