Higgs Mass Textures in Flipped SU(5)

We analyze the Higgs doublet-triplet mass splitting problem in the version of flipped SU(5) derived from string theory. Analyzing non-renormalizable terms up to tenth order in the superpotential, we identify a pattern of field vev's that keeps one pair of electroweak Higgs doublets light, while all other Higgs doublets and all Higgs triplets are kept heavy, with the aid of the economical missing-doublet mechanism found in the field-theoretical version of flipped SU(5). The solution predicts that second-generation charge -1/3 quarks and charged leptons are much lighter than those in the third generation.Comment: 15 pages LaTe

Unification Bounds on the Possible N=2 Supersymmetry Breaking Scale

In this letter, the possible appearance of N=2 supersymmetry at a low energy scale is investigated in the context of unified theories. Introducing mirror particles for all the gauge and matter multiplets of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM), the measured values of sin^2 \theta_W and \alpha_3(M_Z) indicate that the N=2 threshold scale M_{S_2} cannot be lower than \sim 10^{14}GeV. If the U(1) normalization coefficient k is treated as a free parameter, M_{S_2} can be as low as 10^9 GeV. On the other hand, if mirror quarks and leptons are absent and a non-standard value for k is used, N=2 supersymmetry breaking could in principle occur at the electroweak scale.Comment: 10 pages, LATEX, 2 eps figure

D-branes and the Standard Model

We perform a systematic study of the Standard Model embedding in a D-brane configuration of type I string theory at the TeV scale. We end up with an attractive model and we study several phenomenological questions, such as gauge coupling unification, proton stability, fermion masses and neutrino oscillations. At the string scale, the gauge group is U(3)_color x U(2)_weak x U(1)_1 x U(1)_bulk. The corresponding gauge bosons are localized on three collections of branes; two of them describe the strong and weak interactions, while the last abelian factor lives on a brane which is extended in two large extra dimensions with a size of afew microns. The hypercharge is a linear combination of the first three U(1)s. All remaining U(1)s get masses at the TeV scale due to anomalies, leaving the baryon and lepton numbers as (perturbatively) unbroken global symmetries at low energies. The conservation of baryon number assures proton stability, while lepton number symmetry guarantees light neutrino masses that involve a right-handed neutrino in the bulk. The model predicts the value of the weak angle which is compatible with the experiment when the string scale is in the TeV region. It also contains two Higgs doublets that provide tree-level masses to all fermions of the heaviest generation, with calculable Yukawa couplings; one obtains a naturally heavy top and the correct ratio m_b/m_tau. We also study neutrino masses and mixings in relation to recent solar and atmospheric neutrino data.Comment: 42 pages, Latex2e, 6 figures, final version to be published in Nucl. Phys.

Solving the Decompactification Problem in String Theory

We investigate heterotic ground states in four dimensions in which N=4 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=2. N=4 supersymmetry is restored at a decompactification limit corresponding to $m_{3/2}\to 0$. We calculate the full moduli dependent threshold corrections and confirm that they are supressed in the decompactification limit $m_{3/2}\to 0$ as expected from the restoration of N=4 supersymmetry. This should be contrasted with the behavior of the standard N=2 groundstates where the coupling blow up linearly with the volume of the decompactifying manifold. This mechanism provides a solution to the decompactification problem for the gauge coupling constants. We also discuss how the mechanism can be implemented in ground states with lower supersymmetry.Comment: 14pp, LaTeX some typos correcte

On the existence of singularity-free solutions in quartic gravity

We study a general field theory of a scalar field coupled to gravitation through a quadratic Gauss-Bonnet term $\xi({\phi})$$R_{GB}^2$. We show that, under mild assumptions about the function $\xi(\phi)$, the classical solutions in a spatially flat FRW background include singularity - free solutions.Comment: 9 pages, LATEX, uses epsf.tex macro, (1 figure included in uuencode+compress EPSF form), IOA-29

Universal moduli-dependent thresholds in Z(2)xZ(2) orbifolds

In the context of a recently proposed method for computing exactly string loop corrections regularized in the infra-red, we determine and calculate the universal moduli-dependent part of the threshold corrections to the gauge couplings for the symmetric $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold model. We show that these corrections decrease the unification scale of the underlying effective field theory. We also comment on the relation between this infra-red regularization scheme and other proposed methods.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, contains two figures, final version, typos correcte

A closer look at string resonances in dijet events at the LHC

The first string excited state can be observed as a resonance in dijet invariant mass distributions at the LHC, if the scenario of low-scale string with large extra dimensions is realized. A distinguished property of the dijet resonance by string excited states from that the other "new physics" is that many almost degenerate states with various spin compose a single resonance structure. It is examined that how we can obtain evidences of low-scale string models through the analysis of angular distributions of dijet events at the LHC. Some string resonance states of color singlet can obtain large mass shifts through the open string one-loop effect, or through the mixing with closed string states, and the shape of resonance structure can be distorted. Although the distortion is not very large (10% for the mass squared), it might be able to observe the effect at the LHC, if gluon jets and quark jets could be distinguished in a certain level of efficiency.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

String theory predictions for future accelerators

We consider, in a string theory framework, physical processes of phenomenological interest in models with a low string scale. The amplitudes we study involve tree-level virtual gravitational exchange, divergent in a field-theoretical treatment, and massive gravitons emission, which are the main signatures of this class of models. First, we discuss the regularization of summations appearing in virtual gravitational (closed string) Kaluza-Klein exchanges in Type I strings. We argue that a convenient manifestly ultraviolet convergent low energy limit of type I string theory is given by an effective field theory with an arbitrary cutoff $\Lambda$ in the closed (gravitational) channel and a related cutoff $M_s^2/\Lambda$ in the open (Yang-Mills) channel. We find the leading string corrections to the field theory results. Second, we calculate exactly string tree-level three and four-point amplitudes with gauge bosons and one massive graviton and examine string deviations from the field-theory result.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures, references adde

N=1 supersymmetric SU(4)xSU(2)LxSU(2)R effective theory from the weakly coupled heterotic superstring

In the context of the free-fermionic formulation of the heterotic superstring, we construct a three generation N=1 supersymmetric SU(4)xSU(2)LxSU(2)R model supplemented by an SU(8) hidden gauge symmetry and five Abelian factors. The symmetry breaking to the standard model is achieved using vacuum expectation values of a Higgs pair in (4bar,2R)+(4,2R) at a high scale. One linear combination of the Abelian symmetries is anomalous and is broken by vacuum expectation values of singlet fields along the flat directions of the superpotential. All consistent string vacua of the model are completely classified by solving the corresponding system of F- and D-flatness equations including non-renormalizable terms up to sixth order. The requirement of existence of electroweak massless doublets further restricts the phenomenologically viable vacua. The third generation fermions receive masses from the tree-level superpotential. Further, a complete calculation of all non-renormalizable fermion mass terms up to fifth order shows that in certain string vacua the hierarchy of the fermion families is naturally obtained in the model as the second and third generation fermions earn their mass from fourth and fifth order terms. Along certain flat directions it is shown that the ratio of the SU(4) breaking scale and the reduced Planck mass is equal to the up quark ratio m_c/m_t at the string scale. An additional prediction of the model, is the existence of a U(1) symmetry carried by the fields of the hidden sector, ensuring thus the stability of the lightest hidden state. It is proposed that the hidden states may account for the invisible matter of the universe.Comment: Latex2e file, 50 pages, uses rotating.st

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