Lack of trinification in Z_3 orbifolds of the SO(32) heterotic string

We report results relating to the trinification scenario in some explicit string constructions that contain SU(3)^3 as a gauge symmetry. These models are obtained from symmetric Z_3 orbifolds of the SO(32) heterotic string with one discrete Wilson line. We highlight the obstacles that were encountered: the absence of the usual Higgs sector that would break SU(3)^3 \to SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y; the presence of exotics that would generically befoul gauge coupling unification and lead to fractionally-charged states in the low energy spectrum.Comment: 1+7 pages, comments and refs adde

D-Moduli Stabilization

The matter sector of four-dimensional effective supergravity models obtained from the weakly coupled heterotic string contains many moduli. In particular, flat directions of the D-term part of the scalar potential in the presence of an anomalous U(1) give rise to massless chiral multiplets which have been referred to elsewhere as D-moduli. The stabilization of these moduli is necessary for the determination of the large vacuum expectation values of complex scalar fields induced by the corresponding Fayet-Illiopoulos term. This stabilization is of phenomenological importance since these background values determine the effective theory below the scale of the anomalous U(1) symmetry breaking. In some simple models we illustrate the stabilization of these moduli due to the nonperturbative dynamics associated with gaugino condensation in a hidden sector. We find that background field configurations which are stable above the condensation scale no longer represent global minima once dynamical supersymmetry breaking occurs. The implications for low energy models based on promising ``flat'' directions are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, talk given at Superstring Phenomenology Conference, Oxford, England, July 7, 200