We analyze the wavefunctions for open strings in warped compactifications, and compute the warped Kahler potential for the light modes of a probe D-brane. This analysis not only applies to the dynamics of D-branes in warped backgrounds, but also allows to deduce warping corrections to the closed string Kahler metrics via their couplings to open strings. We consider in particular the spectrum of D7-branes in warped Calabi-Yau orientifolds, which provide a string theory realizations of the Randall-Sundrum scenario. We find that certain background fluxes, necessary in the presence of warping, couple to the fermionic wavefunctions and qualitatively change their behavior. This modified dependence of the wavefunctions are needed for consistency with supersymmetry, though it is present in non-supersymmetric vacua as well. We discuss the deviations of our setup from the RS scenario and, as an application of our results, compute the warping corrections to Yukawa couplings in a simple model. Our analysis is performed both with and without the presence of D-brane world-volume flux, as well as for the case of backgrounds with varying dilaton.
We analyze the wavefunctions for open strings stretching between intersecting 7-branes in type IIB/F-theory warped compactifications, as a first step in understanding the warped effective field theory of 4d chiral fermions. While in general the equations of motion do not seem to admit a simple analytic solution, we provide a method for solving the wavefunctions in the case of weak warping. The method describes warped zero modes as a perturbative expansion in the unwarped spectrum, the coefficients of the expansion depending on the warping. We perform our analysis with and without the presence …
We study M and F theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau four-folds in the presence of non-trivial background flux. The geometry is warped and belongs to the class of p-brane metrics. We solve for the explicit warp factor in the orbifold limit of these compactifications, compare our results to some of the more familiar recently studied warped scenarios, and discuss the effects on the low-energy theory. As the warp factor is generated solely by backreaction, we may use topological arguments to determine the massless spectrum. We perform the computation for the case where the four-fold equals K3 …
We review warped compactifications of superstring theory with some attention to the limit in which these resemble "bottom-up" phenomenological models. In addition to some discussion of the original Klebanov-Witten and Klebanov-Strassler set-ups, we also touch on various generalizations of the geometry that have been considered. Various other systems with a holographic duality are also briefly reviewed. The point of this latter exploration is to illustrate how far beyond the standard AdS(5) x S(5) set-up things have moved over the years.
A supersymmetric (SUSY) model of radius stabilization is constructed for the S^1/Z_2 warped compactifications with a hypermultiplet in five dimensions. Requiring the continuity of scalar field across the boundaries, we obtain radius stabilization preserving SUSY, realizing the SUSY extension of the Goldberger-Wise mechanism. Even if we allow discontinuities of the Z_2 odd field across the boundary, we always obtain SUSY preservation but obtain the radius stabilization only when the discontinuity is fixed by other mechanism.
We study implications of generalized non-zero Dirichlet boundary condition along with the ordinary Neumann one on a bulk scalar in the Randall-Sundrum warped compactification. First we show profiles of vacuum expectation value of the scalar under the general boundary conditions. We also investigate Goldberger-Wise mechanism in several setups with the general boundary conditions of the bulk scalar field and find that the mechanism can work under non-zero Dirichlet boundary conditions with appropriate vacuum expectation values. Especially, we show that $SU(2)_R$ triplet Higgs in the bulk left-ri…
Particle physics has evolved in the past decade through evaluating the consequences of experimental measurements as well as exploiting theoretical tools that permit exploration of new model building and cosmological possibilities. Particularly due to insights from the AdS/CFT correspondence, higher-dimensional warped compactifications, in particular, have played a big role in recent developments by allowing a study of regimes of parameters that would otherwise be intractable. Similarly, theoretical developments in quantum gravity benefit from the bigger range of possibilities that can be explo…
We consider the possibility of localizing gravity on a Nielsen-Olesen vortex in the context of the Abelian Higgs model. The vortex lives in a six-dimensional space-time with negative bulk cosmological constant. In this model we find a region of the parameter space leading, simultaneously, to warped compactification and to regular space-time geometry. A thin defect limit is studied. Regular solutions describing warped compactifications in the case of higher winding number are also presented.
