arXiv subjects

A. N. Schellekens

Publications and source records attributed to A. N. Schellekens.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Fixed Point Resolution in Extensions of Permutation Orbifolds

We determine the simple currents and fixed points of the orbifold theory $CFT\otimes CFT/\mathbb{Z}_2$, given the simple currents and fixed point of the original $CFT$. We see in detail how this works for the $SU(2)_k$ WZW model, focusing on the field content (i.e. $h$-spectrum of the primary fields) of the theory. We also look at the fixed point resolution of the simple current extended orbifold theory and determine the $S^J$ matrices associated to each simple current for $SU(2)_2$ and for the $B(n)_1$ and $D(n)_1$ series.

hep-th↗

arXiv2008

Non-supersymmetric Orientifolds of Gepner Models

Starting from a previously collected set of tachyon-free closed strings, we search for N=2 minimal model orientifold spectra which contain the standard model and are free of tachyons and tadpoles at lowest order. For each class of tachyon-free closed strings -- bulk supersymmetry, automorphism invariants or Klein bottle projection -- we do indeed find non-supersymmetric and tachyon free chiral brane configurations that contain the standard model. However, a tadpole-cancelling hidden sector could only be found in the case of bulk supersymmetry. Although about half of the examples we have found make use of branes that break the bulk space-time supersymmetry, the resulting massless open string spectra are nevertheless supersymmetric in all cases. Dropping the requirement that the standard model be contained in the spectrum, we find chiral tachyon and tadpole-free solutions in all three cases, although in the case of bulk supersymmetry all massless spectra are supersymmetric. In the other two cases we find truly non-supersymmetric spectra, but a large fraction of them are nevertheless partly or fully supersymmetric at the massless level.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Non-supersymmetric Tachyon-free Type-II and Type-I Closed Strings from RCFT

We consider non-supersymmetric four-dimensional closed string theories constructed out of tensor products of N=2 minimal models. Generically such theories have closed string tachyons, but these may be removed either by choosing a non-trivial partition function or a suitable Klein bottle projection. We find large numbers of examples of both types.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Instanton Induced Neutrino Majorana Masses in CFT Orientifolds with MSSM-like spectra

Recently it has been shown that string instanton effects may give rise to neutrino Majorana masses in certain classes of semi-realistic string compactifications. In this paper we make a systematic search for supersymmetric MSSM-like Type II Gepner orientifold constructions admitting boundary states associated with instantons giving rise to neutrino Majorana masses and other L- and/or B-violating operators. We analyze the zero mode structure of D-brane instantons on general type II orientifold compactifications, and show that only instantons with O(1) symmetry can have just the two zero modes required to contribute to the 4d superpotential. We however discuss how the addition of fluxes and/or possible non-perturbative extensions of the orientifold compactifications would allow also instantons with $Sp(2)$ and U(1) symmetries to generate such superpotentials. In the context of Gepner orientifolds with MSSM-like spectra, we find no models with O(1) instantons with just the required zero modes to generate a neutrino mass superpotential. On the other hand we find a number of models in one particular orientifold of the Gepner model $(2,4,22,22)$ with $Sp(2)$ instantons with a few extra uncharged non-chiral zero modes which could be easily lifted by the mentioned effects. A few more orientifold examples are also found under less stringent constraints on the zero modes. This class of $Sp(2)$ instantons have the interesting property that R-parity conservation is automatic and the flavour structure of the neutrino Majorana mass matrices has a simple factorized form.

hep-th↗

arXiv2006

The Landscape "avant la lettre"

This is a translation of an inaugural speech given originally in Dutch in 1998. The topic of that speech, intended for a general audience, was what is now called "The Anthropic Landscape of String Theory".

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2006

Orientifolds, hypercharge embeddings and the Standard Model

The embedding of the SM hypercharge into an orientifold gauge group is studied. Possible embeddings are classified, and a systematic construction of bottom-up configurations and top-down orientifold vacua is achieved, solving the tadpole conditions in the context of Gepner orientifolds. Some hypercharge embeddings are strongly preferred compared to others. Configurations with chiral antisymmetric tensors are suppressed. We find among others, genuine examples of supersymmetric SU(5), flipped SU(5), Pati-Salam and trinification vacua with no chiral exotics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

Remarks on Global Anomalies in RCFT Orientifolds

We check the list of supersymmetric standard model orientifold spectra of Dijkstra, Huiszoon and Schellekens for the presence of global anomalies, using probe branes. Absence of global anomalies is found to impose strong constraints, but in nearly all cases they are automatically satisfied by the solutions to the tadpole cancellation conditions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

On Orientifolds of c=1 Orbifolds

The aim of this paper is to study orientifolds of c=1 conformal field theories. A systematic analysis of the allowed orientifold projections for c=1 orbifold conformal field theories is given. We compare the Klein bottle amplitudes obtained at rational points with the orientifold projections that we claim to be consistent for any value of the orbifold radius. We show that the recently obtained Klein bottle amplitudes corresponding to exceptional modular invariants, describing bosonic string theories at fractional square radius, are also in agreement with those orientifold projections.

hep-th↗

arXiv2004

Supersymmetric Standard Model Spectra from RCFT orientifolds

We present supersymmetric, tadpole-free d=4,N=1 orientifold vacua with a three family chiral fermion spectrum that is identical to that of the Standard Model. Starting with all simple current orientifolds of all Gepner models we perform a systematic search for such spectra. We consider several variations of the standard four-stack intersection brane realization of the standard model, with all quarks and leptons realized as bifundamentals and perturbatively exact baryon and lepton number symmetries, and with a U(1)_Y vector boson that does not acquire a mass from Green-Schwarz terms. The number of supersymmetric Higgs pairs H_1 + H_2 is left free. In order to cancel all tadpoles, we allow a "hidden" gauge group, which must bechirally decoupled from the standard model. We also allow for non-chiral mirror-pairs of quarks and leptons, non-chiral exotics and (possibly chiral) hidden, standard model singlet matter, as well as a massless B-L vector boson. All of these less desirable features are absent in some cases, although not simultaneously. In particular, we found cases with massless Chan-Paton gauge bosons generating nothing more than SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1). We obtain almost 180000 rationally distinct solutions (not counting hidden sector degrees of freedom), and present distributions of various quantities. We analyse the tree level gauge couplings, and find a large range of values, remarkably centered around the unification point.

