Related papers: Mass scales, supersymmetry breaking and open strin…
Hypermultiplets are considered in the five-dimensional interval where all fields are continuous and the boundary conditions are dynamically obtained from the action principle. The orbifold boundary conditions are obtained as particular…
We construct a new set of intersecting D4-brane models that yield the (non-supersymmetric) standard model up to vector-like matter and, in some cases, extra U(1) factors in the gauge group. The models are constrained by the requirement that…
We discuss the role played by the divergences appearing in the interaction between a fractional D3 brane dressed with an SU(N) gauge field and a stack of N fractional D3 branes on the orbifolds C^2/Z_2 and C^3/(Z_2 x Z_2). In particular we…
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…
If the vacuum manifold of a field theory has the appropriate topological structure, the theory admits topological structures analogous to the D-branes of string theory, in which defects of one dimension terminate on other defects of higher…
We discuss consistency conditions for branes at orbifold singularities. The conditions have a world-sheet interpretation in terms of tadpole cancellation and a space-time interpretation in terms of anomalies. As examples, we consider type…
We point out that models where gauge and charged matter fields live on the world volume of D3 branes can provide a weak string coupling description of the gauge coupling unification in the supersymmetric standard model at a scale of order…
We propose a bottom-up approach to the building of particle physics models from string theory. Our building blocks are Type II D-branes which we combine appropriately to reproduce desirable features of a particle theory model: 1) Chirality…
A system of k Neveu-Schwarz (NS) 5-branes of type II string theory with one transverse direction compactified on a circle admits various unstable D-brane systems, - some with geometric instability arising out of being placed at a point of…
We consider heterotic string backgrounds in four-dimensional Minkowski space, where N=1 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken at a low scale m_{3/2} by a stringy Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. We review how the effective gauge couplings at…
Many extensions of the standard model, especially grand unified theories and superstring models, predict the existence of additional Z' bosons and associated exotic chiral supermultiplets. It has recently been argued that for classes of…
Recent string constructions with intersecting D6 and D5 brane models succeeded in predicting in the low energy limit a symmetry group and a fermionic spectrum similar to that of the SM. In such constructions additional U(1) fields are a…
The minimal embedding of the Standard Model in type I string theory is described. The SU(3) color and SU(2) weak interactions arise from two different collections of branes. The correct prediction of the weak angle is obtained for a string…
We study the dynamics of type I strings on Melvin backgrounds, with a single or multiple twisted two-planes. We construct two inequivalent types of orientifold models that correspond to (non-compact) irrational versions of Scherk-Schwarz…
We study a class of intersecting D-brane models in which fermions localized at different intersections interact via exchange of bulk fields. In some cases these interactions lead to dynamical symmetry breaking and generate a mass for the…
In string models with "brane supersymmetry breaking" exponential potentials emerge at (closed-string) tree level but are not accompanied by tachyons. Potentials of this type have long been a source of embarrassment in flat space, but can…
Starting from a previously collected set of tachyon-free closed strings, we search for N=2 minimal model orientifold spectra which contain the standard model and are free of tachyons and tadpoles at lowest order. For each class of…
We review open descendants of non-supersymmetric type IIB asymmetric orbifolds with zero cosmological constant. We find that supersymmetry remains unbroken on the branes at all mass levels, whereas it is broken in the bulk.
We study the existence of long-lived meta-stable supersymmetry breaking vacua in gauge theories with massless quarks, upon the addition of extra massive flavors. A simple realization is provided by a modified version of SQCD with N_{f,0} <…
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…