Related papers: A Z_2 x Z_2 orientifold with spontaneously broken …
We study examples of chiral four-dimensional IIB orientifolds with Scherk--Schwarz supersymmetry breaking, based on freely acting orbifolds. We construct a new Z3xZ3' model, containing only D9-branes, and rederive from a more geometric…
We consider supersymmetry breaking due to a Scherk-Schwarz twist or localized mass terms in 6d ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge theory compactified on the orbifold $T^2/Z_2$. We show that the Scherk-Schwarz breaking in 6d is equivalent to…
We discuss compact four-dimensional Z_N x Z_M type IIB orientifolds. We take a systematic approach to classify the possible models and construct them explicitely. The supersymmetric orientifolds of this type have already been constructed…
We present special classes of orientifold models involving supersymmetry breaking via branes at angles. Type II superstring theories are compactified on a two torus times a four-dimensional orbifold. Combining worldsheet parity with a…
We discuss Z_2 \times Z_2 orientifolds where the orbifold twists are accompanied by shifts on momentum or winding lattice states. The models contain variable numbers of D5 branes, whose massless (and, at times, even massive) modes have…
We present supersymmetry breaking four dimensional orientifolds of type IIA strings. The compact space is a torus times a four dimensional orbifold. The orientifold group reflects one direction in each torus. RR tadpoles are cancelled by…
We construct a general class of chiral four-dimensional string models with Scherk--Schwarz supersymmetry breaking, involving freely acting orbifolds. The basic ingredient is to combine an ordinary supersymmetry-preserving Z_N projection…
We study total and partial supersymmetry breaking by freely acting orbifolds, or equivalently by Scherk-Schwarz compactifications, in type I string theory. In particular, we describe a four-dimensional chiral compactification with…
We discuss a new method for gauge symmetry breaking in theories with one extra dimension compactified on the orbifold S^1/Z_2. If we assume that fields and their derivatives can jump at the orbifold fixed points, we can implement a…
We study four dimensional $Z_2 \times Z_2$ (shift)-orientifolds in presence of internal magnetic fields and NS-NS $B$-field backgrounds, describing in some detail one explicit example with N=1 supersymmetry. These models are related by…
We construct a novel orientifold of type IIB string theory that breaks all supersymmetries. It is a closed string theory without open sector and it can be understood as a Scherk-Schwarz deformation in which supersymmetry is restored at…
We consider an open-string realisation of $\mathcal{N}=2\to \mathcal{N}=0$ spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. It is based on type IIB orientifold theory compactified on $T^2\times…
In this thesis we analyze the problem of symmetry breaking in models with extra dimensions compactified on orbifolds. In the first chapter we briefly review the main symmetry breaking mechanisms peculiar of extra dimensions such as the…
We analyze the Scherk-Schwarz (SS) supersymmetry breaking in brane-world five dimensional theories compactified on the orbifold $S^1/\mathbb{Z}_2$. The SS breaking parameter is undetermined at the tree-level (no-scale supergravity) and can…
We construct N=1 supersymmetric four-dimensional orientifolds of type IIA on T^6/(Z_2 x Z_2) with D6-branes intersecting at angles. The use of D6-branes not fully aligned with the O6-planes in the model allows for a construction of many…
A new orientifold of Type-IIB theory on $K3$ is constructed that has $N=1$ supersymmetry in six dimensions. The orientifold symmetry consists of a $Z_2$ involution of $K3$ combined with orientation-reversal on the worldsheet. The…
We study deformations of $Z_2 \times Z_2$ (shift-)orientifolds in four dimensions in the presence of both uniform Abelian internal magnetic fields and quantized NS-NS $B_{ab}$ backgrounds, that are shown to be equivalent to asymmetric…
We study the quantum stability of Type IIB orbifold and orientifold string models in various dimensions, including Melvin backgrounds, where supersymmetry (SUSY) is broken {\it \`a la} Scherk-Schwarz (SS) by twisting periodicity conditions…
We consider a class of heterotic N=2 -> 0 super no-scale Z_2-orbifold models. An appropriate stringy Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry breaking induces tree level masses to all massless bosons of the twisted hypermultiplets and therefore…
We show how to construct chiral tachyon-free perturbative orientifold models, where supersymmetry is broken at the string scale on a collection of branes while, to lowest order, the bulk and the other branes are supersymmetric. In higher…