MSSM-like string models from the compactification of the heterotic string on toroidal orbifolds (of the kind $T^6/P$) have distinct phenomenological properties, like the spectrum of vector-like exotics, the scale of supersymmetry breaking, and the existence of non-Abelian flavor symmetries. We show that these characteristics depend crucially on the choice of the underlying orbifold point group $P$. In detail, we use boosted decision trees to predict $P$ from phenomenological properties of MSSM-like orbifold models. As this works astonishingly well, we can utilize machine learning to predict the orbifold origin of the MSSM.
We extend the promising heterotic string searches for MSSM-like models to Z_8 orbifolds. There exist five inequivalent Z_8 toroidal orbifolds distinguished by two types of twists that act on five different torus lattices; one of which cannot be represented as a Lie-algebra root lattice. Contrary to previous investigations, we study the consequences of the different underlying orbifold torus lattices. Therefore, rather than focussing on one particular geometry, we perform systematic model searches on these five Z_8 orbifolds simultaneously, taking all possible inequivalent SU(5) and SO(10) gaug…
In a $Z_{12-I}$ orbifold compactification through an intermediate flipped SU(5), the string MSSM (${\cal S}$MSSM) spectra (three families, one pair of Higgs doublets, and neutral singlets) are obtained with the Yukawa coupling structure. The GUT $\sin^2θ_W^0=\frac38$, even with exotics in the twisted sector, can be run to the observed electroweak scale value by mass parameters of vectorlike exotics near the GUT scale. We also obtain R-parity and doublet-triplet splitting.
Discovering a selection principle and the origin of flavor symmetries from an ultraviolet completion of particle physics is an interesting open task. As a step in this direction, we classify all possible flavor symmetries of 4D massless spectra emerging from supersymmetric Abelian orbifold compactifications, including roto-translations and non-factorizable compact spaces, for generic moduli values. Although these symmetries are valid in all string theories, we focus on the E8 x E8 heterotic string. We perform the widest known search of E8 x E8 Abelian orbifold compactifications, yielding over …
We study the problem of moduli stabilisation in explicit heterotic orbifold compactifications, whose spectra contain the MSSM plus some vector-like exotics that can be decoupled. Considering all the bulk moduli, we obtain the 4D low energy effective action for the compactification, which has contributions from various, computable, perturbative and non-perturbative effects. Hidden sector gaugino condensation and string worldsheet instantons result in a combination of racetrack, KKLT and cusp-form contributions to the superpotential, which lift all the bulk moduli directions. We point out the pr…
Compactification of the heterotic string on toroidal orbifolds is a promising set-up for the construction of realistic unified models of particle physics. The target space dynamics of such models, however, drives them slightly away from the orbifold point in moduli space. This resolves curvature singularities, but makes the string computations very difficult. On these smooth manifolds we have to rely on an effective supergravity approximation in the large volume limit. By comparing an orbifold example with its blow-up version, we try to transfer the computational power of the orbifold to the s…
We apply techniques from data mining to the heterotic orbifold landscape in order to identify new MSSM-like string models. To do so, so-called contrast patterns are uncovered that help to distinguish between areas in the landscape that contain MSSM-like models and the rest of the landscape. First, we develop these patterns in the well-known $\mathbb{Z}_6$-II orbifold geometry and then we generalize them to all other $\mathbb{Z}_N$ orbifold geometries. Our contrast patterns have a clear physical interpretation and are easy to check for a given string model. Hence, they can be used to scale down…
We complete our search for MSSM vacua in the Z_6-II heterotic orbifold by including models with 3 Wilson lines. We estimate the total number of inequivalent models in this orbifold to be 10^7. Out of these, we find almost 300 models with the exact MSSM spectrum, gauge coupling unification and a heavy top quark. Models with these features originate predominantly from local GUTs. The scale of gaugino condensation in the hidden sector is correlated with properties of the observable sector such that soft masses in the TeV range are preferred.
Heterotic orbifolds provide promising constructions of MSSM-like models in string theory. We investigate the connection of such orbifold models with smooth Calabi-Yau compactifications by examining resolutions of the T^6/Z6-II orbifold (which are far from unique) with Abelian gauge fluxes. These gauge backgrounds are topologically characterized by weight vectors of twisted states; one per fixed point or fixed line. The VEV's of these states generate the blowup from the orbifold perspective, and they reappear as axions on the blowup. We explain methods to solve the 24 resolution dependent Bianc…
We explore a ``fertile patch'' of the heterotic landscape based on a Z_6-II orbifold with SO(10) and E_6 local GUT structures. We search for models allowing for the exact MSSM spectrum. Our result is that of order 100 out of a total 3\times 10^4 inequivalent models satisfy this requirement.
