4 research outputs found
Astrophysical and Cosmological Implications of Large Volume String Compactifications
We study the spectrum, couplings and cosmological and astrophysical
implications of the moduli fields for the class of Calabi-Yau IIB string
compactifications for which moduli stabilisation leads to an exponentially
large volume V ~ 10^{15} l_s^6 and an intermediate string scale m_s ~
10^{11}GeV, with TeV-scale observable supersymmetry breaking. All K\"ahler
moduli except for the overall volume are heavier than the susy breaking scale,
with m ~ ln(M_P/m_{3/2}) m_{3/2} ~ (\ln(M_P/m_{3/2}))^2 m_{susy} ~ 500 TeV and,
contrary to standard expectations, have matter couplings suppressed only by the
string scale rather than the Planck scale. These decay to matter early in the
history of the universe, with a reheat temperature T ~ 10^7 GeV, and are free
from the cosmological moduli problem (CMP). The heavy moduli have a branching
ratio to gravitino pairs of 10^{-30} and do not suffer from the gravitino
overproduction problem. The overall volume modulus is a distinctive feature of
these models and is an M_{planck}-coupled scalar of mass m ~ 1 MeV and subject
to the CMP. A period of thermal inflation can help relax this problem. This
field has a lifetime ~ 10^{24}s and can contribute to dark matter. It may be
detected through its decays to 2\gamma or e^+e^-. If accessible the e^+e^-
decay mode dominates, with Br(\chi \to 2 \gamma) suppressed by a factor
(ln(M_P/m_{3/2}))^2. We consider the potential for detection of this field
through different astrophysical sources and find that the observed gamma-ray
background constrains \Omega_{\chi} <~ 10^{-4}. The decays of this field may
generate the 511 keV emission line from the galactic centre observed by
INTEGRAL/SPI.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures; v2. refs adde
TeV physics and the Planck scale
Supersymmetry is one of the best motivated possibilities for new physics at
the TeV scale. However, both concrete string constructions and phenomenological
considerations suggest the possibility that the physics at the TeV scale could
be more complicated than the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM),
e.g., due to extended gauge symmetries, new vector-like supermultiplets with
non-standard SU(2)xU(1) assignments, and extended Higgs sectors. We briefly
comment on some of these possibilities, and discuss in more detail the class of
extensions of the MSSM involving an additional standard model singlet field.
The latter provides a solution to the problem, and allows significant
modifications of the MSSM in the Higgs and neutralino sectors, with important
consequences for collider physics, cold dark matter, and electroweak
baryogenesis.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures. To appear in New Journal of Physic
Lectures on Nongeometric Flux Compactifications
These notes present a pedagogical review of nongeometric flux
compactifications. We begin by reviewing well-known geometric flux
compactifications in Type II string theory, and argue that one must include
nongeometric "fluxes" in order to have a superpotential which is invariant
under T-duality. Additionally, we discuss some elementary aspects of the
worldsheet description of nongeometric backgrounds. This review is based on
lectures given at the 2007 RTN Winter School at CERN.Comment: 31 pages, JHEP
The Supermembrane with Central Charges on a G2 Manifold
We construct the 11D supermembrane with topological central charges induced
through an irreducible winding on a G2 manifold realized from the T7/Z2xZ2xZ2
orbifold construction. The hamiltonian H of the theory on a T7 target has a
discrete spectrum. Within the discrete symmetries of H associated to large
diffeomorphisms, the Z2xZ2xZ2 group of automorphisms of the quaternionic
subspaces preserving the octonionic structure is relevant. By performing the
corresponding identification on the target space, the supermembrane may be
formulated on a G2 manifold, preserving the discretness of its supersymmetric
spectrum. The corresponding 4D low energy effective field theory has N=1
supersymmetry.Comment: Reviewed version. spectral propertis discussed, two more sections
added, 27 pages,Late