502 research outputs found
The Neutrino Suppression Scale from Large Volumes
We present an argument in which the scale ~ 0.1 eV associated with neutrino
masses naturally appears in a a class of (very) large volume compactifications,
being tied to a supersymmetry scale of 10^3 GeV and a string scale of 10^11
GeV. The masses are of Majorana type and there is no right-handed neutrino
within the low-energy field theory. The suppression scale 10^14 GeV is
independent of the masses of the heavy states that are integrated out. These
kind of constructions appear naturally in Type IIB flux compactifications.
However, the arguments that lead to this result rely only on a few geometrical
features of the compactification manifold, and hence can be used independently
of string theory.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX; v2. matches journal versio
Study of pinholes and nanotubes in AlInGaN films by cathodoluminescence and atomic force microscopy
Cathodoluminescence (CL) in the scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been used to study the formation of pinholes in tensile and compressively strained AlInGaN films grown on Al2O3 substrates by plasma-induced molecular beam epitaxy. Nanotubes, pits, and V-shaped pinholes are observed in a tensile strained sample. CL images show an enhanced emission around the pits and a lower intensity at the V-shaped pinholes. Rounded pinholes appear in compressively strained samples in island-like regions with higher In concentration. The grain structure near the pinholes is resolved by AFM. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics
Coisotropic D8-branes and Model-building
Up to now chiral type IIA vacua have been mostly based on intersecting
D6-branes wrapping special Lagrangian 3-cycles on a CY three-fold. We argue
that there are additional BPS D-branes which have so far been neglected, and
which seem to have interesting model-building features. They are coisotropic
D8-branes, in the sense of Kapustin and Orlov. The D8-branes wrap 5-dimensional
submanifolds of the CY which are trivial in homology, but contain a worldvolume
flux that induces D6-brane charge on them. This induced D6-brane charge not
only renders the D8-brane BPS, but also creates D=4 chirality when two
D8-branes intersect. We discuss in detail the case of a type IIA Z2 x Z2
orientifold, where we provide explicit examples of coisotropic D8-branes. We
study the chiral spectrum, SUSY conditions, and effective field theory of
different systems of D8-branes in this orientifold, and show how the magnetic
fluxes generate a superpotential for untwisted Kahler moduli. Finally, using
both D6-branes and coisotropic D8-branes we construct new examples of MSSM-like
type IIA vacua.Comment: 63 pages, 11 figures. Typos corrected and comments adde
Building MSSM Flux Vacua
We construct N=1 and N=0 chiral four-dimensional vacua of flux
compactification in Type IIB string theory. These vacua have the common
features that they are free of tadpole instabilities (both NSNS and RR) even
for models with N=0 supersymmetry. In addition, the dilaton/complex structure
moduli are stabilised and the supergravity background metric is warped. We
present an example in which the low energy spectrum contains the MSSM spectrum
with three generations of chiral matter. In the N=0 models, the background
fluxes which stabilise the moduli also induce soft supersymmetry breaking terms
in the gauge and chiral sectors of the theory, while satisfying the equation of
motion. We also discuss some phenomenological features of these three
generation MSSM flux vacua. Our techniques apply to other closed string
backgrounds as well and, in fact, also allow to find new N=1 D-brane models
which were believed not to exist. Finally, we discuss in detail the consistency
conditions of these flux compactifications. Cancellation of K-theory charges
puts additional constraints on the consistency of the models, which render some
chiral D-brane models in the literature inconsistent.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figure. Minor correction
Chiral N=1 4d Orientifolds with D-branes at Angles
D6-branes intersecting at angles allow for phenomenologically appealing
constructions of four dimensional string theory vacua. While it is
straightforward to obtain non-supersymmetric realizations of the standard
model, supersymmetric and stable models with three generations and no exotic
chiral matter require more involved orbifold constructions. The T^6/(Z_4 x Z_2
x OmegaR) case is discussed in detail. Other orbifolds including fractional
D6-branes are treated briefly.Comment: Invited brief review, 16 pages, 2 figures; references adde
Wrapped Magnetized Branes: Two Alternative Descriptions?
We discuss two inequivalent ways for describing magnetized D-branes wrapped N
times on a torus T^2. The first one is based on a non-abelian gauge bundle
U(N), while the second one is obtained by means of a Narain T-duality
transformation acting on a theory with non-magnetized branes. We construct in
both descriptions the boundary state and the open string vertices and show that
they give rise to different string amplitudes. In particular, the description
based on the gauge bundle has open string vertex operators with momentum
dependent Chan-Paton factors.Comment: 60 pages, LaTe
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