Possible Origin of Fermion Chirality and Gut Structure From Extra Dimensions

The fundamental chiral nature of the observed quarks and leptons and the emergence of the gauge group itself are most puzzling aspects of the standard model. Starting from general considerations of topological properties of gauge field configurations in higher space-time dimensions, it is shown that the existence of non-trivial structures in ten dimensions would determine a class of models corresponding to a grand unified GUT structure with complex fermion representations with respect to $SU(3)_C \otimes SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_Y$. The discussion is carried out within the framework of string theories with characteristic energy scales below the Planck mass. Avoidance of topological obstructions upon continuous deformation of field configurations leads to global chiral symmetry breaking of the underlying fundamental theory, imposes rigorous restrictions on the structure of the vacuum and space-time itself and determines uniquely the gauge structure and matter content.Comment: final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

The Status of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and Beyond

The minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) is reviewed. In the most general framework with minimal field content and R-parity conservation, the MSSM is a 124-parameter model (henceforth called MSSM-124). An acceptable phenomenology occurs only at exceptional points (and small perturbations around these points) of MSSM-124 parameter space. Among the topics addressed in this review are: gauge coupling unification, precision electroweak data, phenomenology of the MSSM Higgs sector, and supersymmetry searches at present and future colliders. The implications of approaches beyond the MSSM are briefly addressed.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, with espcrc2.sty style file, to appear in the Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Supersymmetries in Physics (SUSY 97

Small symplectic Calabi-Yau surfaces and exotic 4-manifolds via genus-3 pencils

We explicitly produce symplectic genus-3 Lefschetz pencils (with base points), whose total spaces are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to rational surfaces CP^2 # p (-CP^2) for p= 7, 8, 9. We then give a new construction of an infinite family of symplectic Calabi-Yau surfaces with first Betti number b_1=2,3, along with a surface with b_1=4 homeomorphic to the 4-torus. These are presented as the total spaces of symplectic genus-3 Lefschetz pencils we construct via new positive factorizations in the mapping class group of a genus-3 surface. Our techniques in addition allow us to answer in the negative a question of Korkmaz regarding the upper bound on b_1 of a genus-g fibration.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures. Corrected several typo

Uniform Cyclic Group Factorizations of Finite Groups

In this paper, we introduce a kind of decomposition of a finite group called a uniform group factorization, as a generalization of exact factorizations of a finite group. A group $G$ is said to admit a uniform group factorization if there exist subgroups $H_1, H_2, \ldots, H_k$ such that $G = H_1 H_2 \cdots H_k$ and the number of ways to represent any element $g \in G$ as $g = h_1 h_2 \cdots h_k$ ($h_i \in H_i$) does not depend on the choice of $g$. Moreover, a uniform group factorization consisting of cyclic subgroups is called a uniform cyclic group factorization. First, we show that any finite solvable group admits a uniform cyclic group factorization. Second, we show that whether all finite groups admit uniform cyclic group factorizations or not is equivalent to whether all finite simple groups admit uniform group factorizations or not. Lastly, we give some concrete examples of such factorizations.Comment: 10 pages. To appear in Communications in Algebr

Computing images of Galois representations attached to elliptic curves

Let E be an elliptic curve without complex multiplication (CM) over a number field K, and let G_E(ell) be the image of the Galois representation induced by the action of the absolute Galois group of K on the ell-torsion subgroup of E. We present two probabilistic algorithms to simultaneously determine G_E(ell) up to local conjugacy for all primes ell by sampling images of Frobenius elements; one is of Las Vegas type and the other is a Monte Carlo algorithm. They determine G_E(ell) up to one of at most two isomorphic conjugacy classes of subgroups of GL_2(Z/ell Z) that have the same semisimplification, each of which occurs for an elliptic curve isogenous to E. Under the GRH, their running times are polynomial in the bit-size n of an integral Weierstrass equation for E, and for our Monte Carlo algorithm, quasi-linear in n. We have applied our algorithms to the non-CM elliptic curves in Cremona's tables and the Stein--Watkins database, some 140 million curves of conductor up to 10^10, thereby obtaining a conjecturally complete list of 63 exceptional Galois images G_E(ell) that arise for E/Q without CM. Under this conjecture we determine a complete list of 160 exceptional Galois images G_E(ell) the arise for non-CM elliptic curves over quadratic fields with rational j-invariants. We also give examples of exceptional Galois images that arise for non-CM elliptic curves over quadratic fields only when the j-invariant is irrational.Comment: minor edits, 47 pages, to appear in Forum of Mathematics, Sigm

Emergent symmetries in the canonical tensor model

The canonical tensor model (CTM) is a tensor model proposing a classically and quantum mechanically consistent model of gravity, formulated as a first-class constraint system with structural similarities to the ADM formalism of general relativity. A recent study on the formal continuum limit of the classical CTM has shown that it produces a general relativistic system. This formal continuum limit assumes the emergence of a continuous space, but ultimately continuous spaces should be obtained as preferred configurations of the quantum CTM. In this paper we study the symmetry properties of a wave function which exactly solves the quantum constraints of the CTM for general $N$. We have found that it has strong peaks at configurations invariant under some Lie-groups, as predicted by a mechanism described in our previous paper. A surprising result was the preference of configurations invariant not only under Lie-groups with positive signatures, but also with spacetime-like signatures, i.e., $SO(1,n)$. Such symmetries could characterize the global structures of spacetimes, and our results are encouraging towards showing spacetime emergence in the CTM. To verify the asymptotic convergence of the wave function we have also analyzed the asymptotic behaviour, which for the most part seems to be well under control.Comment: 40 pages, 9 figures; Typos corrected. Minor changes. A reference adde

Low-Energy Supersymmetry and its Phenomenology

The structure of low-energy supersymmetric models of fundamental particles and interactions is reviewed, with an emphasis on the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) and some of its variants. Various approaches to the supersymmetry-breaking mechanism are considered. The implications for the phenomenology of Higgs bosons and supersymmetric particles at future colliders are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX with espcrc2.sty, invited talk at the "30 Years of Supersymmetry" Symposium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 13--15 October 200

Precision Unification and Proton Decay in F-Theory GUTs with High Scale Supersymmetry

F-theory GUTs provide a promising UV completion for models with approximate gauge coupling unification, such as the (non-supersymmetric) Standard Model. More specifically, if the superparters have masses well above the TeV scale, the resulting imperfection in unification can be accounted for by the, in principle calculable, classical F-theory correction at the high scale. In this paper we argue for the correct form of the F-theory corrections to unification, including KK mode loop effects. However, the price of compensating the imprecise unification in such High Scale SUSY models with F-theory corrections is that the GUT scale is lowered, potentially leading to a dangerously high proton decay rate from dimension-6 operators. We analyse the possibility of suppressing the decay rate by the localization of $X,Y$ gauge bosons in higher dimensions. While this effect can be very strong for the zero modes, we find that in the simplest models of this type it is difficult to realize a significant suppression for higher modes (Landau levels). Notably, in the absence of substantial suppressions to the proton decay rate, the superpartners must be lighter than 100 TeV to satisfy proton decay constraints. We highlight that multiple correlated signals of proton decay could verify this scenario.Comment: 44 pages. v2: References adde