Related papers: Testing the Heterotic String with the Axion-Photon…
We present models in which axions have large couplings to hadrons while remaining naturally light. By assigning $U(1)_{PQ}$ charges to Standard Model quarks such that $U(1)_{PQ}$ is not anomalous under QCD, the derivative couplings…
Four-dimensional string theories predict in general the existence of light exotic particles with fractional electric charges. Such particles could escape present observations if they are confined by a gauge group of the "hidden" sector into…
Axion-like particles can couple to Standard Model gluons, electroweak gauge bosons, and massive fermions. A future multi-TeV muon collider provides a favorable environment to probe axion-like particles through multiple production channels,…
The lower limit to string coupling unification in weakly coupled heterotic strings was shown by Kaplunovsky to be around Lambda_H ~ 5 x 10^{17} GeV. In contrast, under the scenario of an intermediate scale desert, the SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x…
A particular class of variant axion models with two higgs doublets and a singlet is studied. In these models the axion couples either to the $u$-quark or $t$-quark or both, but not to $b$, $c$, $s$, or $d$. When the axion couples to only…
We demonstrate that radiative breaking of conformal symmetry (and simultaneously electroweak symmetry) in the Standard Model with right-chiral neutrinos and a minimally enlarged scalar sector induces spontaneous breaking of lepton number…
We explore constraints on gauge bosons of a weakly coupled $U(1)_{B-L}$, $U(1)_{L_\mu-L_e}$, $U(1)_{L_e-L_\tau}$ and $U(1)_{L_\mu-L_\tau}$. To do so we apply the full constraining power of experimental bounds derived for a hidden photon of…
Axionlike particles (ALPs) are hypothetical light (sub-eV) bosons predicted in some extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. In astrophysical environments comprising high-energy gamma rays and turbulent magnetic fields, the…
Light axion fields, if they exist, can be sourced by neutron stars due to their coupling to nuclear matter, and play a role in binary neutron star mergers. We report on a search for such axions by analysing the gravitational waves from the…
The QCD axion remains experimentally viable in the mass range of O(10 MeV) if (i) it couples predominantly to the first generation of SM fermions; (ii) it decays to $e^+ e^-$ with a short lifetime $\tau_a\lesssim 10^{-13}\,$s; and (iii) it…
We discuss the low energy implications of gauge coupling unification at the string scale, taking into account string threshold corrections in the $SU(4) {\times} O(4)$ model. We express $sin^2\theta_W$ and $a_3$ as functions of the…
We explore the possibility that supersymmetry breaking is mediated to the Standard Model sector through the interactions of a generalized axion multiplet that gains a F-term expectation value. Using an effective field theory framework we…
I discuss different aspects of the phenomenology of hypothetical sub eV mass particles arising in the context of extensions of the standard model. I focus on a simple extension based on an additional U(1) gauge symmetry and its…
We study heterotic Calabi-Yau models with hypercharge flux breaking, where the visible E8 gauge group is directly broken to the standard model group by a non-flat gauge bundle, rather than by a two-step process involving an intermediate…
We consider the methods by which higher-level and non-simply laced gauge symmetries can be realized in free-field heterotic string theory. We show that all such realizations have a common underlying feature, namely a dimensional truncation…
New particles coupled to the Standard Model can equilibrate in stellar cores if they are sufficiently heavy and strongly coupled. In this work, we investigate the astrophysical consequences of such a scenario for massive stars by…
We present the first results of searches for axions and axion-like-particles with the XENON100 experiment. The axion-electron coupling constant, $g_{Ae}$, has been probed by exploiting the axio-electric effect in liquid xenon. A profile…
Evidence is mounting that natural supersymmetry at the weak scale is not realized in nature. On the other hand, string theory suggests that supersymmetry may be present at some energy scale, and gauge coupling unification implies that that…
Following recent proposal of Dijkgraaf, Verlinde and Verlinde, we show that the M(atrix) theory compactified on $S_1/Z_2$ provides with a non-perturbative description of second-quantized light-cone heterotic string. This so-called heterotic…
Many theoretically well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model contain heavy pseudoscalars that couple to hypercharge topological density. The cosmological dynamics of such hypercharge axions could, under certain conditions, lead to…