A lattice spring model of heterogeneous materials with plasticity

A three-dimensional lattice spring model of a heterogeneous material is presented. For small deformations, the model is shown to recover the governing equations for an isotropic elastic medium. The model gives reasonable agreement with theoretical predictions for the elastic fields generated by a spherical inclusion, although for small particle sizes the discretization of the underlying lattice causes some departures from the predicted values. Plasticity is introduced by decreasing the elastic moduli locally whilst maintaining stress continuity. Results are presented for a spherical inclusion in a plastic matrix and are found to be in good agreement with the predictions of Wilner (1988 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 36 141-65).</p

Towards String Predictions

The aim of superstring phenomenology is to develop the tools and methodology needed to confront string theory with experimental data. The first mandatory task is to find string solutions which reproduce the observable data. The subsequent goal is to extract potential signatures beyond the observable data. Recently, by studying exact flat directions of non-Abelian singlet fields, we demonstrated the existence of free fermionic heterotic-string models in which the $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)_Y$-charged matter spectrum, just below the string scale, consists solely of the MSSM spectrum. In this paper we study the possibility that the exact flat directions leave a $U(1)_{Z^\prime}$ symmetry unbroken at the Planck scale. We demonstrate in a specific example that such unbroken $U(1)_{Z^\prime}$ is in general expected to be not of the GUT type but of intrinsic stringy origin. We study its phenomenological characteristics and the consequences in the case that $U(1)_{Z^\prime}$ remains unbroken down to low energies. We suggest that observation in forthcoming colliders of a $Z^\prime$, with universal couplings for the two light generations but different couplings for the heavy generation may provide evidence for the $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold which underlies the free fermionic models.Comment: 18 pages. Standard Latex. References adde

Investigation of Quasi--Realistic Heterotic String Models with Reduced Higgs Spectrum

Quasi--realistic heterotic-string models in the free fermionic formulation typically contain an anomalous U(1), which gives rise to a Fayet-Iliopolous term that breaks supersymmetry at the one--loop level in string perturbation theory. Supersymmetry is restored by imposing F- and D-flatness on the vacuum. In Phys. Rev. D 78 (2008) 046009, we presented a three generation free fermionic standard-like model which did not admit stringent F- and D-flat directions, and argued that the all the moduli in the model are fixed. The particular property of the model was the reduction of the untwisted Higgs spectrum by a combination of symmetric and asymmetric boundary conditions with respect to the internal fermions associated with the compactified dimensions. In this paper we extend the analysis of free fermionic models with reduced Higgs spectrum to the cases in which the SO(10) symmetry is left unbroken, or is reduced to the flipped SU(5) subgroup. We show that all the models that we study in this paper do admit stringent flat directions. The only examples of models that do not admit stringent flat directions remain the strandard-like models of reference Phys. Rev. D 78 (2008) 046009.Comment: 38 pages, 1 figur

Phenomenology of A Three-Family Standard-like String Model

We discuss the phenomenology of a three-family supersymmetric Standard-like Model derived from the orientifold construction, in which the ordinary chiral states are localized at the intersection of branes at angles. In addition to the Standard Model group, there are two additional U(1)' symmetries, one of which has family non-universal and therefore flavor changing couplings, and a quasi-hidden non-abelian sector which becomes strongly coupled above the electroweak scale. The perturbative spectrum contains a fourth family of exotic (SU(2)- singlet) quarks and leptons, in which, however, the left-chiral states have unphysical electric charges. It is argued that these decouple from the low energy spectrum due to hidden sector charge confinement, and that anomaly matching requires the physical left-chiral states to be composites. The model has multiple Higgs doublets and additional exotic states. The moduli-dependent predictions for the gauge couplings are discussed. The strong coupling agrees with experiment for reasonable moduli, but the electroweak couplings are too small.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

