Related papers: Review of free-fermionic 4d string models
In the first part of the talk, I explain what empirical evidence points to the need for having an effective grand unification-like symmetry possessing the symmetry SU(4)-color in 4D. If one assumes the premises of a future predictive theory…
A general prediction of string unification is the existence of exotic states with fractional charges under the free unbroken Abelian generators of the underlying GUT symmetry. Such states may be long-lived due to the existence of weakly…
Some of the four-dimensional Superstring solutions provide a consistent framework for a Supersymmetric Unification of all interactions including gravity. A class of them extends successfully the validity of the standard model up to the…
There are many conceivable possibilities of embedding the MSSM in string theory. These proceedings describe an approach which is based on grand unification in higher dimensions. This allows one to obtain global string-derived models with…
We propose gauging matrix models of string theory to eliminate unwanted non-singlet states. To this end we perform a discretised light-cone quantisation of large N gauge theory in 1+1 dimensions, with scalar or fermionic matter fields…
The aim of superstring phenomenology is to develop the tools and methodology needed to confront string theory with experimental data. The first mandatory task is to find string solutions which reproduce the observable data. The subsequent…
One of the drawbacks of conventional grand unification scenarios has been that the unification scale is too high to permit direct exploration. In this paper, we show that the unification scale can be significantly lowered (perhaps even to…
We present an extensive search for a general class of flipped $SU(5)$ models built within the free fermionic formulation of the heterotic string. We describe a set of algorithms which constitute the basis for a computer program capable of…
A discrete string theory --a theory of embeddings from ${\bf Z}\times {\bf Z}_C\to {\bf R}^D$, where $C$ is the number of components of the string-- is explored. The closure of the algebra of constraints (`${\bf Z}_C$-Virasoro algebra') is…
Starting from the Nambu-Goto bosonic string, a four dimensional superstring model is constructed using the equivalence of one boson to two Majorana-Weyl fermions. The conditions of anomaly cancellation in a 'heterotic' string theory lead to…
We develop further a new geometrical model of a discretized string, proposed in [1] and establish its basic physical properties. The model can be considered as the natural extention of the usual Feynman amplitude of the random walks to…
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…
In this thesis we investigate the microphysics of cosmic strings in non-minimal quantum field theories. In particular we consider theories in which fermion fields couple to the strings, and those with larger symmetry groups, such as grand…
We explore the possibility of string theories in only four spacetime dimensions without any additional compactified dimensions. We show that, provided the theory is defined in curved spacetime that has a cosmological interpration, it is…
Recently it was proposed that ten-dimensional tachyonic string vacua may serve as starting points for the construction of viable four dimensional phenomenological string models which are tachyon free. This is achieved by projecting out the…
We compute partition functions describing multiplicities and charges of massless and first massive string states of pure-spinor superstrings in 3,4,6,10 dimensions. At the massless level we find a spin-one gauge multiplet of minimal…
In string bit models, the superstring emerges as a very long chain of "bits", in which s fermionic degrees of freedom contribute positively to the ground state energy in a way to exactly cancel the destabilizing negative contributions of…
A universal symmetric truncation of the bosonic string Hilbert space yields all known closed fermionic string theories in ten dimensions, their D-branes and their open descendants. We highlight the crucial role played by group theory and…
A family of modified $(0,1)$ heterotic string models in D=4 is constructed in which the strings incorporate $R$ flux tubes which may in special cases support a local spacetime superconformal symmetry consistent with quantum mechanics. There…
Fractional superstrings in the tensor-product formulation experience ``internal projections'' which reduce their effective central charges. Simple expressions for the characters of the resulting effective worldsheet theory are found. All…