Using DBI inflation as an example, we demonstrate that the detailed geometry of warped compactification can leave an imprint on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We compute CMB observables for DBI inflation in a generic class of warped throats and find that the results (such as the sign of the tilt of the scalar perturbations and its running) depend sensitively on the precise shape of the warp factor. In particular, we analyze the warped deformed conifold and find that the results can differ from those of other warped geometries, even when these geometries approximate well the exact metri…
The Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of graviton are studied in the IIB superstring compactification where the warped geometry is realized at the Klebanov-Strassler (KS) throat. Knowledge of the metric of the KS throat enables us to determine their wave functions with good accuracy, without any further specification of the rest of Calabi-Yau space, owing to the localization of the KK modes. Mass spectrum and couplings to the four dimensional fields are computed for some type of the KK modes, and compared to those of the well-known Randall-Sundrum model. We find that the properties of the KK modes of th…
We examine the Kaluza-Klein theory for warped flux compactifications of type $II\ b $ string theory on a Minkowski spacetime $ M_4$ times a conic Calabi-Yau orientifold $X_6$. The region glued along the internal space directions to the bulk of $X_6$ is modeled by the warped undeformed conifold $\calc _6$. The resulting classical vacum solution of Klebanov-Tseytlin solution, valid at large radial distances from the conic singularity, describes a spacetime asymptotic to $ AdS_5 $ times the conifold compact base $ T^{1,1}$. The metric tensor, axio-dilaton and antisymmetric fields part of the 10-d…
We investigate warped compactification with an abelian gauge theory in six dimensions. The vanishing cosmological constant in four dimensions can generically be realized with a regular metric even in a 3-brane background without fine tuning of couplings.
We give a short review of a large class of warped string geometries, obtained via F-theory compactified on Calabi-Yau fourfolds, that upon reduction to 5 dimensions give consistent supersymmetric realizations of the RS compactification scenario.
In general warped compactifications, non-trivial backgrounds for the warp factor and the dilaton break $D$-dimensional diffeomorphism invariance, so that dilaton fluctuations can be gauged away completely and eaten by the metric. More specifically, the warped volume modulus and the dilaton are not independent, but combine into a single gauge-invariant degree of freedom in the lower dimensional effective theory, the warped breathing mode. This occurs for all strengths of the warping, even the weakly warped limit. This warped breathing mode appears as a natural zero mode deformation of backgroun…
Warped compactification of the six-dimensional bulk with a negative cosmological constant is realized with a 4-brane along with an abelian gauge theory. No fine tuning of couplings are needed to obtain the vanishing cosmological constant in four dimensions, as is the case for the bulk with a positive cosmological constant.
Static solutions with a bulk dilaton are derived in the context of six dimensional warped compactification. In the string frame, exponentially decreasing warp factors are identified with critical points of the low energy $β$-functions truncated at a given order in the string tension corrections. The stability of the critical points is discussed in the case of the first string tension correction. The singularity properties of the obtained solutions are analyzed and illustrative numerical examples are provided.
We find a simple exact solution of 6-dimensional braneworld which captures some essential features of warped flux compactification, including a warped geometry, compactification, a magnetic flux, and one or two 3-brane(s). In this setup we analyze how the Hubble expansion rate on each brane changes when the brane tension changes. It is shown that effective Newton's constant resulting from this analysis agrees with that inferred by simply integrating extra dimensions out. Based on the result, a general formula for effective Newton's constant is conjectured and its application to cosmology with …
We give necessary conditions for the existence of perturbative heterotic and common sector type II string warped compactifications preserving four and eight supersymmetries to four spacetime dimensions, respectively. In particular, we find that the only compactifications of heterotic string with the spin connection embedded in the gauge connection and type II strings are those on Calabi-Yau manifolds with constant dilaton. We obtain similar results for compactifications to six and to two dimensions.
The recent PAMELA and ATIC/Fermi/HESS experiments have observed an excess of electrons and positrons, but not anti-protons, in the high energy cosmic rays. To explain this result, we construct a decaying hidden dark matter model in string theory compactification that incorporates the following two ingredients, the hidden dark matter scenario in warped compactification and the phenomenological proposal of hidden light particles that decay to the Standard Model. In this model, on higher dimensional warped branes, various warped Kaluza-Klein particles and the zero-mode of gauge field play roles o…
We derive four-dimensional effective theories for warped compactification of the ten-dimensional IIB supergravity. We show that these effective theories allow a much wider class of solutions than the original higher-dimensional theories. This result indicates that the effective four-dimensional theories should be used with caution, if one regards the higher-dimensional theories more fundamental.
