Related papers: Old Puzzles
The cosmological constant problem is turned around to argue for a new foundational physics postulate underlying a consistent quantum theory of gravity and matter, such as string theory. This postulate is a quantum equivalence principle…
Charge and color breaking minima in SUSY theories might make the standard vacuum unstable. In this talk a brief review of this issue is performed. When a complete analysis of all the potentially dangerous directions in the field space of…
We present a toy model which has the following properties: i) it is strongly coupled at a certain scale and breaks supersymmetry at this scale; ii) matter superfields of (one generation of) the Standard Model are effective low energy…
Recent measurements of the values of gauge coupling constants as well as neutrino properties support the idea of a grand unified (GUT) description of particle physics at a large scale of $M_{GUT}\sim 10^{16}$ GeV. We discuss a strategy to…
We argue, based on typical properties of known solutions of string/$M$-theory, that the lightest supersymmetric particle of the visible sector will not be stable. In other words, dark matter is {\em not} a particle with Standard Model…
The first part of this thesis is a general introduction to the bosonic and fermionic string theory, to the concept of D brane and to string dualities. A discussion of anomalies cancellation closes the chapter. The second part of the thesis…
Dark matter particles need not be completely stable, and in fact they may be decaying now. We consider this possibility in the frameworks of universal extra dimensions and supersymmetry with very late decays of WIMPs to Kaluza-Klein…
The Standard Model of cosmology of the 1980's was based on a remarkable interplay of ideas from particle theory, experiment and astrophysical observations. That model is now dead, and has been replaced by something far more bizarre.…
We review the Standard Model in a form conducive to formulating its possible short distance extensions. This depends on the value of the Higgs mass, the only unknown parameter of the model. We suggest methods to reproduce many of the small…
Two main ingredients of current particle physics such as local gauge symmetry and mass generation via the Higgs mechanism being basic ground of the Standard Model are widely confirmed by experimental data. However, some problems such as…
This Ph.D. thesis investigates effective field and string theories in which supersymmetry is realized and broken in various ways. Chapter 1 addresses effective theories with nonlinearly realized supersymmetry, constructed using the…
I discuss cosmological models either derived from, or inspired by, string theory or M-theory. In particular I discuss solutions in the low-energy effective theory and the role of the dilaton, moduli and antisymmetric form fields in the…
Some properties of the world are fixed by physics derived from mathematical symmetries, while others are selected from an ensemble of possibilities. Several successes and failures of ``anthropic'' reasoning in this context are reviewed in…
The connection between Supergravity and the low-energy world is analyzed. In particular, the soft Supersymmetry-breaking terms arising in Supergravity, the $\mu$ problem and various solutions proposed to solve it are reviewed. The soft…
With our current level of understanding, the problem of making string theory predictions is not one of "solving" the theory, but rather of trying to determine whether there are any generic expectations. Within this context, we discuss what…
Quantum theory, general relativity, the standard model of particle physics, and the $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology have all been spectacularly successful within their respective regimes of applicability, but many central problems remain…
These lectures discuss some of the general issues in developing a phenomenology for Superstring Theory/M Theory. The focus is on the question: how might one obtain robust, generic predictions. For example, does the theory predict low energy…
Over the past three years we have determined the basic features of the Universe -- spatially flat; accelerating; comprised of 1/3 a new form of matter, 2/3 a new form of energy, with some ordinary matter and a dash of massive neutrinos; and…
Starting from the effective action of the low energy limit of superstrings theory, I find an exact solution of the field equations which geodesics behavie exactly as the trajectories of stars arround of a spiral galaxy. Here dark matter is…
For two decades the hot big-bang model as been referred to as the standard cosmology -- and for good reason. For just as long cosmologists have known that there are fundamental questions that are not answered by the standard cosmology and…