Higgs--Matter splitting in quasi-realistic orbifold string GUTs

Standard SUSY-GUTs such as those based on $SU(5)$ or $SO(10)$ lead to predictions for the values of $\alpha _s$ and $sin^2\theta _W$ in amazing agreement with experiment. In this article we investigate how these models may be obtained from string theory, thus bringing them into the only known consistent framework for quantum gravity. String models with matter in standard GUT representations require the realization of affine Lie algebras at higher levels. We start by describin...

With the apparent discovery of the Higgs boson, the Standard Model has been confirmed as the theory accounting for all sub-atomic phenomena. This observation lends further credence to the perturbative unification in Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) and string theories. The free fermionic formalism yielded fertile ground for the construction of quasi--realistic heterotic--string models, which correspond to toroidal Z2xZ2 orbifold compactifications. In this paper we study a new cl...

We review the possibility that the Supersymmetric Standard Model arises from orbifold constructions of the E_8 x E_8 Heterotic Superstring, and the phenomenological properties that such a model should have. In particular, trying to solve the discrepancy between the unification scale predicted by the Heterotic Superstring (g_{GUT}x5.27x10^{17} GeV) and the value deduced from LEP experiments (2x10^{16} GeV), we will predict the presence at low energies of three families of Higg...

An overview of old and new results in studies of the quasi-realistic free fermionic models is presented, which include the recent discovery of exophobic string vacua and reproduction of the Higgs-matter splitting mechanism in a corresponding orbifold construction.

We generalize the rules for the free fermionic string construction to include other asymmetric orbifolds with world-sheet bosons. We use these rules to construct various grand unified string models that involve level-3 current algebras. We present the explicit construction of three classes of 3-chiral-family grand unified models in the heterotic string theory. Each model has 5 left-handed, and two right-handed families, and an adjoint Higgs. Two of them are SO(10) and the thi...

I introduce a class of string constructions based on asymmetric orbifolds leading to level two models. In particular, I derive in detail various models with gauge groups $E_6$ and SO(10), including a four generation $E_6$ model with two adjoint representations. The occurrence of multiple adjoint representations is a generic feature of the construction. In the course of describing this approach, I will address the problem of twist phases in higher twisted sectors of asymmetric...

Grand unified models in four dimensions typically suffer from the doublet-triplet splitting problem. This obstacle can be overcome in higher-dimensional settings, where a non-trivial gauge group topography can explain the simultaneous appearance of complete standard model generations in the form of 16-plets of SO(10) and the Higgs fields as split multiplets. In these notes, the emerging scheme of `local grand unification' and its realization in the context of orbifold compact...

I discuss how effective grand unified theories requiring adjoint Higgs fields for breaking to the standard model can be contained within string theory. Initial findings are presented in a search for and classification of effective three generation SO(10) SUSY-GUT models built using the free-fermionic string approach. Based on talk presented at PASCOS '94, Syracuse, NY.

In supersymmetric extensions of the standard model there is no basic difference between Higgs and matter fields, which leads to the well known problem of potentially large baryon and lepton number violating interactions. Although these unwanted couplings can be forbidden by continuous or discrete global symmetries, a theoretical guiding principle for their choice is missing. We examine this problem for a class of vacua of the heterotic string compactified on an orbifold. As e...

Using the bosonic supercurrent (or covariant lattice) formalism, we review how to compute scattering amplitudes in asymmetric orbifold string models. This method is particularly useful for calculating scattering of multiple asymmetrically twisted string states, where the twisted states are rewritten as ordinary momentum states. We show how to reconstruct some of the 3-family grand unified string models in this formalism, and identify the quantum numbers of the massless states...