We show that the conifold and deformed-conifold warped compactifications of the ten-dimensional type IIB supergravity, including the Klebanov-Strassler solution, are dynamically unstable in the moduli sector representing the scale of a Calabi-Yau space, although it can be practically stable for a quite long time in a region with a large warp factor. This instability is associated with complete supersymmetry breaking except for a special case and produces significant time-dependence in the structure of the four-dimensional base spacetime as well as of the internal space.
It is pointed out that in the warped string compactification, motion of anti-D-branes near the bottom of a throat behaves like dark matter. Several scenarios for production of the dark matter are suggested, including one based on the D/anti-D interaction at the late stage of D/anti-D inflation.
In a variant of the Randall-Sundrum braneworld model which has a charged black hole in an anti-de Sitter bulk, the 4D speed of gravity depends upon one's location in the bulk, and in general differs from the speed of light on a given 3-brane. We apply phenomenological constraints on the difference in the speeds of light and gravity to models which use the warping to solve the hierarchy problem. In particular, consideration of the gravi-Cerenkov radiation of Kaluza-Klein gravitons by ultra-high energy cosmic rays leads to a stringent limit on the fractional difference between the graviton and p…
We consider warped compactifications that solve the 10 dimensional supergravity equations of motion at a point, stabilize the position of a D3-brane world, and admit a warp factor that violates Lorentz invariance along the brane. This gives a string embedding of ``asymmetrically warped'' models which we use to calculate stringy (α') corrections to standard model dispersion relations, paying attention to the maximum speeds for different particles. We find, from the dispersion relations, limits on gravitational Lorentz violation in these models, improving on current limits on the speed of gravit…
We show the dynamical stability of a six-dimensional braneworld solution with warped flux compactification recently found by the authors. We consider linear perturbations around this background spacetime, assuming the axisymmetry in the extra dimensions. The perturbations are expanded by scalar-, vector- and tensor-type harmonics of the four-dimensional Minkoswki spacetime and we analyze each type separately. It is found that there is no unstable mode in each sector and that there are zero modes only in the tensor sector, corresponding to the four-dimensional gravitons. We also obtain the firs…
We derive four-dimensional effective theories for warped compactification of the ten-dimensional IIB supergravity and the eleven-dimensional Horava-Witten model. We show that these effective theories allow a much wider class of solutions than the original higher-dimensional theories. In particular, the effective theories have cosmological solutions in which the size of the internal space decreases with the cosmic expansion in the Einstein frame. This type of compactifying solutions are not allowed in the original higher-dimensional theories. This result indicates that the effective four-dimens…
We examine the possibility of the extra dimensional radius stabilization with only the gravity multiplet in the bulk and some couplings at orbifold fixed points in a supersymmetric Randall-Sundrum model. Unfortunately, we find that the radius cannot be stabilized in all the cases we consider. Depending on parameters in the model, the fifth dimension collapses or its radius goes to infinity. While the former case is theoretically disastrous, the latter implies that the so-called ``RS II'' model is automatically realized in our setup. Although the radius is not stabilized, there is nothing wrong…
Warped compactifications of type IIB string theory contain natural dark matter candidates: Kaluza-Klein modes along approximate isometry directions of long warped throats. These isometries are broken by the full compactification, including moduli stabilization; we present a thorough survey of Kaluza-Klein mode decay rates into light supergravity modes and Standard Model particles. We find that these dark matter candidates typically have lifetimes longer than the age of the universe. Interestingly, some choices for embedding the Standard Model in the compactification lead to decay rates large e…
We construct the effective theory of the universal Kaehler modulus in warped compactifications using the Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity. The spacetime dependent 10d solution is constructed at the linear level for both the volume modulus and its axionic partner, and nontrivial cancellations of warping effects are found in the dimensional reduction. Our main result is that the Kaehler potential is not corrected by warping, up to an overall shift in the background value of the volume modulus. We extend the analysis beyond the linearized approximation by computing the fully backreac…
We continue our study of codimension two solutions of warped space-time varying compactifications of string theory. In this letter we discuss a non-supersymmetric solution of the classical type IIB string theory with de Sitter gravity on a codimension two uncompactified part of spacetime. A non-zero positive value of the cosmological constant is induced by the presence of non-trivial stringy moduli, such as the axion-dilaton system for the type IIB string theory. Furthermore, the naked singularity of the codimension two solution is resolved by the presence of a small but non-zero cosmological …
The moduli space of N=1 type II warped compactions to flat space with generic internal fluxes is studied. Using the underlying integrable generalized complex structure that characterizes these vacua, the different deformations are classified by H-twisted generalized cohomologies and identified with chiral and linear multiplets of the effective four-dimensional theory. The Kaehler potential for chiral fields corresponding to classically flat moduli is discussed. As an application of the general results, type IIB warped Calabi-Yau compactifications and other SU(3)-structure subcases are consider…
Orientifolds with three-form flux provide some of the simplest string examples of warped compactification. In this paper we show that some models of this type have the unusual feature of D=4, N=3 spacetime supersymmetry. We discuss their construction and low energy physics. Although the local form of the moduli space is fully determined by supersymmetry, to find its global form requires a careful study of the BPS spectrum.
