Related papers: Old issues and linear sigma models
Compactifications of the heterotic string are a viable route to phenomenologically realistic vacua and interesting new mathematics. While supergravity aspects of heterotic compactifications are largely well-understood their worldsheet…
A brief review of some aspects of heterotic (0,2) compactifications in the framework of exactly solvable superconformal field theories and gauged linear sigma models is presented.
Models with gauge-Higgs unification on a flat space are typically affected by common problems, the main of which are the prediction of a too small top and Higgs mass and a too low compactification scale. We show how, by breaking the SO(4,1)…
We present full numerical solutions to the system of a global string embedded in a six-dimensional space time. The solutions are regular everywhere and do confine gravity in our four-dimensional world. They depend on the value of the…
We review efforts in string model building, focusing on the heterotic orbifold compactifications. We survey how one can, starting from an explicit string theory, obtain models which resemble Nature. These models exhibit the standard model…
Orbifold compactification of heterotic E8 x E8 string theory is a source for promising grand unified model building. It can accommodate the successful aspects of grand unification while avoiding problems like doublet-triplet splitting in…
We reconsider the idea of identifying the Higgs field as the internal component of a gauge field in the flat space R^4XS^1/Z_2, by relaxing the constraint of having unbroken SO(4,1) Lorentz symmetry in the bulk. In this way, we show that…
We study the non-linear sigma model realization of a heterotic vacuum with N=2 space-time supersymmetry. We examine the requirements of (0,2) + (0,4) world-sheet supersymmetry and show that a geometric vacuum must be described by a…
We study spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking in the framework of orbifold compactifcations of heterotic string theory. In particular we investigate the electroweak symmetry breakdown via the Higgs mechanism. Such a breakdown can be achieved…
We consider general linear Higgs-sigma models as ultra-violet completions of the Higgs inflation. We introduce general higher curvature terms beyond Einstein gravity and recast them into a class of linear Higgs-sigma models in the…
Mirror symmetry of the type II string has a beautiful generalization to the heterotic string. This generalization, known as (0,2) mirror symmetry, is a field still largely in its infancy. We describe recent developments including the ideas…
In this thesis we study string compactifications on manifolds equipped with a $G$-structure, placing a special emphasis on the interplay between geometry and physics. We follow two complementary approaches. In the first part of the thesis…
Classical gravitating field theories reduced to three dimensions admit manifest gauge invariances and hidden symmetries, which together make up the invariance group G of the theory. If this group is large enough, the target space is a…
Gauged linear sigma models with (0,2) supersymmetry allow a larger choice of couplings than models with (2,2) supersymmetry. We use this freedom to find a fully linear construction of torsional heterotic compactifications, including models…
The condition of having an $N=1$ spacetime supersymmetry for heterotic string leads to 4 distinct possibilities for compactifications namely compactifications down to 6,4,3 and 2 dimensions. Compactifications to 6 and 4 dimensions have been…
In the standard model matter fields form complete representations of a grand unified group whereas Higgs fields belong to incomplete `split' multiplets. This remarkable fact is naturally explained by `local grand unification' in…
Twin Higgs models are the prime illustration of neutral naturalness, where the new particles of the twin sector, gauge singlets of the Standard Model (SM), ameliorate the little hierarchy problem. In this work, we analyse phenomenological…
In this paper, we continue the analysis of heterotic string compactifications on half-flat mirror manifolds by including the 10-dimensional gauge fields. It is argued, that the heterotic Bianchi identity is solved by a variant of the…
In this note we explore the possible marginal deformations of general (0,2) non-linear sigma-models, which arise as descriptions of the weakly-coupled (large radius) limits of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}= 1$ compactifications of the…
The twin Higgs mechanism is a solution to the little hierarchy problem in which the top partner is neutral under the Standard Model (SM) gauge group. The simplest mirror twin Higgs (MTH) model -- where a $\mathbf{Z}_2$ symmetry copies each…