One-loop adjoint masses for branes at non-supersymmetric angles

This proceeding is based on arXiv:1105.0591 [hep-th] where we consider breaking of supersymmetry in intersecting D-brane configurations by slight deviation of the angles from their supersymmetric values. We compute the masses generated by radiative corrections for the adjoint scalars on the brane world-volumes. In the open string channel, the string two-point function receives contributions only from the infrared limits of N~4 and N~2 supersymmetric configurations, via messengers and their Kaluza-Klein excitations, and leads at leading order to tachyonic directions.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the Corfu Summer Institute 2011 School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity, September 4-18 2011 Corfu, Greec

Phenomenological analysis of D-brane Pati-Salam vacua

In the present work we perform a phenomenological analysis of the effective low energy models with Pati-Salam (PS) gauge symmetry derived in the context of D-branes. A main issue in these models arises from the fact that the right-handed fermions and the PS-symmetry breaking Higgs field transform identically under the PS symmetry, causing unnatural matter-Higgs mixing effects. We argue that this problem could be solved in particular D-brane setups where these fields arise in different intersections. We further observe that whenever a large Higgs mass term is generated in a particular class of mass spectra, a splitting mechanism -reminiscent of the doublet triplet splitting- may protect the neutral Higgs components from a heavy mass term. We analyze the implications of each individual representation which in principle is available in these models in order to specify the minimal spectrum required to build up a consistent PS model which reconciles the low energy data. A short discussion is devoted on the effects of stringy instanton corrections, particularly those generating missing Yukawa couplings and contributing to the fermion mass textures. We discuss the correlations of the intersecting D-brane spectra with those obtained from Gepner constructions and analyze the superpotential, the resulting mass textures and the low energy implications of some examples of the latter along the lines proposed above.Comment: 50 pages, 3 figures (v2 - Minor corrections

SU(5) D-brane realizations, Yukawa couplings and proton stability

We discuss SU(5) Grand Unified Theories in the context of orientifold compactifications. Specifically, we investigate two and three D-brane stack realizations of the Georgi-Glashow and the flipped SU(5) model and analyze them with respect to their Yukawa couplings. As pointed out in arXiv:0909.0271 the most economical Georgi-Glashow realization based on two stacks generically suffers from a disastrous large proton decay rate. We show that allowing for an additional U(1) D-brane stack this as well as other phenomenological problems can be resolved. We exemplify with globally consistent Georgi-Glashow models based on RCFT that these D-brane quivers can be indeed embedded in a global setting. These globally consistent realizations admit rigid O(1) instantons inducing the perturbatively missing coupling 10105^H. Finally we show that flipped SU(5) D-brane realizations even with multiple U(1) D-brane stacks are plagued by severe phenomenological drawbacks which generically cannot be overcome.Comment: 34 pages v2 minor correction

Anomaly Cancellation in Supergravity with Fayet-Iliopoulos Couplings

We review and clarify the cancellation conditions for gauge anomalies which occur when N=1, D=4 supergravity is coupled to a Kahler non-linear sigma-model with gauged isometries and Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings. For a flat sigma-model target space and vanishing Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings, consistency requires just the conventional anomaly cancellation conditions. A consistent model with non-vanishing Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings is unlikely unless the Green-Schwarz mechanism is used. In this case the U(1) gauge boson becomes massive and the D-term potential receives corrections. A Green-Schwarz mechanism can remove both the abelian and certain non-abelian anomalies in models with a gauge non-invariant Kahler potential.Comment: 27 page

Monopoly power of the medical school market and high incomes of U.S. physicians

We expect the incomes of physicians to remain high in the next decades. Using the latest published physician income data (2015) we calculated the weighted median income of U.S. physicians and the net present value (NPV) of an investment in physician education. We estimated the NPV assuming that the physicians training began in 2007 and their practice would commence in 2015. We estimated the NPV of the lifetime earnings of a physician based on the median income of all physicians in the sample to be between $7.1 and$7.3 million. This finding of high NPV’s is consistent with almost all earlier studies of this kind. Physicians continue to experience relatively high incomes and very slow increases in the number of new graduates. We expect an excess demand for positions in medical colleges to continue. Our findings with respect to the incomes of non-primary physicians (surgeons, radiologist and cardiologists), indicate will continue to be much higher than those of primary physicians. There are strong evidence suggesting this is because of blockages in physician residency openings in these non-primary fields of medicine.peer-reviewe

Anomalous U(1)s masses in non-supersymmetric open string vacua

Anomalous U(1)s are omnipresent in realizations of the Standard Model using D-branes. Such models are typically non-supersymmetric, and the anomalous U(1) masses are potentially relevant for experiment. In this paper, the string calculation of anomalous U(1) masses (hep-th/0204153) is extended to non-supersymmetric orientifolds.Comment: 12 pages, Latex2e. (v2) final version to be published in Phys. Lett.