Warped string compactifications, characterized by non-singular behavior of the metric in the infrared (IR), feature departures from the usual anti-de Sitter warped extra dimensions. We study the implications of the smooth IR cutoff for Randall-Sundrum (RS) type models. We find that the phenomenology of the KK gravitons (including their masses and couplings) depends sensitively on the precise shape of the warp factor in the IR. In particular, we analyze the warped deformed conifold and find that the spectrum differs significantly from that of RS, and present a simple prescription (a mass gap an…
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 scales, such as thresholds for Kaluza-Klein, excited string, and black hole production, are generically determined soley by the spacetime geometry. Dynamical scales, notably the scale of supersymmetry breaking and moduli masses, depend on other details of the model. We illustrate these relationships in a class of solutions of type IIB string theory with imagin…
We present a systematic way to derive the four-dimensional effective theories for warped compactifications with fluxes and branes in the ten-dimensional type IIB supergravity. The ten-dimensional equations of motion are solved using the gradient expansion method and the effective four-dimensional equations of motions are derived by imposing the consistency condition that the total derivative terms with respect to the six-dimensional internal coordinates vanish when integrated over the internal manifold. By solving the effective four-dimensional equations, we can find the gravitational backreac…
We present new exact solutions of the warped spherical compactifications in the higher-dimensional gravitational theory coupled to scalar and several form field strengths. We find two classes of solutions. One has a de Sitter spacetime with a static warp factor. The other gives an accelerating universe in the non-Einstein conformal frame with a time-dependent warp factor.
We find a cosmological solution corresponding to compactification of 10d supergravity on a warped conifold that easily circumvents `no-go' theorem given for a warped/flux compactification, providing new perspectives for the study of supergravity or superstring theory in cosmological backgrounds. With fixed volume moduli of the internal space, the model can explain a physical universe undergoing an accelerated expansion in the 4d Einstein frame, for a sufficiently long time. The solution found in the limit that the warp factor dependent on the radial coordinate $y$ is extremized (giving a const…
In the framework of heterotic M-theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold 'times' an interval, the relation between geometry and four-flux is derived {\it beyond first order}. Besides the case with general flux which cannot be described by a warped geometry one is naturally led to consider two special types of four-flux in detail. One choice shows how the M-theory relation between warped geometry and flux reproduces the analogous one of the weakly coupled heterotic string with torsion. The other one leads to a {\it quadratic} dependence of the Calabi-Yau volume with respect to the orbifold…
The dynamics of warped/flux compactifications is studied, including warping effects, providing a firmer footing for investigation of the "landscape." We present a general formula for the four-dimensional potential of warped compactifications in terms of ten-dimensional quantities. This allows a systematic investigation of moduli-fixing effects and potentials for mobile branes. We provide a necessary criterion, "slope-dominance," for evading "no-go" results for de Sitter vacua. We outline the ten-dimensional derivation of the non-perturbative effects that should accomplish this in KKLT examples…
We present new solutions of warped compactifications in the higher-dimensional gravity coupled to the scalar and the form field strengths. These solutions are constructed in the D-dimensional spacetime with matter fields, with the internal space that has a finite volume. Our solutions give explicit examples where the cosmological constant or 0-form field strength leads to a de Sitter spacetime in arbitrary dimensions.
It has been suggested that the observed value of the cosmological constant is related to the supersymmetry breaking scale M_{susy} through the formula Lambda \sim M_p^4 (M_{susy}/M_p)^8. We point out that a similar relation naturally arises in the codimension two solutions of warped space-time varying compactifications of string theory in which non-isotropic stringy moduli induce a small but positive cosmological constant.
