Grand Unification in the Heterotic Brane World

Abstract

The compactification of the heterotic string on six-dimensional orbifolds is reviewed. Some important technical aspects of their construction are clarified and new parameters, called generalized discrete torsion, are introduced and related to the torsionless construction. Furthermore, a systematic search for MSSM-like models is performed in the context of Z6-II orbifolds, addressing questions like the identification of a supersymmetric vacuum with a naturally small mu-term and proton decay. Finally, the blow-up of Z3 singularities is discussed in the local and in the global case - also in the presence of Wilson lines. This procedure is exemplified with the resolution of a Z3 MSSM candidate.

134 pages, Ph.D. Thesis (Advisor: Hans Peter Nilles)

References in corpus (14)

• The Anthropic Landscape of String Theory
• A Mini-Landscape of Exact MSSM Spectra in Heterotic Orbifolds
• Stringy origin of non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries
• The Heterotic Road to the MSSM with R parity
• (Non-)Abelian discrete anomalies
• Large hierarchies from approximate R symmetries
• Low Energy Supersymmetry from the Heterotic Landscape
• Seesaw Neutrinos from the Heterotic String
• Toric Resolutions of Heterotic Orbifolds
• Multiple anomalous U(1)s in heterotic blow-ups
• The Geometer's Toolkit to String Compactifications
• Discrete R-symmetry anomalies in heterotic orbifold models
• Resolved Toroidal Orbifolds and their Orientifolds
• Can String Theory Predict the Weinberg Angle?