Related papers: String Unification of Gauge Couplings with Interse…
We propose a unified framework within Type IIA string theory, based on a globally consistent intersecting D6-brane model compactified on a $T^6/(\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2)$ orientifold. The model realizes the MSSM-like spectrum…
We investigate the building of models with Dirac gauginos and perturbative gauge coupling unification. Here, in contrast to the MSSM, additional fields are required for unification, and these can naturally play the role of the messengers of…
In these notes we give an introduction to some of the concepts involved in constructing SM-like gauge theories in systems of branes at singularities of CY manifolds. These notes are an expanded version of lectures given by Herman Verlinde…
String theory and supersymmetry are theoretical ideas that go beyond the standard model of particle physics and show promise for unifying all forces. After a brief introduction to supersymmetry, we discuss the prospects for its experimental…
We discuss the relation between supersymmetric gauge theory of branes and supergravity; as it was discovered in D-brane physics, and as it appears in Matrix theory, with emphasis on motion in curved backgrounds. We argue that gauged sigma…
This review is devoted to strings and branes. Firstly, perturbative string theory is introduced. The appearance of various types of branes is discussed. These include orbifold fixed planes, D-branes and orientifold planes. The connection to…
Gauge coupling unification misleads infrared observers if new gauge bosons do not simultaneously come into the spectrum. Though easy to engineer in gauge theory, the situation in string theory is nuanced, due to moduli dependence. We study…
We use a new approach to study string scale gauge coupling unification systematically, allowing both the possibility of non-canonical U(1)_Y normalization and the existence of vector-like particles whose quantum numbers are the same as…
We review how to describe the stable non-BPS D-branes of type II string theory from a classical perspective, and discuss the properties of the space-time geometry associated to these configurations. This is relevant in order to see whether…
I review the arguments in favor of/against the traditional hypothesis that the Planck, string and compactification scales are all within a couple of orders of magnitude from each other. I explain how the extreme brane-world scenario, with…
The compactification of the heterotic string on six-dimensional orbifolds is reviewed. Some important technical aspects of their construction are clarified and new parameters, called generalized discrete torsion, are introduced and related…
We investigate gauge coupling unification for F-theory respectively Type IIB orientifold constructions of SU(5) GUT theories with gauge symmetry breaking via non-trivial hypercharge flux. This flux has the non-trivial effect that it splits…
We identify the 4D field theories living on the world volume of D4 branes in non-supersymmetric type IIA string theory constructions. They are softly broken N=2 SQCD with the breakings introduced through vevs of the auxilliary fields in the…
In Type II string vacua constructed from intersecting/magnetized D-branes, the supersymmetry-breaking soft terms are genericaly non-universal. It is shown that universal supersymmetry-breaking soft terms may arise in a realistic MSSM…
We obtain new solutions where a string and a pp-wave lie in the common worldvolume directions of the non-standard intersection of two gauge 5-branes in the heterotic string. The two 5-branes are supported by independent SU(2) Yang-Mills…
We construct new superstring actions which are distinguished from standard superstrings by being space-time scale invariant. Like standard superstrings, they are also reparametrization invariant, space-time supersymmetric, and invariant…
We derive the universal threshold corrections in heterotic string theory including a continuous Wilson line. Unification of gauge and gravitational couplings is shown to be possible even within perturbative string theory. The relative…
From an N=1 supersymmetric electric gauge theory with the gauge group SU(N_c) x SU(N_c') x SU(N_c'') with fundamentals for each gauge group and the bifundamentals, we apply Seiberg dual to each gauge group and obtain the N=1 supersymmetric…
We discuss the worldvolume description of intersecting D-branes, including the metric on the moduli space of deformations. We impose a choice of static gauge that treats all the branes on an equal footing and describes the intersection of…
We propose a holographic description of the operators implementing $U(1)$ global symmetries that are dual to superstring gauge fields in terms of non-BPS D-branes. We check the consistency of our proposal in a number of examples.