arXiv subjects

Boris Kors

Publications and source records attributed to Boris Kors.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Hybrid Inflation in Intersecting Brane Worlds

Non-supersymmetric brane world scenarios in string theory display perturbative instabilities that usually involve run-away potentials for scalar moduli fields. We investigate in the framework of intersecting brane worlds whether the leading order scalar potential for the closed string moduli allows to satisfy the slow-rolling conditions required for applications in inflationary cosmology. Adopting a particular choice of basis in field space and assuming mechanisms to stabilize some of the scalars, we find that slow-rolling conditions can be met very generically. In intersecting brane worlds inflation can end nearly instantaneously like in the hybrid inflation scenario due to the appearance of open string tachyons localized at the intersection of two branes, which signal a corresponding phase transition in the gauge theory via the condensation of a Higgs field.

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arXiv2002

Fluxes and Branes in Type II Vacua and M-theory Geometry with G(2) and Spin(7) Holonomy

We discuss fluxes of RR and NSNS background fields in type II string compactifications on non-compact Calabi-Yau threefolds together with their dual brane description which involves bound states of branes. Simultaneously turning on RR and NSNS 2-form fluxes in an 1/2 supersymmetric way can be geometrically described in M-theory by a SL(2,Z) family of metrics of G(2) holonomy. On the other hand, if the flux configuration only preserves 1/4 of supersymmetries, we postulate the existence of a new eight-dimensional manifold with spin(7) holonomy, which does not seem to fit into the classes of known examples. The latter situation is dual to a 1/4 supersymmetric web of branes on the deformed conifold. In addition to the 2-form fluxes, we also present some considerations on type IIA NSNS 4-form and 6-form fluxes.

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arXiv2002

Moduli Stabilization for Intersecting Brane Worlds in Type 0' String Theory

Starting from the non-supersymmetric, tachyon-free orientifold of type 0 string theory, we construct four-dimensional brane world models with D6-branes intersecting at angles on internal tori. They support phenomenologically interesting gauge theories with chiral fermions. Despite the theory being non-supersymmetric the perturbative scalar potential induced at leading order is shown to stabilize geometric moduli, leaving only the dilaton tadpole uncanceled. As an example we present a three generation model with gauge group and fermion spectrum close to a left-right symmetric extension of the Standard Model.

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arXiv2001

Intersecting Brane Worlds on Tori and Orbifolds

We review the construction and phenomenology of intersecting brane worlds. The breaking of chiral and supersymmetry together with a reduction of gauge symmetry by introducing D-branes at generic angles into type I or type II string compactifications is taken as a starting point for the engineering of phenomenologically appealing four-dimensional vacua. Examples that come very close to Standard Model and GUT physics are considered and issues like the cancellation of anomalies and the emergence of global symmetries studied in some detail. Concerning the gravitational backreaction, the perturbative potential generated at the disc level is shown to lead to a run-away instability of geometric moduli within the purely toroidal compactifications. It can at least partly be avoided in certain orbifold vacua, where the relevant moduli are frozen. These more restricted models still possess sufficient freedom to find semi-realistic brane world orbifolds.

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arXiv2001

The Standard Model from Stable Intersecting Brane World Orbifolds

We analyze the perturbative stability of non-supersymmetric intersecting brane world models on tori. Besides the dilaton tadpole, a dynamical instability in the complex structure moduli space occurs at string disc level, which drives the background geometry to a degenerate limit. We show that in certain orbifold models this latter instability is absent as the relevant moduli are frozen. We construct explicit examples of such orbifold intersecting brane world models and discuss the phenomenological implications of a three generation Standard Model which descends naturally from an SU(5) GUT theory. It turns out that various phenomenological issues require the string scale to be at least of the order of the GUT scale. As a major difference compared to the Standard Model, some of the Yukawa couplings are excluded so that the standard electroweak Higgs mechanism with a fundamental Higgs scalar is not realized in this set-up.