We investigate supersymmetric SU(5) grand-unified theories (GUTs) realized in 5 space-time dimensions and broken down to the MSSM by SU(5)-violating boundary conditions on a S^1/(Z_2 x Z_2') orbifold with two 3-branes. The doublet-triplet splitting problem is entirely avoided by locating the MSSM Higgs doublets on the brane on which SU(5) is not a good symmetry. An extremely simple model is then described in which the MSSM matter is also located on this SU(5)-violating brane. Although this model does not unify the MSSM matter within SU(5) multiplets, it explains gauge coupling unification. A s…
We construct an MSSM with three generations from the heterotic string compactified on a smooth 6D internal manifold using Abelian gauge fluxes only. The compactification space is obtained as a resolution of the T6/Z2xZ2xZ2-free orbifold. The Z2-free involution of such a resolution breaks the SU(5) GUT group down to the SM gauge group using a suitably chosen (freely acting) Wilson line. Surprisingly, the spectrum on a given resolution is larger than the one on the corresponding orbifold taking into account the branching and Higgsing due to the blow-up modes. The existence of extra resolution st…
A compactification of the E_8 x E_8 heterotic string on a Z_2 x Z_2 orbifold equipped with an additional freely acting involution is presented. This model reproduces the exact chiral MSSM spectrum with matter parity and a non-trivial Yukawa structure. The key ingredient is a freely acting Wilson line associated to the involution, breaking SU(5) to SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1)_Y. This work is based on a talk given at the "9th Hellenic School and Workshop on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity" and reviews the results of a collaboration with M. Blaszczyk, S. Groot Nibbelink, M. Ratz, F. Ruehle and M…
An ansatz, Det. $M_{\tilde H}=0,$ for the Higgsino mass matrix in string orbifold trinification is suggested toward the minimal supersymmetric standard model(MSSM). Small instanton solutions effective around the GUT scale can fulfil this condition. An argument that the couplings contain a moduli field is given for a dynamical realization of this Higgsino mass matrix ansatz.
We discuss recent developments on the solution of the so-called supersymmetric mu-problem in the context of heterotic orbifolds. In particular, an approximate R symmetry can induce an admissible mu-term in Minkowski vacua of orbifold models with the MSSM spectrum. A natural solution to the mu-problem is also offered by explicit string-derived NMSSMs. These models help avoid the fine-tuning of the MSSM.
We investigate orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string, addressing in detail their construction, classification and phenomenological potential. We present a strategy to search for models resembling the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM) in Z_6-II orbifold compactifications. We find several MSSM candidates with the gauge group and the exact spectrum of the MSSM, and supersymmetric vacua below the compactification scale. They also exhibit the following realistic features: R-parity, seesaw suppressed neutrino masses, and intermediate scale of supersymmetry br…
We construct four dimensional three generation non-supersymmetric $SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$ intersecting D6-brane models with $ν_R$\rq{s}. At three stacks we find exactly the MSSM chiral fermion matter spectrum. At 4-, 5-stacks we find models with the massless fermion spectrum of the N=1 Standard Model and massive exotic non-chiral matter; these models flow also to only the SM. At 8-stacks we find MSSM-like models, with minimal massless exotics, made from two different N=1 sectors. Exotic triplet masses put a lower bound on the string scale of $2.79/2.89 \times 10^6$ GeV for a Hig…
Heterotic orbifold models are promising candidates for models with MSSM like spectra. But orbifolds only correspond to a special place in moduli space, the bigger picture is described by the moduli space of Calabi-Yau spaces. In this talk we will make explicit connections between both points of view. To this end we study blowups of orbifold singularities using both explicit constructions and toric geometry techniques. We show that matching of all orbifold models in blowups are possible.
We study the minimal supersymmetric standard model derived from the $Z_8$ orbifold models and its hidden sectors. We use a target-space duality anomaly cancellation so as to investigate hidden sectors consistent with the MSSM unification. For the allowed hidden sectors, we estimate the running gauge coupling constants making use of threshold corrections due to the higher massive modes. The calculation is important from the viewpoint of gaugino condensations, which is one of the most promissing mechanism to break the supersymmetry.
The compactification of the heterotic string on six-dimensional orbifolds is reviewed. Some important technical aspects of their construction are clarified and new parameters, called generalized discrete torsion, are introduced and related to the torsionless construction. Furthermore, a systematic search for MSSM-like models is performed in the context of Z6-II orbifolds, addressing questions like the identification of a supersymmetric vacuum with a naturally small mu-term and proton decay. Finally, the blow-up of Z3 singularities is discussed in the local and in the global case - also in the …
We study a minimal string model possessing the same massless spectra as the MSSM on $Z_N\times Z_M$ orbifolds. Threshold corrections of the gauge coupling constants of SU(3), SU(2) and U(1)$_Y$ are investigated in a case of an overall modulus. Using computer analyses, we search ranges of levels of U(1)$_Y$ allowed by the LEP experiments. It is found that $Z_3\times Z_3$ can not derive the minimal string model for a $M_Z$ SUSY breaking scale. The minimum values of the overall moduli are estimated within the ranges of the levels.
