String Theory and Particle Physics: An Introduction to String Phenomenology

by Luis E. Ibáñez , Angel M. Uranga

• ISBN13: 9780521517522
• ISBN10: 0521517524
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

String theory is one of the most active branches of theoretical physics and has the potential to provide a unified description of all known particles and interactions. This book is a systematic introduction to the subject, focused on the detailed description of how string theory is connected to the real world of particle physics. Aimed at graduate students and researchers working in high energy physics, it provides explicit models of physics beyond the Standard Model. No prior knowledge of string theory is required as all necessary material is provided in the introductory chapters. The book provides particle phenomenologists with the information needed to understand string theory model building and describes in detail several alternative approaches to model building, such as heterotic string compactifications, intersecting D-brane models, D-branes at singularities and F-theory.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
The Standard Model and beyond	p. 1
The Standard Model of particle physics	p. 1
Grand Unified Theories	p. 4
The SM fine-tuning puzzles	p. 12
Extra dimensions	p. 18
Supersymmetry	p. 25
Four-dimensional N = 1 supersymmetry	p. 25
SUSY breaking	p. 32
N=1 Supergravity	p. 35
Extended supersymmetry and supergravity	p. 37
Non-perturbative dynamics in supersymmetric theories	p. 41
Low-energy supersymmetry and the MSSM	p. 44
Introduction to string theory: the bosonic string	p. 62
Generalities	p. 63
Closed bosonic string	p. 72
Open bosonic string	p. 91
Unoriented bosonic string theory	p. 97
Superstrings	p. 103
Fermions on the worldsheet	p. 103
Type II string theories	p. 104
Heterotic string theories	p. 117
Type I string theory	p. 126
Summary	p. 134
Toroidal compactification of superstrings	p. 136
Type EI superstrings	p. 136
Heterotic superstrings	p. 141
Type I toroidal compactification and D-branes	p. 146
Branes and string duality	p. 155
D-branes in string theory	p. 155
Supergravity description of non-perturbative states	p. 165
Strings at strong coupling and 10d string duality	p. 168
AdS/CFT and gauge/gravity dualities	p. 178
Brane-antibrane systems and non-BPS D-branes	p. 180
Calabi-Yau compactification of heterotic superstrings	p. 185
A road map for string compactifications	p. 185
Generalities on Calabi-Yau compactification	p. 186
Heterotic CY compactifications: standard embedding	p. 199
Heterotic CY compactifications: non-standard embedding	p. 206
CY compactifications of Horava-Witten theory	p. 211
Heterotic string orbifolds and other exact CFT constructions	p. 215
Toroidal orbifolds	p. 215
Heterotic compactification on toroidal orbifolds	p. 218
Non-standard embeddings and Wilson lines	p. 235
Asymmetric orbifolds	p. 242
The fermionic construction	p. 246
Gepner models	p. 252
Heterotic string compactifications: effective action	p. 264
A first look at the heterotic 4d N = 1 effective action	p. 264
Heterotic M-theory effective action	p. 272
Effective action of orbifold models	p. 273
Gauge couplings and Kac-Moody level	p. 280
Anomalous U/(1)s and Fayet-Illiopoulos terms	p. 282
T-duality and the effective action	p. 286
Orbifold model building revisited	p. 293
Higher Kac-Moody level models and string GUTs	p. 296
Type IIA orientifolds: intersecting brane worlds	p. 298
Type E on CY and orientifolding	p. 298
Intersecting D6-branes in flat 10d space	p. 302
Compactification and an example of a toroidal model	p. 306
Introducing O6-planes	p. 314
Non-supersymmetric particle physics models	p. 320
Supersymmetric particle physics models in T6/Z2 × Z2 orientifolds	p. 325
Generalizations and related constructions	p. 329
Type IIB orientifolds	p. 340
Generalities of type IIB orientifold actions	p. 340
Type IIB toroidal orientifolds	p. 341
D-branes at singularities	p. 356
Magnetized D-brane models	p. 370
F-theory model building	p. 381
Type II compactifications: effective action	p. 396
The closed string moduli in type II orientifolds	p. 396
Kähler metrics of matter fields in toroidal orientifolds	p. 404
The gauge kinetic function	p. 408
U(1)'s and FI terms	p. 412
Superpotentials and Yukawa couplings in type II orientifolds	p. 416
Effective action of an MSSM-like example	p. 426
Yukawa couplings in local F-theory models	p. 429
String instantons and effective field theory	p. 432
Instantons in field theory and string theory	p. 432
Fermion zero modes for D-brane instantons	p. 441
Phenomenological applications	p. 446
Flux compatifications and moduli stabilization	p. 455
Type ITB with 3-form fluxes	p. 455
Fluxes in type II toroidal orientifolds	p. 467
D-branes and fluxes	p. 475
Mirror symmetry, T-duality, and non-geometric fluxes	p. 479
Fluxes in other string constructions	p. 482
Moduli stabilization and supersymmetry breaking in string theory	p. 483
SUSY and SUSY breaking in string compactifications	p. 483
SUSY breaking and moduli fixing in heterotic models	p. 485
SUSY breaking and moduli fixing in type II orientifolds	p. 489
Soft terms from fluxes in type IIB orientifolds	p. 495
General parametrization of moduli/dilaton induced SUSY breaking	p. 501
Modulus/dilaton dominated SUSY breaking spectra and the LHC	p. 510
Other mediation mechanisms in string theory	p. 515
Further phenomenological properties. Strings and cosmology	p. 518
Scales and unification in string theory	p. 518
Axions in string theory	p. 528
R-parity and B/L-violation	p. 531
Extra U(1) gauge bosons	p. 534
Strings at the weak scale	p. 540
Strings and cosmology	p. 543
The space of string vacua	p. 558
General properties of the massless spectrum in string compactifications	p. 558
The flavour landscape	p. 566
The flux landscape	p. 570
Outlook	p. 573
Modular functions	p. 576
Some topological tools	p. 579
Forms and cycles: cohomology and homology	p. 579
Hodge dual	p. 584
Application: p-form gauge fields	p. 585
Homotopy groups	p. 588
Spectrum and charges of a semi-realistic Z3 heterotic orbifold	p. 589
Computation of RR tadpoles	p. 592
RR tadpoles in type I theory	p. 592
Tadpoles for T6/ZN type HB orientifolds	p. 595
CFT toolkit	p. 597
Conformal symmetry and conformal fields	p. 597
Vertex operators and structure of scattering amplitudes	p. 599
Kac-Moody algebras	p. 602
N = 2 superconformal field theories	p. 604
Rational conformal field theory and simple currents	p. 604
Bibliography	p. 608
References	p. 624
Index	p. 657
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