We explore in detail the prospects of obtaining a four-dimensional de Sitter universe in classical supergravity models with warped and time-independent extra dimensions, presenting explicit cosmological solutions of the $(4+n)$-dimensional Einstein equations with and without a bulk cosmological constant term. For the first time in the literature we show that there may exist a large class of warped supergravity models with a noncompact extra dimension which lead to a finite 4D Newton constant as well as a massless 4D graviton localised on an inflating four-dimensional FLRW universe. This result…
A generic prediction of scenarios with extra dimensions accessible in TeV-scale collisions is the existence of Kaluza-Klein excitations of the graviton. For a broad class of strongly-warped scenarios one expects to initially find an isolated resonance, whose phenomenology in the simplest cases is described by a simplified model with two parameters, its mass, and a constant $Λ$ with units of mass parameterizing its coupling to the Standard Model stress tensor. These parameters are in turn determined by the geometrical configuration of the warped compactification. We explore the possibility that…
We present a possible explanation for the smallness of the observed cosmological constant using a variant of the Randall-Sundrum(RS)- Goldberger-Wise paradigm for a warped extra dimension. In contrast to RS, we imagine that we are living on the positive tension Planck brane, or on a zero-tension TeV brane. In our model there are two solutions for the scalar field in the bulk and the corresponding brane separations, one of which is tuned to have zero cosmological constant. We show that in the other solution, which is a false vacuum state, the 4-D cosmological constant can be naturally small, du…
We investigate aspects of the four-dimensional effective description of brane world scenarios based on warped compactification on anti-de Sitter space. The low-energy dynamics is described by visible matter gravitationally coupled to a ``dark'' conformal field theory. We give the linearized description of the 4d stress tensor corresponding to an arbitrary 5d matter distribution. In particular a 5d falling particle corresponds to a 4d expanding shell, giving a 4d interpretation of a trajectory that misses a black hole only by moving in the fifth dimension. Breakdown of the effective description…
We consider Freund-Rubin-type compactifications which are described by (p+q)-dimensional Einstein gravity with a positive cosmological constant and a q-form flux. Using perturbative expansions of Kinoshita's ansatz for warped dS_pxS^q and AdS_pxS^q spacetimes, we obtain analytical solutions describing the warped branches and their respective phase spaces. These equations are given by inhomogeneous Gegenbauer differential equations which can be solved by the Green's function method. The requirement that the Green's functions are regular provides constraints which determine the structure of the …
We show that the warped de Sitter compactifications are possible under certain conditions in D-dimensional gravitational theory coupled to a dilaton, a form field strength, and a cosmological constant. We find that the solutions of field equations give de Sitter spacetime with the warped structure, and discuss cosmological models directly obtained from these solutions. We also construct a cosmological model in the lower-dimensional effective theory. If there is a field strength having non-vanishing components along the internal space, the moduli can be fixed at the minimum of the effective pot…
We study the cosmology induced on a brane probing a warped throat region in a Calabi-Yau compactification of type IIB string theory. For the case of a BPS D3-brane probing the Klebanov-Strassler warped deformed conifold, the cosmology described by a suitable brane observer is a bouncing, spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with time-varying Newton's constant, which passes smoothly from a contracting to an expanding phase. In the Klebanov-Tseytlin approximation to the Klebanov-Strassler solution the cosmology would end with a big crunch singularity. In this sense, the warped defo…
We show that brane induced gravity can be realized as a low energy effective theory of brane worlds with asymmetric warped compactification. A self-accelerating universe without cosmological constant on the brane can be realized in a model where one side of the bulk has finite volume, but the other side has infinite volume. The spin-2 perturbations for brane induced gravity and asymmetric warped compactification models have the same spectrum at low energies. For a de Sitter brane, the spin-2 graviton has mass in the range $0<m^2 \leq 2H^2$, with $m^2=2H^2$ in the self-accelerating universe.
In computing potentials for moduli in for instance type IIB string theory in the presence of fluxes and branes a factorisable ansatz for the ten dimensional metric is usually made. We investigate the validity of this ansatz by examining the cosmology of a brane world in a five dimensional bulk and find that it contradicts the results obtained by using a factorizable ansatz. We explicitly identify the problem with the latter in the IIB case. These arguments support our previous work on this question.
