Related papers: Fine-tuned vs. natural supersymmetry: what does th…
The immensity of the string landscape and the difficulty of identifying solutions that match the observed features of particle physics have raised serious questions about the predictive power of string theory. Modern methods of optimisation…
Local cosmic strings solutions are introduced in a model with a pseudo-anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry. Such a symmetry is present in many superstring compactification models. The coupling of those strings with the axion necessary in order to…
Classical flux compactifications contribute to a well-controlled corner of the string landscape, therefore providing an important testing ground for a variety of conjectures. We focus here on type II supergravity compactifications on 6d…
It has been claimed that the string landscape predicts an open universe, with negative curvature. The prediction is a consequence of a large number of metastable string vacua, and the properties of the Coleman--De Luccia instanton which…
We investigate the phenomenology of an orbifold string model in which supersymmetry breaking is dominated by the overall `size' modulus field and all matter fields are in the untwisted sector. The possibly close degeneracy of the lightest…
Various nonsupersymmetric theories at large but finite $N$ are argued to permit light scalars and large hierarchies without fine-tuning. In a dual string description, the hierarchy results from competition between classical and quantum…
Many biological systems and artificial structures are ramified, and present a high geometric complexity. In this work, we propose a space-averaged model of branched systems for conservation laws. From a one-dimensional description of the…
Four-dimensional strings with the standard model gauge group $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ give model-dependent predictions for the tree level weak mixing-angle. In the presence of an extra pseudo-anomalous gauged- ${U(1)}_X$, the value of…
The spectrum of stable electrically and magnetically charged supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously as one changes the vacuum on the Coulomb branch of gauge theories with extended supersymmetry in four dimensions. We show that…
Consistent coupling of effective field theories with a quantum theory of gravity appears to require bounds on the the rank of the gauge group and the amount of matter. We consider landscapes of field theories subject to such to boundedness…
Natural supersymmetric theories of the weak scale are under growing pressure given present LHC constraints, raising the question of whether untuned supersymmetric (SUSY) solutions to the hierarchy problem are possible. In this paper, we…
We study some conditions for the hierarchy $m_{3/2} << M_P$ to occur naturally in a generic effective supergravity theory. Absence of fine-tuning and perturbative calculability require that the effective potential has a sliding gravitino…
We study the phenomenon of accidental or "emergent" supersymmetry within gauge theory and connect it to the scenarios of Split Supersymmetry and Higgs compositeness. Combining these elements leads to a significant refinement and extension…
We explore the extent to which string theories with higher-level gauge symmetries and non-standard hypercharge normalizations can reconcile the discrepancy between the string unification scale and the GUT scale extrapolated from the Minimal…
We give examples of string compactifications to 4d Minkowski space with different amounts of supersymmetry that can be connected by spherical domain walls. The tension of these domain walls is tunably lower than the 4d Planck scale. The…
The recent progress in the understanding of the landscape of string theory vacua hints that the hierarchy problem might be the problem of a super-selection rule. The attractor mechanism gives a possibility to explain the choice of a vacuum.…
Compactification of the heterotic string on toroidal orbifolds is a promising set-up for the construction of realistic unified models of particle physics. The target space dynamics of such models, however, drives them slightly away from the…
Recent developemnts in string compactifications in the presence of antisymmetric field backgrounds suggest a new simple and predictive structure for soft terms in the MSSM depending only on two parameters. They give rise to a positive…
The string theory landscape may include a multitude of ultraviolet embeddings of the Standard Model, but identifying these has proven difficult due to the enormous number of available string compactifications. Genetic Algorithms (GAs)…
Theories of the cosmological constant fall into two classes, those in which the vacuum energy is fixed by the fundamental theory and those in which it is adjustable in some way. For each class we discuss key challenges. The string theory…