Related papers: Quintessence with two energy scales
Standard lore asserts that quantum effects generically forbid the occurrence of light (non-pseudo-Goldstone) scalars having masses smaller than the Kaluza Klein scale, M_KK, in extra-dimensional models, or the gravitino mass, M_3/2, in…
The status of exponential scalar potentials in supergravity is reviewed, and updated. One version of N=8 D=4 supergravity with a positive exponential potential, obtainable from a `non-compactification' of M-theory, is shown to have an…
String theory suggests the existence of a minimum length scale. An exciting quantum mechanical implication of this feature is a modification of the uncertainty principle. In contrast to the conventional approach, this generalised…
We propose a minimal model framework for physics below the Planck scale with the following features: (i) it is based on no-scale supergravity, as favoured in many string compactifications, (ii) it incorporates Starobinsky-like inflation,…
The target space $M_{p,q}$ of $(p,q)$ minimal strings is embedded into the phase space of an associated integrable classical mechanical model. This map is derived from the matrix model representation of minimal strings. Quantum effects on…
We present explicit examples of semi-realistic heterotic models with spontaneously broken supersymmetry, which dynamically lead to breaking scales much smaller than $M_{\rm Planck}$ and exponentially small positive values for the…
We study late-time acceleration scenarios using a quintessence field initially trapped in a metastable false vacuum state. The false vacuum has non-zero vacuum energy and could drive exponential expansion if not coupled with gravity. Upon…
The Standard Model is the low-energy limit of a microscopic theory which includes extra dimensions and new symmetries. A part of my thesis consisted in constructing a new class of models with two extra dimensions. We showed that these…
New Planck scale physics may solve the singularity problems of classical general relativity and may lead to interesting consequences for very early Universe cosmology. Two approaches to these questions are reviewed in this article. The…
In this talk I summarize several recent results concerning the four-dimensional effective supergravity obtained using a Calabi-Yau compactification of the $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic string from M-theory. A simple macroscopic study is…
We show that if the string scale is identifed with the intermediate scale, $M_s=\sqrt{M_W M_{Planck}} \sim 10^{11}$ GeV, then the notorious hierarchy, $M_W/M_{Planck} \sim 10^{-16}$, can be explained using only $M_c/M_s \sim 0.01 \sim…
I review the relations between mass scales in various string theories and in M-theory. I discuss physical motivations and possible consistent realizations of large volume compactifications and low string scale. Large longitudinal…
These lectures present some topics of string phenomenology and contain two parts. In the first part, I review the possibility of lowering the string scale in the TeV region, that provides a theoretical framework for solving the mass…
We consider a low energy effective theory of $p$-branes in a $D$-dimensional spacetime, and impose two conditions: 1) the theory is scale invariant, and 2) the electric-magnetic dual $(D-p-4)$-branes exist and they obey the same type of…
We propose a new higher-dimensional mechanism for solving the Hierarchy Problem. The Weak scale is generated from a large scale of order the Planck scale through an exponential hierarchy. However, this exponential arises not from gauge…
We consider quintessence models within 4D effective descriptions of gravity coupled to two scalar fields. These theories are known to give rise to viable models of late-time cosmic acceleration without any need for flat potentials, and so…
Though the Planck scale is encountered in Quantum SuperString Theory and Quantum Gravity, it is the Compton scale of elementary particles which is encountered in the physical world. An explanation for this is given in terms of Brownian…
We revisit the phenomenology of quintessence models in light of the recently refined version of the de Sitter Swampland conjecture, which includes the possibility of unstable de Sitter critical points. We show that models of quintessence…
We consider string phenomenological models based on 11D Horava-Witten M-theory with 5 branes in the bulk. If the 5-branes cluster close to the distant orbifold plane (d_n\equiv 1-z_n\simeq 0.1) and if the topological charges of the physical…
We construct the truly minimal left-right symmetric model by utilizing only the fields dictated by supersymmetry and automatic R-parity conservation. Allowing for non-renormalizable operators in the superpotential, we show that parity can…