English

String Landscape and Fermion Masses

High Energy Physics - Theory 2020-03-12 v5 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

Besides the string scale, string theory has no parameter except some quantized flux values; and the string theory Landscape is generated by scanning over discrete values of all the flux parameters present. We propose that a typical (normalized) probability distribution P(Q)P({\cal Q}) of a physical quantity Q\cal Q (with nonnegative dimension) tends to peak (diverge) at Q=0{\cal Q}=0 as a signature of string theory. In the Racetrack K\"ahler uplift model, where P(Λ)P(\Lambda) of the cosmological constant Λ\Lambda peaks sharply at Λ=0\Lambda=0, the electroweak scale (not the electroweak model) naturally emerges when the median Λ\Lambda is matched to the observed value. We check the robustness of this scenario. In a bottom-up approach, we find that the observed quark and charged lepton masses are consistent with the same probabilistic philosophy, with distribution P(m)P(m) that diverges at m=0m=0, with the same (or almost the same) degree of divergence. This suggests that the Standard Model has an underlying string theory description, and yields relations among the fermion masses, albeit in a probabilistic approach (very different from the usual sense). Along this line of reasoning, the normal hierarchy of neutrino masses is clearly preferred over the inverted hierarchy, and the sum of the neutrino masses is predicted to be mν0.0592\sum m_{\nu} \simeq 0.0592 eV, with an upper bound mν<0.066\sum m_{\nu} <0.066 eV. This illustrates a novel way string theory can be applied to particle physics phenomenology.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1902.06608,
  title  = {String Landscape and Fermion Masses},
  author = {Stefano Andriolo and Shing Yan Li and S. -H. Henry Tye},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1902.06608},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

31 pages, 10 figures, significant update made in v4

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:43:47.869Z