hep-th↗

arXiv2004

Chiral Supersymmetric Standard Model Spectra from Orientifolds of Gepner Models

We construct d=4,N=1 orientifolds of Gepner models with just the chiral spectrum of the standard model. We consider all simple current modular invariants of c=9 tensor products of N=2 minimal models. For some very specific tensor combinations, and very specific modular invariants and orientifold projections, we find a large number of such spectra. We allow for standard model singlet (dark) matter and non-chiral exotics. The Chan-Paton gauge group is either U(3) x Sp(2) x U(1) x U(1) or U(3) x U(2) x U(1) x U(1). In many cases the standard model hypercharge U(1) has no coupling to RR 2-forms and hence remains massless; in some of those models the B-L gauge boson does acquire a mass.

hep-th↗

arXiv2002

Orientation matters for NIMreps

The problem of finding boundary states in CFT, often rephrased in terms of "NIMreps" of the fusion algebra, has a natural extension to CFT on non-orientable surfaces. This provides extra information that turns out to be quite useful to give the proper interpretation to a NIMrep. We illustrate this with several examples. This includes a rather detailed discussion of the interesting case of the simple current extension of A_2 level 9, which is already known to have a rich structure. This structure can be disentangled completely using orientation information. In particular we find here and in other cases examples of diagonal modular invariants that do not admit a NIMrep, suggesting that there does not exist a corresponding CFT. We obtain the complete set of NIMreps (plus Moebius and Klein bottle coefficients) for many exceptional modular invariants of WZW models, and find an explanation for the occurrence of more than one NIMrep in certain cases. We also (re)consider the underlying formalism, emphasizing the distinction between oriented and unoriented string annulus amplitudes, and the origin of orientation-dependent degeneracy matrices in the latter.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Geometry of WZW Orientifolds

We analyze unoriented Wess-Zumino-Witten models from a geometrical point of view. We show that the geometric interpretation of simple current crosscap states is as centre orientifold planes localized on conjugacy classes of the group manifold. We determine the locations and dimensions of these planes for arbitrary simply-connected groups and orbifolds thereof. The dimensions of the O-planes turn out to be given by the dimensions of symmetric coset manifolds based on regular embeddings. Furthermore, we give a geometrical interpretation of boundary conjugation in open unoriented WZW models; it yields D-branes together with their images under the orientifold projection. To find the agreement between O-planes and crosscap states, we find explicit answers for lattice extensions of Gaussian sums. These results allow us to express the modular P-matrix, which is directly related to the crosscap coefficient, in terms of characters of the horizontal subgroup of the affine Lie algebra. A corollary of this relation is that there exists a formal linear relation between the modular P- and the modular S-matrix.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Trace formulas for Annuli

Assuming the completeness condition for boundaries we derive trace formulas for the annulus coefficients in 2-dimensional conformal field theory. We also derive polynomial equations that relate the annulus, Moebius and Klein bottle coefficients, and conjecture an annulus trace formula that is sensitive to the orientation of the boundaries.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Open Descendents of U(2N) Orbifolds at Rational Radii

We construct explicitly the open descendants of some exceptional automorphism invariants of U(2N) orbifolds. We focus on the case N=pq, p and q prime, and on the automorphisms of the diagonal and charge conjugation invariants that exist for these values of N. These correspond to orbifolds of the circle with radius R^2=2p/q. For each automorphism invariant we find two consistent Klein bottles, and for each Klein bottle we find a complete (and probably unique) set of boundary states. The two Klein bottles are in each case related to each other by simple currents, but surprisingly for the automorphism of the charge conjugation invariant neither of the Klein bottle choices is the canonical (symmetric) one.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Boundaries, crosscaps and simple currents

Universal formulas for the boundary and crosscap coefficients are presented, which are valid for all symmetric simple current modifications of the charge conjugation invariant of any rational conformal field theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Crosscaps, Boundaries and T-Duality

Open descendants with boundaries and crosscaps of non-trivial automorphism type are studied. We focus on the case where the bulk symmetry is broken to a Z_2 orbifold subalgebra. By requiring positivity and integrality for the open sector, we derive a unique crosscap of automorphism type g \in Z_2 and a corresponding g-twisted Klein bottle for a charge conjugation invariant. As a specific example, we use T-duality to construct the descendants of the true diagonal invariant with symmetry preserving crosscaps and boundaries.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Open strings, simple currents and fixed points

Some applications of simple current techniques and fixed point resolution to theories of open strings are discussed. In addition to a brief review of work presented in two recent papers with L. Huiszoon and N. Sousa, some new results concerning uniqueness of crosscap coefficients are presented, as well as a strange sum rule for the modular matrix implied by the existence of crosscaps.

hep-th↗

arXiv1999

Open Descendants of Non-Diagonal Invariants

The open descendants of simple current automorphism invariants are constructed. We consider the case where the order of the current is two or odd. We prove that our solutions satisfy the completeness conditions, positivity and integrality of the open and closed sectors and the Klein bottle constraint (apart from an interesting exception). In order to do this, we derive some new relations between the tensor Y and the fixed point conformal field theory. Some non-standard Klein bottle projections are considered as well.

hep-th↗