Related papers: Lessons from an Extended Heterotic Mini-Landscape

We consider semi-local F-theory GUTs arising from a single E_8 point of local enhancement, leading to simple GUT groups based on E_6, SO(10) and SU(5) with SU(3), SU(4) and SU(5) spectral covers, respectively. Assuming the minimal Z_2…

The moduli space of the Calabi-Yau three-folds, which play a role as superstring ground states, exhibits the same {\em special geometry} that is known from nonlinear sigma models in $N=2$ supergravity theories. We discuss the symmetry…

Supersymmetry is one of the best motivated possibilities for new physics at the TeV scale. However, both concrete string constructions and phenomenological considerations suggest the possibility that the physics at the TeV scale could be…

We study six-dimensional $SU(n)$ gauge models with rank-reducing discrete boundary conditions on the orbifold $T^2/{\mathbb Z}_4$, without and with continuous Wilson line phases. For the latter case, we find that a minimal model can…

We investigate orbifold and smooth Calabi-Yau compactifications of the non-supersymmetric heterotic SO(16)xSO(16) string. We focus on such Calabi-Yau backgrounds in order to recycle commonly employed techniques, like index theorems and…

We study nonrenormalizable coupling terms in $Z_N$ orbifold models. Nontrivial selection rules of couplings are provided and cannot be understood in terms of a simple symmetry of effective field theories. We also discuss phenomenological…

This paper aims to shed light on what becomes of discrete torsion within heterotic orbifolds when they are resolved to smooth geometries. Gauged Linear Sigma Models (GLSMs) possessing (0,2) worldsheet supersymmetry are employed as…

We construct a new minimal extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) by promoting the $\mu$-parameter to a singlet superfield. The resulting renormalizable superpotential is enforced by a $\mathcal{Z}_5$ $R$-symmetry…

We promote the microscopic theory of standard model (MSM, hep-ph/0007077) into supersymmetric framework in order to solve its technical aspects of vacuum zero point energy and hierarchy problems, and attempt, further, to develop its…

Many extensions of the standard model, especially grand unified theories and superstring models, predict the existence of additional Z' bosons and associated exotic chiral supermultiplets. It has recently been argued that for classes of…

Scenarios for multi-component scalar dark matter based on a single $Z_N$ ($N\geq 4$) symmetry are simple and well-motivated. In this paper we investigate, for the first time, the phenomenology of the $Z_5$ model for two-component dark…

We construct an invariant of open four-manifolds using the Heegaard Floer theory of Ozsvath and Szabo. We show that there is a manifold X homeomorphic to R^4 for which the invariant is non-trivial, showing that X is an exotic R^4.

The minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) is reviewed. In the most general framework with minimal field content and R-parity conservation, the MSSM is a 124-parameter model (henceforth called MSSM-124). An acceptable…

We introduce a new heterotic Standard Model which has precisely the spectrum of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), with no exotic matter. The observable sector has gauge group SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1). Our model is obtained from…

Some of the currently most popular conjectures for the structure of the recently discovered heavy mesons that do not find a place in the quark model quarkonium spectrum are sketched. Furthermore, some observables are identified that should…

We study smooth, proper embeddings of noncompact surfaces in 4-manifolds, focusing on exotic planes and annuli, i.e., embeddings pairwise homeomorphic to the standard embeddings of R^2 and R^2-int D^2 in R^4. We encounter two uncountable…

We construct two more supersymmetric E6 grand unified models with three generations within the framework of Z12 asymmetric orbifold compactification of the heterotic string theory. Such an asymmetric orbifold is missing in the…

We summarize some recent progress in constructing four-dimensional supersymmetric chiral models from Type II orientifolds. We present the construction a supersymmetric Standard-like Model and a supersymmetric GUT model to illustrate the new…

The quest for the Standard Model among the huge number of string vacua is usually based on a set of phenomenological criteria related to the massless spectrum of string models. In this work we study criteria associated with interactions in…

We approach the Minimum Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) from an E_6 GUT by using the spectral cover construction and non-abelian gauge fluxes in F-theory. We start with an E_6 singularity unfolded from an E_8 singularity and obtain E_6…