Initial Systematic Investigations of the Landscape of Low Layer NAHE Extensions

The discovery that the number of physically consistent string vacua is on the order of 10^500 has prompted several statistical studies of string phenomenology. Contained here is one such study that focuses on the Weakly Coupled Free Fermionic Heterotic String (WCFFHS) formalism. Presented are systematic extensions of the well-known NAHE (Nanopoulos, Antoniadis, Hagelin, Ellis) set of basis vectors, which have been shown to produce phenomenologically realistic models. Statistics related to the number of U(1)'s, gauge group factors, non-Abelian singlets, ST SUSYs, as well as the gauge groups themselve are discussed for the full range of models produced as well as models containing GUT groups only. Prior results of other large-scale investigations are compared with these regarding the aforementioned quantities. Statistical coupling between the gauge groups and the number of ST SUSYs is also discussed, and it was found that for order-3 extensions there are more models with enhanced ST SUSY when there is an exceptional group present. Also discussed are some three-generation GUT models found in the data sets. These models are unique because they come from basis vectors which still have a geometric interpretation -- there are no "rank-cuts" in these models.Comment: 65 Pages, 31 Tables, 31 Figure

A Minimal Superstring Standard Model I: Flat Directions

Three family SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y string models in several constructions generically possess two features: (i) an extra local anomalous U(1)_A and (ii) numerous (often fractionally charged) exotic particles beyond those in the minimal supersymmetric model (MSSM). Recently, we demonstrated that the observable sector effective field theory of such a free fermionic string model can reduce to that of the MSSM, with the standard observable gauge group being just SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y and the SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y-charged spectrum of the observable sector consisting solely of the MSSM spectrum. An example of a model with this property was shown. We continue our investigation of this model by presenting a large set of different flat directions of the same model that all produce the MSSM spectrum. Our results suggest that even after imposing the conditions for the decoupling of exotic states, there may remain sufficient freedom to satisfy the remaining phenomenological constraints imposed by the observed data.Comment: 64 pages. Latex. Revisions to match version in Int. J. Mod. Physics

Free Fermionic Heterotic Model Building and Root Systems

We consider an alternative derivation of the GSO Projection in the free fermionic construction of the weakly coupled heterotic string in terms of root systems, as well as the interpretation of the GSO Projection in this picture. We then present an algorithm to systematically and efficiently generate input sets (i.e. basis vectors) in order to study Landscape statistics with minimal computational cost. For example, the improvement at order 6 is approximately 10^{-13} over a traditional brute force approach, and improvement increases with order. We then consider an example of statistics on a relatively simple class of models.Comment: Standard Latex, 12 page

On the Possibility of Optical Unification in Heterotic Strings

Recently J. Giedt discussed a mechanism, entitled optical unification, whereby string scale unification is facilitated via exotic matter with intermediate scale mass. This mechanism guarantees that a virtual MSSM unification below the string scale is extrapolated from the running of gauge couplings upward from M_Z^o when an intermediate scale desert is assumed. In this letter we explore the possibility of optical unification within the context of weakly coupled heterotic strings. In particular, we investigate this for models of free fermionic construction containing the NAHE set of basis vectors. This class is of particular interest for optical unification, because it provides a standard hypercharge embedding within SO(10), giving the standard k_Y = 5/3 hypercharge level, which was shown necessary for optical unification. We present a NAHE model for which the set of exotic SU(3)_C triplet/anti-triplet pairs, SU(2)_L doublets, and non-Abelian singlets with hypercharge offers the possibility of optical unification. Whether this model can realize optical unification is conditional upon these exotics not receiving Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) scale masses when a flat direction of scalar vacuum expectation values is non-perturbatively chosen to cancel the FI D-term, xi, generated by the anomalous U(1)-breaking Green-Schwarz-Dine-Seiberg-Wittten mechanism. A study of perturbative flat directions and their phenomenological implications for this model is underway. This paper is a product of the NFS Research Experiences for Undergraduates and the NSF High School Summer Science Research programs at Baylor University.Comment: 16 pages. Standard Late