Hermitian Yang-Mills instantons on Calabi-Yau cones

We study and construct non-abelian hermitian Yang-Mills (HYM) instantons on Calabi-Yau cones. By means of a particular isometry preserving ansatz, the HYM equations are reduced to a novel Higgs-Yang-Mills flow on the Einstein-Kahler base. For any 2d-dimensional Calabi-Yau cone, we find explicit solutions of the flow equations that correspond to non-trivial SU(d) HYM instantons. These can be regarded as deformations of the spin connection of the Calabi-Yau cone.Comment: 17 page

Local SU(5) Unification from the Heterotic String

We construct a 6D supergravity theory which emerges as intermediate step in the compactification of the heterotic string to the supersymmetric standard model in four dimensions. The theory has N=2 supersymmetry and a gravitational sector with one tensor and two hypermultiplets in addition to the supergravity multiplet. Compactification to four dimensions occurs on a T^2/Z_2 orbifold which has two inequivalent pairs of fixed points with unbroken SU(5) and SU(2)xSU(4) symmetry, respectively. All gauge, gravitational and mixed anomalies are cancelled by the Green-Schwarz mechanism. The model has partial 6D gauge-Higgs unification. Two quark-lepton generations are localized at the SU(5) branes, the third family is composed of split bulk hypermultiplets. The top Yukawa coupling is given by the 6D gauge coupling, all other Yukawa couplings are generated by higher-dimensional operators at the SU(5) branes. The presence of the SU(2)xSU(4) brane breaks SU(5) and generates split gauge and Higgs multiplets with N=1 supersymmetry in four dimensions. The third generation is obtained from two split \bar{5}-plets and two split 10-plets, which together have the quantum numbers of one \bar{5}-plet and one 10-plet. This avoids unsuccessful SU(5) predictions for Yukawa couplings of ordinary 4D SU(5) grand unified theories.Comment: 38 pages. v2: Typos correcte

Fermions in Kaluza-Klein and Randall-Sundrum Theories

The Kaluza-Klein theory and Randall-Sundrum theory are examined comparatively, with focus on the behavior of the five dimensional (Dirac) fermion in the dimensional reduction to four dimensions. They are properly treated using the Cartan formalism. In the KK case, the dual property between the electric and magnetic dipole moments is revealed in relation to the ratio of two massive parameters: the inverse of the radius of the extra-space circle and the 5D fermion mass. The order estimation of the couplings is done. In the RS case, we consider the interaction with the 5D(bulk) Higgs field and the gauge field. The chiral property, localization, anomaly phenomena are examined. We evaluate the bulk quantum effect using the method of the induced effective action. The electric dipole moment term naturally appears. This is a new origin of the CP-violation. In the 4D limit, the dual relation between KK model and RS model appears.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures, Typographical errors are correcte

Corrections to flat-space particle dynamics arising from space granularity

The construction of effective Hamiltonians describing corrections to flat space particle dynamics arising from the granularity of space at very short distances is discussed in the framework of an heuristic approach to the semiclassical limit of loop quantum gravity. After some general motivation of the subject, a brief non-specialist introduction to the basic tools employed in the loop approach is presented. The heuristical semiclassical limit is subsequently defined and the application to the case of photons and spin 1/2 fermions is described. The resulting modified Maxwell and Dirac Hamiltonians, leading in particular to Planck scale corrections in the energy-momentum relations, are presented. Alternative interpretations of the results and their limitations, together with other approaches are briefly discussed along the text. Three topics related to the above methods are reviewed: (1) The determination of bounds to the Lorentz violating parameters in the fermionic sector, obtained from clock comparison experiments.(2) The calculation of radiative corrections in preferred frames associated to space granularity in the framework of a Yukawa model for the interactions and (3) The calculation of synchrotron radiation in the framework of the Myers-Pospelov effective theories describing Lorentz invariance violations, as well as a generalized approach to radiation in Planck scale modified electrodynamics. The above exploratory results show that quantum gravity phenomenology provides observational guidance in the construction of quantum gravity theories and opens up the possibility of probing Planck scale physics.Comment: 49 pages, 6 figures and 4 tables. Extended version of the talk given at the 339-th WE-Heraeus-Seminar: Special Relativity, will it survive the next 100 years?, Potsdam, february 200