No Arabic abstract
Besides the string scale, string theory has no parameter except some quantized flux values; and the string theory Landscape is generated by scanning over discrete values of all the flux parameters present. We propose that a typical (normalized) probability distribution $P({cal Q})$ of a physical quantity $cal Q$ (with nonnegative dimension) tends to peak (diverge) at ${cal Q}=0$ as a signature of string theory. In the Racetrack Kahler uplift model, where $P(Lambda)$ of the cosmological constant $Lambda$ peaks sharply at $Lambda=0$, the electroweak scale (not the electroweak model) naturally emerges when the median $Lambda$ is matched to the observed value. We check the robustness of this scenario. In a bottom-up approach, we find that the observed quark and charged lepton masses are consistent with the same probabilistic philosophy, with distribution $P(m)$ that diverges at $m=0$, with the same (or almost the same) degree of divergence. This suggests that the Standard Model has an underlying string theory description, and yields relations among the fermion masses, albeit in a probabilistic approach (very different from the usual sense). Along this line of reasoning, the normal hierarchy of neutrino masses is clearly preferred over the inverted hierarchy, and the sum of the neutrino masses is predicted to be $sum m_{ u} simeq 0.0592$ eV, with an upper bound $sum m_{ u} <0.066$ eV. This illustrates a novel way string theory can be applied to particle physics phenomenology.
Leptoquarks extending the Standard Model (SM) are attracting an increasing attention in the recent literature. Hence, the identification of 4D SM-like models and the classification of allowed leptoquarks from strings is an important step in the study of string phenomenology. We perform the most extensive search for SM-like models from the non-supersymmetric heterotic string $mathrm{SO}(16)timesmathrm{SO}(16)$, resulting in more than 170,000 inequivalent promising string models from 138 Abelian toroidal orbifolds. We explore the 4D massless particle spectra of these models in order to identify all exotics beside the three generations of quarks and leptons. Hereby, we learn which leptoquark can be realized in this string setup. Moreover, we analyze the number of SM Higgs doublets which is generically larger than one. Then, we identify SM-like models with a minimal particle content. These so-called almost SM models appear most frequently in the orbifold geometries $mathbb Z_2timesmathbb Z_4$ (2,4) and (1,6). Finally, we apply machine learning to our dataset in order to predict the orbifold geometry where a given particle spectrum can be found most likely.
We consider a decay of a false vacuum in flux compactifications of type IIB string theory and study a catalytic effect for a phase transition induced by a new type of impurities. We concentrate on the large N dual of a D5-brane/anti-D5-brane system which has a rich vacuum structure. We show that D3-branes wrapping the 3-cycles can form a dibaryon and make a bound state with a monopole. We find that these baryon-like objects can make the lifetime of the metastable vacuum shorter.
We analyse the structure of Yukawa couplings in local SU(5) F-theory models with $E_7$ enhancement. These models are the minimal setting in which the whole flavour structure for the MSSM charged fermions is encoded in a small region of the entire compactification space. In this setup the $E_7$ symmetry is broken down to SU(5) by means of a 7-brane T-brane background, and further to the MSSM gauge group by means of a hypercharge flux that also implements doublet-triplet splitting. At tree-level only one family of quarks and charged leptons is massive, while the other two obtain hierarchically smaller masses when stringy non-perturbative effects are taken into account. We find that there is a unique $E_7$ model with such hierarchical flavour structure. The relative simplicity of the model allows to perform the computation of Yukawa couplings for a region of its parameter space wider than previous attempts, obtaining realistic fermion masses and mixings for large parameter regions. Our results are also valid for local models with $E_8$ enhancement, pointing towards a universal structure to describe realistic fermion masses within this framework.
We obtain constraints from black hole superradiance in an ensemble of compactifications of type IIB string theory. The constraints require knowing only the axion masses and self-interactions, and are insensitive to the cosmological model. We study more than $2 cdot 10^5$ Calabi-Yau manifolds with Hodge numbers $1leq h^{1,1}leq 491$ and compute the axion spectrum at two reference points in moduli space for each geometry. Our computation of the classical theory is explicit, while for the instanton-generated axion potential we use a conservative model. The measured properties of astrophysical black holes exclude parts of our dataset. At the point in moduli space corresponding to the tip of the stretched K{a}hler cone, we exclude $approx 50%$ of manifolds in our sample at 95% C.L., while further inside the K{a}hler cone, at an extremal point for realising the Standard Model, we exclude a maximum of $approx 7%$ of manifolds at $h^{1,1}=11$, falling to nearly zero by $h^{1,1}=100$.
We investigate flux vacua on a variety of one-parameter Calabi-Yau compactifications, and find many examples that are connected through continuous monodromy transformations. For these, we undertake a detailed analysis of the tunneling dynamics and find that tunneling trajectories typically graze the conifold point---particular 3-cycles are forced to contract during such vacuum transitions. Physically, these transitions arise from the competing effects of minimizing the energy for brane nucleation (facilitating a change in flux), versus the energy cost associated with dynamical changes in the periods of certain Calabi-Yau 3-cycles. We find that tunneling only occurs when warping due to back-reaction from the flux through the shrinking cycle is properly taken into account.