Minimal Standard Heterotic String Models

Three generation heterotic-string vacua in the free fermionic formulation gave rise to models with solely the MSSM states in the observable Standard Model charged sector. The relation of these models to Z_2 x Z_2 orbifold compactifications dictates that they produce three pairs of untwisted Higgs multiplets. The reduction to one pair relies on the analysis of supersymmetric flat directions, that give superheavy mass to the dispensable Higgs states. We explore the removal of the extra Higgs representations by using the free fermion boundary conditions and hence directly at the string level, rather than in the effective low energy field theory. We present a general mechanism that achieves this reduction by using asymmetric boundary conditions between the left- and right-moving internal fermions. We incorporate this mechanism in explicit string models containing three twisted generations and a single untwisted Higgs doublet pair. We further demonstrate that an additional effect of the asymmetric boundary conditions is to substantially reduce the supersymmetric moduli space.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX; added reference

Z_2 x Z_2 Heterotic Orbifold Models of Non Factorisable Six Dimensional Toroidal Manifolds

We discuss heterotic strings on Z_2 x Z_2 orbifolds of non factorisable six-tori. Although the number of fixed tori is reduced as compared to the factorisable case, Wilson lines are still needed for the construction of three generation models. An essential new feature is the straightforward appearance of three generation models with one generation per twisted sector. We illustrate our general arguments for the occurrence of that property by an explicit example. Our findings give further support for the conjecture that four dimensional heterotic strings formulated at the free fermionic point are related to Z_2 x Z_2 orbifolds.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX; discussion of modular invariance added in section four; added references; to be published in JHE

OPERA data and The Equivalence Postulate of Quantum Mechanics

An interpretation of the recent results reported by the OPERA collaboration is that neutrinos propagation in vacuum exceeds the speed of light. It has been further been suggested that this interpretation can be attributed to the variation of the particle speed arising from the Relativistic Quantum Hamilton Jacobi Equation. I show that this is in general not the case. I derive an expression for the quantum correction to the instantaneous relativistic velocity in the framework of the relativistic quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation, which is derived from the equivalence postulate of quantum mechanics. While the quantum correction does indicate deviations from the classical energy--momentum relation, it does not necessarily lead to superluminal speeds. The quantum correction found herein has a non-trivial dependence on the energy and mass of the particle, as well as on distance travelled. I speculate on other possible observational consequences of the equivalence postulate approach.Comment: 8 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

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

String derived MSSM and M-theory Unification

The recent conjecture of possible equivalence between the string scale $M_S$ and the minimal supersymmetric standard model unification scale M_U ~ 2.5 x 10^{16} GeV is considered in the context of string models. This conjecture suggests that the observable gauge group just below the string scale should be SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y and that the SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y-charged spectrum of the observable sector should consist solely of the MSSM spectrum. We demonstrate that string models can actually be constructed that possess these observable features. Two aspects generic to many classes of three family SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y string models are both an extra local anomalous U(1)_A and numerous (often fractionally charged) exotic particles beyond the MSSM. Thus, for these classes, the key to obtaining an M_S = M_U ~ 2.5 x 10^{16} GeV string model is the existence of F- and D-flat directions that near the string scale can simultaneously break the anomalous U(1) and give mass to all exotic SM-charged observable particles, decoupling them from the low energy spectrum. In this letter we show, in the context of free fermionic strings, that string models with flat directions possessing these features do exist. We present one such string derived model in which all such exotic observable states beyond the MSSM receive mass at the scale generated by the Fayet- Iliopoulos term. The associated F- and D-flat direction is proven flat to all orders of the superpotential.Comment: 18 pages. Standard Latex. Version to appear in PL

A Minimal Superstring Standard Model II: A Phenomenological Study

Recently, we demonstrated the existence of heterotic--string solutions in which the observable sector effective field theory just below the string scale reduces 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. Associated with this model is a set of distinct flat directions of vacuum expectation values (VEVs) of non-Abelian singlet fields that all produce solely the MSSM spectrum. In this paper, we study the effective superpotential induced by these choices of flat directions. We investigate whether sufficient degrees of freedom exist in these singlet flat directions to satisfy various phenomenological constraints imposed by the observed Standard Model data. For each flat direction, the effective superpotential is given to sixth order. The variations in the singlet and hidden sector low energy spectrums are analyzed. We then determine the mass matrices (to all finite orders) for the three generations of MSSM quarks and leptons. Possible Higgs mu-terms are investigated. We conclude by considering generalizations of our flat directions involving VEVs of non-Abelian fields.Comment: 41 pages. Standard Late

Toward the M(F)--Theory Embedding of Realistic Free-Fermion Models

We construct a Landau-Ginzburg model with the same data and symmetries as a $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold that corresponds to a class of realistic free-fermion models. Within the class of interest, we show that this orbifolding connects between different $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold models and commutes with the mirror symmetry. Our work suggests that duality symmetries previously discussed in the context of specific $M$ and $F$ theory compactifications may be extended to the special $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold that characterizes realistic free-fermion models.Comment: 15 pages. Standard Late

Phenomenology of Non-Abelian Flat Directions in a Minimal Superstring Standard Model

Recently, we presented the first non-Abelian flat directions that produce from a heterotic string model solely the three-generation MSSM states as the massless spectrum in the observable sector of the low energy effective field theory. In this paper we continue to develop the systematic techniques for the analysis of nonrenormalizable superpotential terms and non-Abelian flat direction in realistic string models. Some of our non-Abelian directions were F-flat to all finite orders in the superpotential. We study for the same string model the varying phenomenologies resulting from a large set of such all-order flat directions. We focus on the quark, charged lepton, and Higgs doublet mass matrices resulting for our phenomenologically superior non-Abelian flat direction. We review and apply a string-related method for generating large mass hierarchies between MSSM generations, first discussed in string-derived flipped SU(5) models, when all generational mass terms are of renormalizable or very low non-renormalizable order

Classification of the chiral Z2XZ2 fermionic models in the heterotic superstring

The first particle physics observable whose origin may be sought in string theory is the triple replication of the matter generations. The class of Z2XZ2 orbifolds of six dimensional compactified tori, that have been most widely studied in the free fermionic formulation, correlate the family triplication with the existence of three twisted sectors in this class. In this work we seek an improved understanding of the geometrical origin of the three generation free fermionic models. Using fermionic and orbifold techniques we classify the Z2XZ2 orbifold with symmetric shifts on six dimensional compactified internal manifolds. We show that perturbative three generation models are not obtained in the case of Z2XZ2 orbifolds with symmetric shifts on complex tori, and that the perturbative three generation models in this class necessarily employ an asymmetric shift. We present a class of three generation models in which the SO(10) gauge symmetry cannot be broken perturbatively, while preserving the Standard Model matter content. We discuss the potential implications of the asymmetric shift for strong-weak coupling duality and moduli stabilization. We show that the freedom in the modular invariant phases in the N=1 vacua that control the chiral content, can be interpreted as vacuum expectation values of background fields of the underlying N=4 theory, whose dynamical components are projected out by the Z2-fermionic projections. In this class of vacua the chiral content of the models is determined by the underlying N=4 mother theory.Comment: 36 pages. Standard LaTe