Related papers: Mass scales in string and M-theory
This is a pedagogical review article surveying the various approaches towards understanding gauge coupling unification within string theory. As is well known, one of the major problems confronting string phenomenology has been an apparent…
It has been proposed recently that the scale of quantum gravity (``the string scale'') can be $M_S \sim$ few TeV with $n \geq 2$ extra dimensions of size $R \stackrel{<}{\sim}$ mm so that, at distances greater than $R$, Newtonian gravity…
The observation of a scalar resonance at the LHC, compatible with perturbative electroweak symmetry breaking, reinforces the Standard Model parameterisation of all subatomic data. The logarithmic evolution of the SM gauge and matter…
We make a detailed study of the unification of gauge couplings in the MSSM with large extra dimensions. We find some scenarios where unification can be achieved (with the strong coupling constant at the Z mass within one standard deviation…
The possible existence of bulk singlet neutrinos in the scenario with large compactified dimensions and low string scale $M_*$ has important consequences for low-energy observables. We demonstrate that intergenerational mass splitting and…
The recent conjecture of possible equivalence between the string scale $M_S$ and the minimal supersymmetric standard model unification scale M_U ~ 2.5 x 10^{16} GeV is considered in the context of string models. This conjecture suggests…
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…
Evidence is mounting that natural supersymmetry at the weak scale is not realized in nature. On the other hand, string theory suggests that supersymmetry may be present at some energy scale, and gauge coupling unification implies that that…
Type I string theory in the presence of internal magnetic fields provides a concrete realization of split supersymmetry. To lowest order, gauginos are massless while squarks and sleptons are superheavy. For weak magnetic fields, the correct…
We test various conjectures about quantum gravity for six-dimensional string compactifications in the framework of F-theory. Starting with a gauge theory coupled to gravity, we analyze the limit in K\"ahler moduli space where the gauge…
In this review articel we study the gaugings of extended supergravity theories in various space-time dimensions. These theories describe the low-energy limit of non-trivial string compactifications. For each theory under consideration we…
We review the status of low-scale string theories and large extra-dimensions. After an overview on different string realizations, we discuss some of the main important problems and we summarize present bounds on the size of possible…
Warped compactifications with branes provide a new approach to the hierarchy problem and generate a diversity of four-dimensional thresholds. We investigate the relationships between these scales, which fall into two classes. Geometrical…
The fundamental string length, which is an essential part of string theory, explicitly breaks scale invariance. However, in field theory we demonstrated recently that the gravitational constant, which is directly related to the string…
We consider heterotic string compactifications to four dimensions when instantons shrink to zero size. If the standard model gauge group originates from the new gauge symmetry associated with the small instantons singularity, then the…
We review recent work in which compactifications of string and M theory are constructed in which all scalar fields (moduli) are massive, and supersymmetry is broken with a small positive cosmological constant, features needed to reproduce…
The search for a theory of quantum gravity faces two great challenges: the incredibly small scales of the Planck length and time, and the possibility that the observed constants of nature are in part the result of random processes. A…
We consider theories in which the Standard Model gauge fields propagate in extra dimensions whose size is around the electroweak scale. The Standard Model quarks and leptons may either be localized to a brane or propagate in the bulk. This…
We consider extensions of the standard model containing additional heavy particles ("quirks") charged under a new unbroken non-abelian gauge group as well as the standard model. We assume that the quirk mass m is in the phenomenologically…
The proposal that a strong coupling limit of the five-dimensional type II string theory (M-theory compactified on a 6-torus) in which the Planck length becomes infinite could give a six-dimensional superconformal phase of M-theory is…