At the leading order, M-theory admits minimal supersymmetric compactifications if the internal manifold has exceptional holonomy. Once we take into account higher order quantum correction terms in the low energy effective action, the supergravity vacua have to be deformed away from the exceptional holonomy if we want to preserve the supersymmetry of the solution. In this paper we discuss the Spin(7) holonomy case. We derive a perturbative set of solutions which emerges from a warped compactification with non-vanishing flux for the M-theory field strength and we identify the supersymmetric vacu…
We develop formalism for computing the kinetic terms of 4d fields in string compactifications, particularly with warping. With the help of the Hamiltonian approach, we identify a gauge dependent inner product on the compactification manifold which depends on the warp factor. It is shown that kinetic terms are associated to the minimum value of the inner product over each gauge orbit. We work out the kinetic term for the complex modulus of a deformed conifold with flux, i.e. the Klebanov-Strassler solution embedded in a compact Calabi-Yau manifold. Earlier results of a power-like divergence are…
We study the massive spectrum of fully wrapped branes in warped M-theory compactifications, including regimes where these states are parametrically lighter than the Planck scale or string scale. We show that many such states behave classically as extended objects in the noncompact directions in the sense that their mass grows with their size as measured along the Poincare slices making up the noncompact dimensions. On the other hand these states can be quantized in a nontrivial regime: in particular their spectrum of excitations in a limited regime can be obtained by a warped Kaluza-Klein redu…
The standard extremal p-brane solutions in supergravity are known to allow for a generalisation which consists of adding a linear dependence on the world-volume coordinates to the usual harmonic function. In this note we demonstrate that remarkably this generalisation goes through in exactly the same way for p-branes with fluxes added to it that correspond to fractional p-branes. We relate this to warped orientifold compactifications by trading the Dp-branes for Op-planes that solve the RR tadpole condition. This allows us to interpret the worldvolume dependence as due to lower-dimensional sca…
We study gravitational waves propagating on a warped Minkowski space-time with D-4 compact extra dimensions. While Kaluza-Klein scales are typically too high for any current detection, we analyse how the warp factor changes the Kaluza-Klein spectrum of gravitational waves. To that end we provide a complete and explicit expression for the warp factor, as well as the Green's function, on a d-dimensional torus. This expression differs from that of braneworld models and should find further uses in string compactifications. We then evaluate the Kaluza-Klein spectrum of gravitational waves. Our prel…
In this talk we discuss two classes of examples of warped products of AdS spaces in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The first class of examples appears in the construction of dual Type I' string descriptions to five dimensional supersymmetric fixed points with E_{N_f+1} global symmetry. The background is obtained as the near horizon geometry of the D4-D8 brane system in massive Type IIA supergravity. The second class of examples appears when considering the N=2 superconformal theories defined on a 3+1 dimensional hyperplane intersection of two sets of M5 branes. We use the dual stri…
We discuss a possible compactification of a higher-dimensional gravitational theory, which give rise to a de Sitter or an accelerating universe, to the extent that it can describe a low energy limit of string theory. Such analysis can be carried out by the usual integration over the internal space in the Einstein equations. The combined field equations in the higher-dimensional supergravity theory after integration give several new terms which may help to realize a de Sitter compactification. After developing the general framework, we describe some specific examples involving the dilaton and m…
We construct spacetime supersymmetric, modular invariant partition functions of strings on the conifold-type singularities which include contributions from the discrete-series representations of SL(2, R). The discrete spectrum is automatically consistent with the GSO projection in the continuous sector, and contains massless matter fields localized on a four-dimensional submanifold at the tip of a cigar. In particular, they are in the 27+1 of E6 for the E8 x E8 heterotic string. We speculate about a possible realization of local E6 GUT by using this framework.
We report on explicit cosmological solutions within the framework of an inflating de Sitter brane embedded in five- and ten-dimensional bulk spacetimes. In the specific example we study the brane tension is induced by the curvature related to the expansion of a physical 3+1 spacetime rather than by a bulk cosmological term. In a generic situation with nonzero brane tension, the expansion of the universe accelerates eventually. We also show that inflationary cosmology is possible for a wide class of metrics without violating four- and higher-dimensional null energy condition.
In these lectures, two different aspects of brane world scenarios in 5d gravity or string theory are discussed. In the first two lectures, work on how warped compactifications of 5d gravity theories can change the guise of the hierarchy problem and the cosmological constant problem is reviewed, and a discussion of several issues which remain unclear in this context is provided. In the next two lectures, microscopic constructions in string theory which involve D-branes wrapped on cycles of Calabi-Yau manifolds are described. The focus is on computing the superpotential in the brane worldvolume …
