Related papers: String Theory and the Path to Unification: A Revie…
The structure of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics points toward grand unified theories (GUTs) where strong and electroweak interactions are unified in a non-Abelian GUT group. The spontaneous breaking of the GUT symmetry to the…
Precision gauge coupling unification is one of the primary quantitative successes of low energy or split supersymmetry. Preserving this success puts severe restrictions on possible matter and gauge sectors that might appear at…
We discuss in detail the symmetry breaking and related issues in the minimal renormalizable supersymmetric grand unified theory. We compute the particle spectrum and study its impact on the physical scales of the theory. This provides a…
I discuss gauge coupling unification in a class of superstring standard--like models, which are derived in the free fermionic formulation. Recent calculations indicate that the superstring unification scale is at $O(10^{18}GeV)$ while the…
The string one loop renormalization of the gauge coupling constants is examined in abelian orbifold models. The contributions to string threshold corrections independent of the compactification moduli fields are evaluated numerically for…
String theory, if it describes nature, is probably strongly coupled. As a result, one might despair of making any statements about the theory. In the framework of a set of clearly spelled out assumptions, we show that this is not…
I briefly summarize the main features related to the unification of gauge and Yukawa couplings in the MSSM, emphasizing the predictions derived in this framework, which are of special interest in the light of present and near--future…
For the weakly coupled heterotic string (WCHS) there is a well-known factor of twenty conflict between the minimum string coupling unification scale, Lambda_H ~5x10^(17) GeV, and the projected MSSM unification scale, Lambda_U ~ 2.5x10^(16)…
Currently, string theory represents the only advanced approach to a unification of all interactions, including gravity. In spite of the more than thirty years of its existence it did not make any empirically testable predictions. And it is…
We review recent progress in realizing Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) in a strongly coupled formulation of type IIB string theory known as F-theory. Our main emphasis is on the expected low-energy phenomenology of a minimal class of F-theory…
We study gauge coupling unification in supersymmetric $E_6$ models where an additional $\mathrm{U}(1)'$ gauge symmetry is broken near the TeV scale and a number of exotic matter fields from the $\bm{27}$ representations have…
We study the path from the string scale physics to the low-energy physics in the $SU(6) \times SU(2)_R$ string-inspired model with the flavor symmetry ${\bf Z}_M \times {\bf Z}_N \times \tilde{D}_4$. The flavor symmetry controls the mass…
A survey is given of supersymmetry and supergravity and their phenomenology. Some of the topics discussed are the basic ideas of global supersymmetry, the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and its phenomenology, the basic ideas…
We make a detailed analysis of gauge coupling unification in supersymmetry. When the Standard Model gauge group is embedded in a Grand Unified Theory, new particles often appear below the GUT scale in order to predict the right…
This is the written version of a short talk given at the University of Leipzig in December 1998. It reviews some general aspects of string theory from the viewpoint of the search for an unifying theory. Here, special emphasis lies on the…
It is often argued that in the class of non-supersymmetric SO(10) grand unified theories there is barely any room for reconciling the lower bound on the position of the GUT scale emerging from the proton decay searches and the lower limit…
As of today there exist consistent, gauge-invariant string field theories describing all string theories: bosonic open and closed strings, open superstrings, heterotic strings and type II strings. The construction of these theories require…
Recently J. Giedt discussed a mechanism, entitled optical unification, whereby string scale unification is facilitated via exotic matter with intermediate scale mass. This mechanism guarantees that a virtual MSSM unification below the…
We look for minimal chiral sets of fermions beyond the standard model that are anomaly free and, simultaneously, vectorlike particles with respect to colour SU(3) and electromagnetic U(1). We then study whether the addition of such…
We study unification in the Randall-Sundrum scenario for solving the hierarchy problem, with gauge fields and fermions in the bulk. We calculate the one-loop corrected low-energy effective gauge couplings in a unified theory, broken at the…