In a class of F-theory SU(5) GUTs the low energy chiral mass spectrum is obtained from rank one fermion mass textures with a hierarchical structure organised by U(1) symmetries embedded in the exceptional E_8 group. In these theories chiral fields reside on matter `curves and the tree level masses are computed from integrals of overlapping wavefuctions of the particles at the triple intersection points. This calculation requires knowledge of the exact form of the wavefuctions. In this work we propose a way to obtain a reliable estimate of the various quantities which determine the strength of the Yukawa couplings. We use previous analysis of KK threshold effects to determine the (ratios of) heavy mass scales of the theory which are involved in the normalization of the wave functions. We consider similar effects from the chiral spectrum of these models and discuss possible constraints on the emerging matter content. In this approach, we find that the Yukawa couplings can be determined solely from the U(1) charges of the states in the `intersection and the torsion which is a topological invariant quantity. We apply the results to a viable SU(5) model with minimal spectrum which satisfies all the constraints imposed by our analysis. We use renormalization group analysis to estimate the top and bottom masses and find that they are in agreement with the experimental values.
The calculation of Yukawa couplings in F-theory GUTs is developed. The method is applied to the top and bottom Yukawa couplings in an SU(5) model of fermion masses based on family symmetries coming from the SU(5)_perp factor in the underlying E(8) theory. The remaining Yukawa couplings involving the light quark generations are determined by the Froggatt Nielsen non-renormalisable terms generated by heavy messenger states. We extend the calculation of Yukawa couplings to include massive states and estimate the full up and down quark mass matrices in the SU(5) model. We discuss the new features of the resulting structure compared to what is usually assumed for Abelian family symmetry models and show how the model can give a realistic quark mass matrix structure. We extend the analysis to the neutrino sector masses and mixing where we find that tri-bi-maximal mixing is readily accommodated. Finally we discuss mechanisms for splitting the degeneracy between the charged leptons and the down quarks and the doublet triplet splitting in the Higgs sector.
We explore the low energy implications of an F-theory inspired $E_6$ model whose breaking yields, in addition to the MSSM gauge symmetry, a $Z$ gauge boson associated with a $U(1)$ symmetry broken at the TeV scale. The zero mode spectrum of the effective low energy theory is derived from the decomposition of the $27$ and $overline{27}$ representations of $E_6$ and we parametrise their multiplicities in terms of a minimum number of flux parameters. We perform a two-loop renormalisation group analysis of the gauge and Yukawa couplings of the effective theory model and estimate lower bounds on the new vectorlike particles predicted in the model. We compute the third generation Yukawa couplings in an F-theory context assuming an $E_8$ point of enhancement and express our results in terms of the local flux densities associated with the gauge symmetry breaking. We find that their values are compatible with the ones computed by the renormalisation group equations, and we identify points in the parameter space of the flux densities where the $t-b-tau$ Yukawa couplings unify.
We explore the gauge coupling relations and the unification scale in F-theory SU(5) GUT broken down to the Standard Model by an internal U(1)Y gauge flux. We consider variants with exotic matter representations which may appear in these constructions and investigate their role in the effective field theory model. We make a detailed investigation on the conditions imposed on the extraneous matter to raise the unification scale and make the color triplets heavy in order to avoid fast proton decay. We also discuss in brief the implications on the gaugino masses.
We discuss F-theory SU(5) GUTs in which some or all of the quark and lepton families are assigned to different curves and family symmetry enforces a leading order rank one structure of the Yukawa matrices. We consider two possibilities for the suppression of baryon and lepton number violation. The first is based on Flipped SU(5) with gauge group SU(5)times U(1)_chi times SU(4)_{perp} in which U(1)_{chi} plays the role of a generalised matter parity. We present an example which, after imposing a Z_2 monodromy, has a U(1)_{perp}^2 family symmetry. Even in the absence of flux, spontaneous breaking of the family symmetry leads to viable quark, charged lepton and neutrino masses and mixing. The second possibility has an R-parity associated with the symmetry of the underlying compactification manifold and the flux. We construct an example of a model with viable masses and mixing angles based on the gauge group SU(5)times SU(5)_{perp} with a U(1)_{perp}^3 family symmetry after imposing a Z_2 monodromy.
In this presentation the new physics implications of the $B$-meson decay anomalies, observed at LHCb, are discussed. In the first part of the talk a brief overview of the experimental status is presented. In the second part, a class of semi-local F-theory GUT models with additional neutral gauge bosons are proposed which are capable of accounting for the anomalous $B$-decay ratios $R_{K}$ and $R_{K^*}$