In this paper we discuss the issues of supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization within the context of E_8 x E_8 heterotic orbifold constructions and, in particular, we focus on the class of "mini-landscape" models. In the supersymmetric limit, these models admit an effective low energy field theory with a spectrum of states and dimensionless gauge and Yukawa couplings very much like that of the MSSM. These theories contain a non-Abelian hidden gauge sector which generates a non-perturbative superpotential leading to supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization. We demonstrate this ef…
General features of the spectra of matter states in all 175 models found in a previous work by the author are discussed. Only twenty patterns of representations are found to occur. Accomodation of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) spectrum is addressed. States beyond those contained in the MSSM and nonstandard hypercharge normalization are shown to be generic, though some models do allow for the usual hypercharge normalization found in SU(5) embeddings of the Standard Model gauge group. The minimum value of the hypercharge normalization consistent with accomodation of the MSSM i…
We study the possibility of constructing the NMSSM from the heterotic string. String derived NMSSMs are much more rare than MSSMs due to the extra requirement that there exist a light singlet which couples to the Higgs pairs. They share the common feature that the singlet self-interactions are typically suppressed, leading to either the "decoupling" or the Peccei-Quinn limit of the NMSSM. In the latter case, the spectrum contains a light pseudoscalar which may be relevant to the MSSM fine-tuning problem. We provide a Z_6 heterotic orbifold example of the NMSSM with approximate Peccei-Quinn sym…
We present a Z_2 x Z_2 orbifold compactification of the E_8 x E_8 heterotic string which gives rise to the exact chiral MSSM spectrum. The GUT breaking SU(5) to SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y is realized by modding out a freely acting symmetry. This ensures precision gauge coupling unification. Further, it allows us to break the GUT group without switching on flux in hypercharge direction, such that the standard model gauge bosons can remain massless when the orbifold singularities are blown up. The model has vacuum configurations with matter parity, a large top Yukawa coupling and other phenomeno…
We calculate the weak scale MSSM spectrum starting from a heterotic string theory compactified on an anisotropic orbifold. Supersymmetry breaking is mediated by vector-like exotics that arise naturally in heterotic string theories. The messengers that mediate SUSY breaking come in incomplete GUT multiplets and give rise to non-universal gaugino masses at the GUT scale. Models with non-universal gaugino masses at the GUT scale have the attractive feature of allowing for precision gauge coupling unification at the GUT scale with negligible contributions from threshold corrections near the unific…
We provide a complete classification and statistical analysis of all type IIA orientifold compactifications with intersecting D6-branes on the orbifold T^6/Z'_6. The total number of four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric models is found to be O(10^23). After a statistical analysis of the gauge sector properties of all possible solutions, we study three subsets of configurations which contain the chiral matter sector of the standard model, a Pati-Salam or SU(5) GUT model, respectively. We find O(10^15) compactifications with an MSSM and O(10^11) models with a Pati-Salam sector. Along the way we de…
We examine whether a minimal string model possessing the same massless spectra as the MSSM can be obtained from $Z_4$, $Z_6$ and $Z_8$ orbifold constructions. Using an anomaly cancellation condition of the target space duality symmetry, we derive allowable values of a level $k_1$ of U(1)$_Y$ for the minimal string model on the orbifolds through computer analyses. We investigate threshold corrections of the gauge coupling constants of SU(3), SU(2) and U(1)$_Y$ and examine consistencies of the model with the LEP experiments. It is found that $Z_4$ and $Z_8$-II can not derive the minimal string m…
It is well-known that heterotic string compactifications have, in spite of their conceptual simplicity and aesthetic appeal, a serious problem with precision gauge coupling unification in the perturbative regime of string theory. Using both a duality-based and a field-theoretic definition of the boundary of the perturbative regime, we reevaluate the situation in a quantitative manner. We conclude that the simplest and most promising situations are those where some of the compactification radii are exceptionally large, corresponding to highly anisotropic orbifold models. Thus, one is led to con…
As a further elaboration of the proposal of Ref. [1] we address the construction of Standard-like models from configurations of stacks of orientifold planes and D-branes on an internal space with the structure ${(Gepner model)^{c=6} \times T^2}/Z_N$. As a first step, the construction of D=6 Type II B orientifolds on Gepner points, in the diagonal invariant case and for both, odd and even, affine levels is discussed. We build up the explicit expressions for B-type boundary states and crosscaps and obtain the amplitudes among them. From such amplitudes we read the corresponding spectra and the t…
The low energy effective action of string theory depends strongly on the process of compactification and the localization of fields in extra dimensions. Explicit string constructions towards the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) reveal interesting results leading to the concept of local grand unification. Properties of the MSSM indicate that we might live at a special location close to an orbifold fixed point rather than a generic point in Calabi-Yau moduli space. We observe an enhancement of (discrete) symmetries that have various implications for the properties of the MSSM such as…
We show that attempts to construct the standard model, or the MSSM, by placing D3-branes and D7-branes at a Z_N orbifold or orientifold singularity all require that the electroweak Higgs content is non-minimal. For the orbifold the lower bound on the number n(H) + n({\bar{H}}) of electroweak Higgs doublets is the number n(q^c_L)=6 of quark singlets, and for the orientifold the lower bound can be one less. As a consequence there is a generic flavour changing neutral current problem in such models.
