F-GUTs with Mordell-Weil U(1)'s

In this note we study the constraints on F-theory GUTs with extra $U(1)$'s in the context of elliptic fibrations with rational sections. We consider the simplest case of one abelian factor (Mordell-Weil rank one) and investigate the conditions that are induced on the coefficients of its Tate form. Converting the equation representing the generic hypersurface $P_{112}$ to this Tate's form we find that the presence of a U(1), already in this local description, is consistent with the exceptional ${\cal E}_6$ and ${\cal E}_7$ non-abelian singularities. We briefly comment on a viable ${\cal E}_6\times U(1)$ effective F-theory model.Comment: 13 page

Neutrino mass textures from F-theory

Experimental data on the neutrino mixing and masses strongly suggest an underlying approximate symmetry of the relevant Yukawa superpotential terms. Intensive phenomenological explorations during the last decade indicate that permutation symmetries such as S_4, A_4 and their subgroups, under certain assumptions and vacuum alignments, predict neutrino mass textures compatible with such data. Motivated by these findings, in the present work we analyse the neutrino properties in F-theory GUT models derived in the framework of the maximal underlying E_8 symmetry in the elliptic fibration. More specifically, we consider local F-SU(5) GUT models and study in detail spectral cover geometries with monodromies associated to the finite symmetries S_4, A_4 and their transitive subgroups, including the dihedral group D_4 and Z_2 X Z_2. We discuss various issues that emerge in the implementation of S_4, A_4 neutrino models in the F-theory context and suggest how these can be resolved. Realistic models are presented for the case of monodromies based on their transitive subgroups. We exemplify this procedure with a detailed analysis performed for the case of Z_2 X Z_2 model.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figures, revised versio

Scherk-Schwarz Supersymmetry Breaking with Radion Stabilization

We study the issue of radion stabilization within five-dimensional supersymmetric theories compactified on the orbifold S^1/Z_2. We break supersymmetry by the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism and explain its implementation in the off-shell formulation of five dimensional supergravity in terms of the tensor and linear compensator multiplets. We show that radion stabilization may be achieved by radiative corrections in the presence of five-dimensional fields which are quasi-localized on the boundaries through the presence of Z_2 odd mass terms. For the mechanism to work the number of quasi-localized fields should be greater than 2+N_V-N_h where N_V and N_h are the number of massless gauge- and hypermultiplets in the bulk. The radion is stabilized in a metastable Minkowski vacuum with a lifetime much larger than cosmological time-scales. The radion mass is in the meV range making it interesting for present and future measurements of deviations from the gravitational inverse-square law in the submillimeter range.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Physical States of the Quantum Conformal Factor

The conformal factor of the spacetime metric becomes dynamical due to the trace anomaly of matter fields. Its dynamics is described by an effective action which we quantize by canonical methods on the Einstein universe $R\times S^3$. We find an infinite tower of discrete states which satisfy the constraints of quantum diffeomorphism invariance. These physical states are in one-to-one correspondence with operators constructed by integrating integer powers of the Ricci scalar.Comment: PlainTeX File, 34 page

Radiative brane-mass terms in D>5 orbifold gauge theories

A gauge theory with gauge group G defined in D>4 space-time dimensions can be broken to a subgroup H on four dimensional fixed point branes, when compactified on an orbifold. Mass terms for extra dimensional components of gauge fields A_i (brane scalars) might acquire (when allowed by the brane symmetries) quadratically divergent radiative masses and thus jeopardize the stability of the four-dimensional theory. We have analyzed Z_2 compactifications and identified the brane symmetries remnants of the higher dimensional gauge invariance. No mass term is allowed for D=5 while for D>5 a tadpole \epsilon^{ij}F_{ij}^\alpha can appear when there are U_\alpha(1) factors in H. A detailed calculation is done for the D=6 case and it is established that the tadpole is related, although does not coincide, with the U_\alpha(1) anomaly induced on the brane by the bulk fermions. In particular, no tadpole is generated from gauge bosons or fermions in real representationsComment: 12 pages, 2 figures, axodraw.sty. v2: important typoes corrected and reference added. v3: logarithmic corrections to tadpole include

Gauge Unification and Quark Masses in a Pati-Salam Model from Branes

We investigate the phase space of parameters in the Pati-Salam model derived in the context of D-branes scenarios, requiring low energy string scale. We find that a non-supersymmetric version complies with a string scale as low as 10 TeV, while in the supersymmetric version the string scale raises up to ~2 x 10^7 TeV. The limited energy region for RGE running demands a large tan(beta) in order to have experimentally acceptable masses for the top and bottom quarks.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 7 figures include

Light Gluinos and the Longitudinal Structure Function

The leading effect of light gluinos on the deep inelastic longitudinal structure function is calculated. We present the explicit analitic expression for the Wilson coefficient. After convolution with quark, gluon and gluino distributions we found that the size of the contribution is of order a few percent of the total $F_L$. Some phenomenological implications for HERA and LEP/LHC are given.Comment: Latex 8 pages, 4 figures available on request, preprint UCI-TR/94-

Brane world models need low string scale

Models with large extra dimensions offer the possibility of the Planck scale being of order the electroweak scale, thus alleviating the gauge hierarchy problem. We show that these models suffer from a breakdown of unitarity at around three quarters of the low effective Planck scale. An obvious candidate to fix the unitarity problem is string theory. We therefore argue that it is necessary for the string scale to appear below the effective Planck scale and that the first signature of such models would be string resonances. We further translate experimental bounds on the string scale into bounds on the effective Planck scale

New Dimensions at a Millimeter to a Fermi and Superstrings at a TeV

Recently, a new framework for solving the hierarchy problem has been proposed which does not rely on low energy supersymmetry or technicolor. The gravitational and gauge interactions unite at the electroweak scale, and the observed weakness of gravity at long distances is due the existence of large new spatial dimensions. In this letter, we show that this framework can be embedded in string theory. These models have a perturbative description in the context of type I string theory. The gravitational sector consists of closed strings propagating in the higher-dimensional bulk, while ordinary matter consists of open strings living on D3-branes. This scenario raises the exciting possibility that the LHC and NLC will experimentally study both ordinary aspects of string physics such as the production of narrow Regge-excitations of all standard model particles, as well more exotic phenomena involving strong gravity such as the production of black holes. The new dimensions can be probed by events with large missing energy carried off by gravitons escaping into the bulk. We finally discuss some important issues of model building, such as proton stability, gauge coupling unification and supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 12 pages, late