Non-Higgsable QCD and the Standard Model Spectrum in F-theory

Many four-dimensional supersymmetric compactifications of F-theory contain gauge groups that cannot be spontaneously broken through geometric deformations. These "non-Higgsable clusters" include realizations of $SU(3)$, $SU(2)$, and $SU(3) \times SU(2)$, but no $SU(n)$ gauge groups or factors with $n> 3$. We study possible realizations of the standard model in F-theory that utilize non-Higgsable clusters containing $SU(3)$ factors and show that there are three distinct possibilities. In one, fields with the non-abelian gauge charges of the standard model matter fields are localized at a single locus where non-perturbative $SU(3)$ and $SU(2)$ seven-branes intersect; cancellation of gauge anomalies implies that the simplest four-dimensional chiral $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ model that may arise in this context exhibits standard model families. We identify specific geometries that realize non-Higgsable $SU(3)$ and $SU(3) \times SU(2)$ sectors. This kind of scenario provides a natural mechanism that could explain the existence of an unbroken QCD sector, or more generally the appearance of light particles and symmetries at low energy scales.Comment: v1: 29 pages + reference

Matter in transition

We explore a novel type of transition in certain 6D and 4D quantum field theories, in which the matter content of the theory changes while the gauge group and other parts of the spectrum remain invariant. Such transitions can occur, for example, for SU(6) and SU(7) gauge groups, where matter fields in a three-index antisymmetric representation and the fundamental representation are exchanged in the transition for matter in the two-index antisymmetric representation. These matter transitions are realized by passing through superconformal theories at the transition point. We explore these transitions in dual F-theory and heterotic descriptions, where a number of novel features arise. For example, in the heterotic description the relevant 6D SU(7) theories are described by bundles on K3 surfaces where the geometry of the K3 is constrained in addition to the bundle structure. On the F-theory side, non-standard representations such as the three-index antisymmetric representation of SU(N) require Weierstrass models that cannot be realized from the standard SU(N) Tate form. We also briefly describe some other situations, with groups such as Sp(3), SO(12), and SU(3), where analogous matter transitions can occur between different representations. For SU(3), in particular, we find a matter transition between adjoint matter and matter in the symmetric representation, giving an explicit Weierstrass model for the F-theory description of the symmetric representation that complements another recent analogous construction.Comment: 107 pages, 3 figures, 32 tables. In version 2, one figure and comments added on the geometry of matter transition

Riding Shotgun: Authenticity and Discovery

The truth hurts.” So, my family said to me from my earliest comprehension. The poet’s fundamental ethic requires a commitment to authenticity, at the intersection of myriad creative possibilities. How to write poems about family, friends, and life experiences, mine included, through honest interrogation? Fortunately, empathy and truth are not mutually exclusive. When I began my thesis, my poems written during MALS enrollment were scattered, print and electronic. I could have saved myself plenty of time had I been a good curator. So said, there was an upside to gathering the strays. I was afforded the benefit of thematic discovery – family history, marriage, professional boxing (my family was avid), perspectives on racism, and more. Certainly, the gathering together was essential, but this would not have been enough without my prose writing produced across the MALS curriculum: Writing Nature, Methodologies, Playwriting, Cultural Studies, and more. The prose writing, in many cases, spawned some of my best poems because that is where room for interrogation is plentiful. As I wrote and leaned into unflattering aspects of being human, I trusted readers’ independent interpretations. Here it is and now, in the ether, it is yours. The rewards of letting go did not come overnight. Collectively, my thesis readers encouraged, prodded, suggested, and emerged as highly trustworthy editors. The incremental advances toward my authentic voice owe much to their “powers of the unvarnished.” When I enrolled in the MALS – Creative Writing program in the spring of two-thousand-seventeen, I shared that my birth as a poet came through a simply worded poem by Countee Cullen, “Incident”. That was decades ago, and it remains the only poem, including any of my own, I can recite accurately from end to end. In Countee’s narrative, a little Black boy on a trip to Baltimore smiles at a similarly aged boy who responds with a racial epithet. My reaction in the moment: That speaks to me! I could be having a sunshine filled and joyful day, but somehow, one racial incident would eclipse all. And, so, I have written a thesis true to Countee Cullen

Letter from James Washington to James B. Finley

Washington encloses a Memorial from the Council of the Wyandot Nation. He asks Finley to present it on their behalf at the General Conference of 1848. Abstract Number - 780https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/finley-letters/2286/thumbnail.jp