Geometry of Particle Physics

We map out possible extensions of the MSSM in the context of type II string theory. We systematically investigate three-stack and four-stack quivers which realize the MSSM spectrum with the addition of a single MSSM singlet S with an allowed S H_u H_d term, which can lead to a dynamical electroweak-scale mu-term. We present the three quivers which satisfy stringent string-theoretic and phenomenological constraints, including the presence of non-zero masses for all three famil...

In this thesis, we study aspects of D-brane realizations of the Standard Model. Specifically, we study orientifold models with rotation and translation elements that break supersymmetry, provide the general consistency conditions and derive the massless spectrum for these type of orientifolds. These models contain in general anomalous U(1) gauge fields. The Green-Schwarz mechanism cancels the anomaly and provides a mass term for the anomalous gauge fields. We calculate the ba...

We address the question of the possible existence of massive gauge bosons beyond the $W^{\pm}$ and $Z^{0}$ of the standard model. Our intuitive and aesthetic approach is based on quiver theory. Examples thereof arise, for example, from compactification of the type IIB superstring on $AdS_5 \times S_5/ Z_n$ orbifolds. We explore the quiver theory framework more generally than string theory. The practical question is what gauge bosons to look for at the upgraded LHC, in terms o...

When $n$ M5 branes coincide on an A type singularity, $\mathbb{C}^2/\mathbb{Z}_k$, there is a multitude of tensionless strings which arise in the spectrum. The low energy theory when all M5 branes are separated at the singularity is given by a linear quiver with parameters $n$ and $k$. The theory has a multitude of phases, as many as partitions of $n$, each characterized by a different Higgs branch. Each such Higgs branch can be described by a Coulomb branch of a 3d $\mathcal...

We describe the general geometrical framework of brane world constructions in orientifolds of type IIA string theory with D6-branes wrapping 3-cycles in a Calabi-Yau 3-fold, and point out their immediate phenomenological relevance. These branes generically intersect in points, and the patterns of intersections govern the chiral fermion spectra and issues of gauge and supersymmetry breaking in the low energy effective gauge theory on their world volume. In particular, we provi...

From the quantum field theory point of view, matter and gauge fields are generally expected to be localised around branes or topological defects occurring in extra dimensions. Here I discuss a simple scenario where, by starting with a five dimensional SU(3) gauge theory, we end up with several 4-D parallel branes with localised "chiral" fermions and gauge fields to them. I will show that it is possible to reproduce the electroweak model confined to a single brane, allowing a ...

This paper extends and builds upon the results of an earlier paper, in which we described how to use the tools of geometrical engineering to deform geometrically-engineered grand unified models into ones with lower symmetry. This top-down unfolding has the advantage that the relative positions of singularities giving rise to the many `low energy' matter fields are related by only a few parameters which deform the geometry of the unified model. And because the relative positio...

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 an...

The physics of M5 branes placed near an M9 plane on an A-type ALE singularity exhibits a variety of phenomena that introduce additional massless degrees of freedom. There are tensionless strings whenever two M5 branes coincide or whenever an M5 brane approaches the M9 plane. These systems do not admit a low-energy Lagrangian description so new techniques are desirable to shed light on the physics of these phenomena. The 6-dimensional N=(1,0) world-volume theory on the M5 bran...

A fourth generation of Standard Model (SM) fermions is usually considered unlikely due to constraints from direct searches, electroweak precision measurements, and perturbative unitarity. We show that fermion mass textures consistent with all constraints may be obtained naturally in a model with four generations constructed from intersecting D6 branes on a T^6/(Z_2 x Z_2) orientifold. The Yukawa matrices of the model are rank 2, so that only the third- and fourth-generation f...