In a recent $\Z_{12-I}$ orbifold model, an approximate $Z_2$ symmetry which forbids the baryon number violating operators up to sufficiently high orders is found. The dimension-4 $ΔB\ne 0$ operators of the MSSM fields occur at dimension 10. The effective dimension-5 $ΔB\ne 0$ operators derived from these are harmless if some VEVs of neutral singlets are O(1/10) times the string scale. The main reason for forbidding these $ΔB\ne 0$ operators up to such a high order is the large order N=12 of $\Z_N$ since the $H$-momentum rule is $(-1,1,1)$ mod (12, 3, 12). For a lower order $N<12$, the $ΔB\ne 0…
The location of matter fields and the pattern of gauge symmetry in extra dimensions are crucial ingredients for string model building. We analyze realistic MSSM models from the heterotic Z6 Mini-Landscape and extract those properties that are vital for their success. We find that Higgs bosons and the top quark are not localized in extra dimensions and live in the full D=10 dimensional space-time. The first two families of quarks and leptons, however, live at specific fixed points in extra dimensional space and exhibit a (discrete) family symmetry. Within a newly constructed Z2XZ4 orbifold fram…
I discuss several issues concerning the use of string models as unified theories of all interactions. After a short review of gauge coupling unification in the string context, I discuss possible motivations for the construction of $SU(5)$ and $SO(10)$ String-GUTs. I describe the construction of such String-GUTs using different orbifold techniques and emphasize those properties which could be general. Although $SO(10)$ and $SU(5)$ String-GUTs are relatively easy to build, the spectrum bellow the GUT scale is in general bigger than that of the MSSM and includes colour octets and $SU(2)$ triplets…
This thesis contains an introductory chapter on orbifolds. The following chapter explains the foundations of orientifolds. Chapters 4-7 present own research. In chapter 4 we quantize open strings with linear boundary conditions, as they show up in electro-magnetic fields. We quantize the zero-modes for toroidal compactifications, too. As an application we calculate the commutator of the coordinate fields in the case of general constant Neveu-Schwarz U(1)-field strengths. Thereby we confirm previous results on non-commutativity of open string theories in Neveu-Schwarz backgrounds. Chapter 5 rev…
String consistency conditions are stronger than anomaly cancellation and can require the addition of exotics in the visible sector. We study such exotics and demonstrate that they may account for the modest excess at $750$ GeV in recent diphoton resonance searches performed by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations. In a previous analysis of type II MSSM D-brane quivers we systematically added up to five exotics for the sake of satisfying string consistency conditions. Using this dataset, we demonstrate that 89780 of the 89964 quivers have exotics, 78155 of which include singlets that may couple to …
We present a local computation of deformations of the tangent bundle for a resolved orbifold singularity C^d/G. These correspond to (0,2)-deformations of (2,2)-theories. A McKay-like correspondence is found predicting the dimension of the space of first-order deformations from simple calculations involving the group. This is confirmed in two dimensions using the Kronheimer-Nakajima quiver construction. In higher dimensions such a computation is subject to nontrivial worldsheet instanton corrections and some examples are given where this happens. However, we conjecture that the special crepant …
We find successful models of D-brane/anti-brane inflation within a string context. We work within the GKP-KKLT class of type IIB string vacua for which many moduli are stabilized through fluxes, as recently modified to include `realistic' orbifold sectors containing standard-model type particles. We allow all moduli to roll when searching for inflationary solutions and find that inflation is not generic inasmuch as special choices must be made for the parameters describing the vacuum. But given these choices inflation can occur for a reasonably wide range of initial conditions for the brane an…
