Related papers: String-derived MSSM vacua with residual R symmetri…
Consistent uplifting of AdS vacua in string theory often requires extra light degrees of freedom in addition to those of a (Kaehler) modulus. Here we consider the possibility that de Sitter and Minkowski vacua arise due to hidden sector…
We investigate the connections between four-dimensional, N=2 M-theory vacua constructed as orbifolds of type II, heterotic, and type I strings. All these models have the same massless spectrum, which contains an equal number of vector…
Compactifying the SM down to 3D or 2D one may obtain AdS vacua depending on the neutrino mass spectrum. It has been recently shown that, by insisting in the absence of these vacua, as suggested by {\it Weak Gravity Conjecture} (WGC)…
We consider 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity theories with modular symmetry, where the modulus $\tau$ is the upper half-plane modulo $SL(2,\mathbf{Z})$ action. We focus on enhanced discrete gauge symmetry points $\tau=i, \exp(2\pi i/3)$, and…
The effective field theory of the minimal Low Scale Orientifold Models is developed. It describes universal features of related orientifold vacua in string theory. It contains, beyond the Standard Model fields, an MSSM-like Higgs sector and…
We review the construction of non-supersymmetric open string vacua in various dimensions. They can be obtained either projecting the (compactified) non-supersymmetric 0B theory, or applying the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism to open strings.…
We explore the space of non-gravitational, maximally supersymmetric, planar 4d effective field theories (EFTs) that have $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills (SYM) at leading order. We show that in the weakly-coupled regime, highly non-trivial…
The left-right symmetric model (LRSM) with gauge group $SU(2)_{L} \times SU(2)_{R} \times U(1)_{B-L}$ is reconstructed from the geometric formulation of gauge theory in $M_4 \times Z_2 \times Z_2$ where $M_4$ is the four-dimensional…
We consider dimensional reductions of M-theory on $\mathbb{T}^{7}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}^{3}$ with the inclusion of arbitrary metric flux and spacetime filling KK monopoles. With these ingredients at hand, we are able to construct a novel family of…
A fully realistic unified theory is constructed, with SU(5) gauge symmetry and supersymmetry both broken by boundary conditions in a fifth dimension. Despite the local explicit breaking of SU(5) at a boundary of the dimension, the large…
We investigate supersymmetric $SU(4)_c\times SU(4)_{L+R}$ theory in 5 dimensions whose compactification on a $S^{(1)}/Z_2$ orbifold yields N=1 supersymmetric $SU(4)_c\times SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R$ supplemented by a $\tl{U}(1)$ gauge…
Phenomenologically viable string vacua may require incorporating Kac-Moody algebras at level $\geq 2$. We exploit the free fermionic formulation to construct N=(0,2) world-sheet supersymmetric string models with specific phenomenological…
We investigate the existence of string vacua with Massive Spectrum Degeneracy Symmetry (MSDS) in Heterotic and Type II orbifold constructions. We present a classification of all possible Z_2^N-orbifolds with MSDS symmetry that can be…
We construct configurations of NS-, D4-, and D6-branes in type IIA string theory, realizing the recently discussed non-supersymmetric meta-stable minimum of 4d N=1 SU(N_c) super-Yang-Mills theories with massive flavors. We discuss their…
We consider the low energy implications including particle spectroscopy of SO(10) inspired t-b-tau Yukawa coupling unification with mu < 0, where mu is the coefficient of the bilinear Higgs mixing term of the minimal supersymmetric standard…
We study the scenario that conformal dynamics leads to metastable supersymmetry breaking vacua. At a high energy scale, the superpotential is not R-symmetric, and has a supersymmetric minimum. However, conformal dynamics suppresses several…
We study the scenario that conformal dynamics leads to metastable supersymmetry breaking vacua. At a high energy scale, the superpotential is not R-symmetric, and has a supersymmetric minimum. However, conformal dynamics suppresses several…
We present a concrete string-theoretic mechanism that generates four-dimensional de Sitter vacua from non-geometric R-flux compactifications of heterotic string theory. The construction rests on three pillars: the Malcev algebra generated…
We present the first example of a grand unified theory (GUT) with a modular symmetry interpreted as a family symmetry. The theory is based on supersymmetric $SU(5)$ in 6d, where the two extra dimensions are compactified on a…
We discuss the role of Minkowski 3-forms in flux string vacua. In these vacua all internal closed string fluxes are in one to one correspondence with quantized Minkowski 4-forms. By performing a dimensional reduction of the $D=10$ Type II…