Related papers: Physics Implications of a Perturbative Superstring…

The effective field theory of the minimal Low Scale Orientifold Models is developed. It describes universal features of related orientifold vacua in string theory. It contains, beyond the Standard Model fields, an MSSM-like Higgs sector and…

We survey a variety of proposals for new physics at high scales that serve to relate the multitude of soft supersymmetry breaking parameters of the MSSM. We focus on models where the new physics results in non-universal soft parameters, in…

The U(1)' symmetry associated with a possible heavy Z' would have profound implications for particle physics and cosmology. The motivations for such particles in various extensions of the standard model, possible ranges for their masses and…

Quasi-realistic string models in the free fermionic formulation typically contain an anomalous U(1), which gives rise to a Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term that breaks supersymmetry at the one--loop level in string perturbation theory. Supersymmetry…

We describe the effective supergravity theory present below the scale of spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking due to an anomalous U(1), obtained by integrating out tree-level interactions of massive modes. A simple case is examined in some…

In four dimensional superstring models, the gauge group normally contains extra U(1)s that are broken at a high energy scale. We show that the presence of the extra U(1)s is crucial for the phenomenological viability of string scenarios,…

We investigate orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string, addressing in detail their construction, classification and phenomenological potential. We present a strategy to search for models resembling the minimal supersymmetric…

Low-energy supersymmetry is a theoretical extension of the Standard Model of particle physics in which supersymmetry is invoked to explain the origin of the electroweak scale. In this approach, the energy scale of supersymmetry breaking can…

The minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), is perhaps the leading candidate for new physics beyond the standard model, but it encounters difficulties with string gauge unification and in addition does not shed any light on the…

We study gauge theories where quasi-hidden sectors are added to the MSSM for the sake of string consistency conditions which would otherwise not be satisfied. We focus on quiver gauge theories motivated by weakly coupled type II orientifold…

This article is devoted to an overview of superstring perturbation theory from the point of view of super Riemann surfaces. We aim to elucidate some of the subtleties of superstring perturbation that caused difficulty in the early…

A common feature of many string-motivated particle physics models is additional strongly coupled U(1)'s. In such sectors, electric and magnetic states have comparable mass, and integrating out modes also charged under U(1) hypercharge…

We present a construction of a perturbatively stable non-supersymmetric type II closed string model in four dimensions. It is based on a freely acting Scherk-Schwarz Z2-deformation of a supersymmetric construction which is recovered in…

Recent string constructions with intersecting D6 and D5 brane models succeeded in predicting in the low energy limit a symmetry group and a fermionic spectrum similar to that of the SM. In such constructions additional U(1) fields are a…

I investigate two discrete models of random geometries, namely simplicial quantum gravity and quantum string theory. In four-dimensional simplicial quantum gravity, I show that the addition of matter gauge fields to the model is capable of…

Anomalous U(1) gauge symmetries can appear both in heterotic and type I string theories. In the heterotic case we find a single anomalous U(1), while in open string theories several such symmetries can appear. Nonetheless, there is a…

We review for non-experts possible phenomenological scenari in String Theory. In particular we focus on vacuum configurations with intersecting and/or magnetized unoriented D-branes. We will show how a TeV scale tension may be compatible…

I investigate the role of nonrenormalizable terms, up to order N=8, in a superstring derived standard--like model. I argue that nonrenormalizable terms restrict the gauge symmetry, at the Planck scale, to be $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times…

Recently it was demonstrated that free fermionic heterotic-strings can produce models with solely the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model states in the low energy spectrum. This unprecedented result provides further strong evidence for…

The ground state of string theory may lie at a point of ``maximally enhanced symmetry", at which all of the moduli transform under continuous or discrete symmetries. This hypothesis, along with the hypotheses that the theory at high…