Related papers: Strings, Unification and dilaton/moduli-induced SU…
The spontaneous breaking of $SO(10)$ grand unified symmetry to $SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y \times U(1)_\chi$ yields the GUT monopole as well as a comparably heavy $U(1)_\chi$ monopole which also carries $U(1)_Y$ flux. A metastable…
The issue of non-local GUT symmetry breaking is addressed in the context of open string model building. We study ZNxZM' orbifolds with all the GUT-breaking orbifold elements acting freely, as rotations accompanied by translations in the…
We study the effects of additional fields on the unification of gauge couplings in supersymmetric models. We find that the effects are quite constrained by the requirement of SU(5) gauge invariance. In general, we find that any extension of…
I consider the superfield derivation of the effective theory of softly broken supersymmetry below the GUT scale. I point out the role of supergauge invariance in determining the form of the result, which is rather restricted in interesting…
We consider Grand Unified Theories based on $SO(10)$ which originate from string/$M$ theory on $G_2$ manifolds or Calabi-Yau spaces with discrete symmetries. In this framework we are naturally led to a novel solution of the doublet-triplet…
The general constraints on the parameter space of soft-breaking terms, in order to avoid dangerous charge and color breaking minima, are applied to the four-dimensional string scenario where the dilaton is the source of supersymmetry…
We study cosmic string formation within supersymmetric grand unified theories. We consider gauge groups having a rank between 4 and 8. We examine all possible spontaneous symmetry breaking patterns from the GUT down to the standard model…
Here we ask if it is possible to have string unification in $\mathsf{SU(5)\times SU(5)}$ gauge group. We specifically investigate the weakly coupled heterotic string unification for the four couplings in this framework. We show that only a…
The phenomenological consequences of the dilaton-type soft supersymmetry breaking terms in the context of the next to minimal supersymmetric standard model are investigated. We always find a very low top quark mass. As a consequence such…
We study in a systematic and modular invariant way gaugino condensation in the hidden sector as a potential source of hierarchical supersymmetry breaking and a non--trivial potential for the dilaton $S$ whose real part corresponds to the…
We study the soft supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking terms due to the modulus F-term in the modular flavor models of leptons. It is found that the soft SUSY breaking terms are constrained by the modular forms, and specific patterns are derived.…
A brief review of the status of duality symmetries in string theory is presented. The evidence is accumulating rapidly that an enormous group of duality symmetries, including perturbative T dualities and non-perturbative S-dualities,…
Dimension-5 corrections to the gauge kinetic term of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) may capture effects of quantum gravity or string compactification. Such operators modify the usual gauge coupling unification prediction in a calculable…
The study of string models including both unoriented closed strings and open strings presents a number of new features when compared to the standard case of models of oriented closed strings only. We review some basic features of the…
We explore general SUSY GUT models with exact third-generation Yukawa unification, but where the requirement of universal soft terms at the GUT scale is relaxed. We consider the scenario in which the breaking of universality inherits from…
We study the breaking of a supersymmetric SO(10) GUT in 6 dimensions by orbifold compactification. In 4 dimensions we obtain a N=1 supersymmetric theory with the standard model gauge group enlarged by an additional U(1) symmetry. The…
We present GUT models based on an $SU(5)\times SU(5)$ GUT group. These models maintain the main successes of simple-group GUTs but permit simple solutions to the doublet-triplet splitting problem. Moreover, GUT breaking is triggered by…
We study the bosonic structure of $F$-term Nambu-Goto cosmic strings forming in a realistic SO(10) implementation, assuming standard hybrid inflation. We describe the supersymmetric grand unified theory, and its spontaneous symmetry…
Maximally supersymmetric SO(10) and SU(6) unified theories are constructed on the orbifold T^2/(Z_2 x Z'_2), with one length scale R_5 taken much larger than the other, R_6. The effective theory below 1/R_6 is found to be the highly…
In this thesis we elaborate on the three subjects of the title. We first show that supertubes exist and still preserve some supersymmetry in a large variety of curved backgrounds. Within the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the supersymmetry…