Discrete Deformations in Type I Vacua

We study supersymmetric orientifolds where the world-sheet parity transformation is combined with a conjugation of some compact complex coordinates. We investigate their T-duality relation to standard orientifolds and discuss the origin of continuous and discrete moduli. In contrast to standard orientifolds, the antisymmetric tensor describes a continuous deformation, while the off-diagonal part of the metric is frozen to quantized values and is responsible for the rank reduction of the gauge group. We also give a geometrical interpretation of some recently constructed six-dimensional permutational orientifolds.Comment: 12 pages, TeX, harvmac, 4 figures, eq.(3.15) change

Standard Model statistics of a Type II orientifold

We analyse four-dimensional, supersymmetric intersecting D-brane models in a toroidal orientifold background from a statistical perspective. The distribution and correlation of observables, like gauge groups and couplings, are discussed. We focus on models with a Standard Model-like gauge sector, derive frequency distributions for their occurence and analyse the properties of the hidden sector.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures; v2: typos corrected, one reference added; Contribution to the proceedings of the RTN workshop "Constituents, Fundamental Forces and Symmetries of the Universe", Corfu, Greece, 20-26 Sep 200

Catching the phantom: the MSSM on the Z6-orientifold

These lecture notes give a short introduction of the derivation of the supersymmetric standard model on the Z6-orientifold as published in hep-th/0404055. Untwisted and twisted cycles are constructed and one specific model is discussed in more detail.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of RTN Workshop on the Quantum Structure of Space-time and the Geometric Nature of Fundamental Interactions and EXT Workshop on Fundamental Interactions and the Structure of Spacetime, Kolymbari, Crete, Greece, 5-10 Sep 200

Dynamical Generation of Yukawa Interactions in Intersecting D-brane Models

We construct a supersymmetric composite model in type IIA T^6/(Z_2 x Z_2) orientifold with intersecting D6-branes. Four generations of quarks and leptons are naturally emerged as composite fields at low energies. Two pairs of light electroweak Higgs doublets are also naturally obtained. The hierarchical Yukawa couplings for the quark-lepton masses can be generated by the interplay between the string-level higher dimensional interactions among "preons" and the dynamics of the confinement of "preons". Besides having four generations of quarks and leptons, the model is not realistic in some points: some exotic particles, one additional U(1) gauge symmetry, no explicit mechanism for supersymmetry breaking, and so on. This model is a toy model to illustrate a new mechanism of dynamical generation of Yukawa couplings for the masses and mixings of quarks and leptons.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Recent Progress in Intersecting D-brane Models

The aim of this article is to review some recent progress in the field of intersecting D-brane models. This includes the construction of chiral, semi-realistic flux compactifications, the systematic study of Gepner model orientifolds, the computation of various terms in the low energy effective action and the investigation of the statistics of solutions to the tadpole cancellation conditions.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, contribution to the proceedings of the 37. Symposium Ahrenshoop, 23-27 August 2004, Wernsdorf, Germany, v3: more refs. adde

Target Space Duality for (0,2) Compactifications

The moduli spaces of two (0,2) compactifications of the heterotic string can share the same Landau-Ginzburg model even though at large radius they look completely different. It was argued that such a pair of (0,2) models might be connected via a perturbative transition at the Landau-Ginzburg point. Situations of this kind are studied for some explicit models. By calculating the exact dimensions of the generic moduli spaces at large radius, strong indications are found in favor of a different scenario. The two moduli spaces are isomorphic and complex, K\"ahler and bundle moduli get exchanged.Comment: 22 pages, TeX, harvmac, (minor changes, references added

Massive U(1)s and Heterotic Five-Branes on K3

We systematically consider heterotic SO(32) and E8 x E8 compactifications on K3 with Abelian and non-Abelian backgrounds as well as an arbitrary number of five-branes. The masses of the U(1) factors depend on the first Chern classes of the bundles and some combinatorial factors specifying the embedding in SO(32) or E8. The form of the generalised Green-Schwarz counter-terms in six dimensions constrains the possible heterotic five-brane actions. Some supersymmetric examples on K3 realisations as toric complete intersection spaces with up to three explicit two-forms are given.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure; v2: refs added, over-all normalisation of GS & CS terms changed by

Intersecting D-Branes on Shift Z2 x Z2 Orientifolds

We investigate Z2 x Z2 orientifolds with group actions involving shifts. A complete classification of possible geometries is presented where also previous work by other authors is included in a unified framework from an intersecting D-brane perspective. In particular, we show that the additional shifts not only determine the topology of the orbifold but also independently the presence of orientifold planes. In the second part, we work out in detail a basis of homological three cycles on shift Z2 x Z2 orientifolds and construct all possible fractional D-branes including rigid ones. A Pati-Salam type model with no open-string moduli in the visible sector is presented.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures, refs. adde