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arXiv2001

Fluxes in Heterotic and Type II String Compactifications

In this paper we consider heterotic compactifications on K3 x T2 as well as type II compactifications on K3-fibred Calabi-Yau spaces with certain fluxes for the gauge and RR field strengths F and H turned on. By providing an identification of corresponding fluxes we show that the well-known N=2 heterotic/type II string-string duality still holds for a subset of all possible fluxes, namely those which arise from six-dimensional gauge fields with internal magnetic flux on the common two-sphere P1, which is the base space of the type II K3-fibration. On the other hand, F- and H-fluxes without P1-support, such as heterotic F-fluxes on the torus T2 or type II H-fluxes on cycles of the K3-fibre cannot be matched in any simple way, which is a challenge for heterotic/type II string-string duality. Our analysis is based on the comparison of terms in the effective low-energy heterotic and type II actions which are induced by the fluxes, such as the Green-Schwarz couplings related to flux-induced U(1) anomalies, the effective superpotential and the Fayet-Iliopoulos scalar potential.

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arXiv2001

Non-commutative D- and M-brane Bound States

We analyze certain brane bound states in M-theory and their descendants in type IIA string theory, all involving 3-form or 2-form background fluxes. Among them are configurations which represent NCYM, NCOS and ODp-theories in the scaling limit of OM-theory. In particular, we show how the conditions for the embedding to preserve supersymmetry are modified by the presence of the flux and discuss their relations for the various different bound states. Via the formalism of geometric quantization such a deformation of a supersymmetric cycle is related to a non-commutativity of its coordinates. We also study possible non-commutative deformations of the Seiberg-Witten curve of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories due to non-trivial H-flux.

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arXiv2000

Type I Strings with F- and B-Flux

We present non-supersymmetric toroidal compactifications of type I string theory with both constant background NSNS two-form flux and non-trivial magnetic flux on the various D9-branes. The non-vanishing B-flux admits four-dimensional models with three generations of chiral fermions in standard model like gauge groups. Additionally, we consider the orbifold T^4/Z_2, again with both kinds of background flux present, leading to non-supersymmetric as well as supersymmetric models in six dimensions. All models have T-dual descriptions as intersecting brane worlds.

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arXiv2000

Magnetic Flux in Toroidal Type I Compactification

We discuss the compactification of type I strings on a torus with additional background gauge flux on the D9-branes. The solutions to the cancellation of the RR tadpoles display various phenomenologically attractive features: supersymmetry breaking, chiral fermions and the opportunity to reduce the rank of the gauge group as desired. We also point out the equivalence of the concept of various different background fields and noncommutative deformations of the geometry on the individual D9-branes by constructing the relevant boundary states to describe such objects.

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arXiv2000

Noncommutative Compactifications of Type I Strings on Tori with Magnetic Background Flux

We construct six- and four-dimensional toroidal compactifications of the Type I string with magnetic flux on the D-branes. The open strings in this background probe a noncommutative internal geometry. Phenomenologically appealing features such as chiral fermions and supersymmetry breaking in the gauge sector are naturally realized by these vacua. We investigate the spectra of such noncommutative string compactifications and in a bottom-up approach discuss the possibility to obtain the standard or some GUT like model.

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arXiv2000

Two-loop Feynman Diagrams in Yang-Mills Theory from Bosonic String Amplitudes

We present intermediate results of an ongoing investigation which attempts a generalization of the well known one-loop Bern Kosower rules of Yang-Mills theory to higher loop orders. We set up a general procedure to extract the field theoretical limit of bosonic open string diagrams, based on the sewing construction of higher loop world sheets. It is tested with one- and two-loop scalar field theory, as well as one-loop and two-loop vacuum Yang-Mills diagrams, reproducing earlier results. It is then applied to two-loop two-point Yang-Mills diagrams in order to extract universal renormalization coefficients that can be compared to field theory. While developing numerous technical tools to compute the relevant contributions, we hit upon important conceptual questions: Do string diagrams reproduce Yang-Mills Feynman diagrams in a certain preferred gauge? Do they employ a certain preferred renormalization scheme? Are four gluon vertices related to three gluon vertices? Unfortunately, our investigations remained inconclusive up to now.

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arXiv2000

Asymmetric Orbifolds, Noncommutative Geometry and Type I String Vacua

We investigate the D-brane contents of asymmetric orbifolds. Using T-duality we find that the consistent description of open strings in asymmetric orbifolds requires to turn on background gauge fields on the D-branes. We derive the corresponding noncommutative geometry arising on such D-branes with mixed Neumann-Dirichlet boundary conditions directly by applying an asymmetric rotation to open strings with pure Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions. As a concrete application of our results we construct asymmetric type I vacua requiring open strings with mixed boundary conditions for tadpole cancellation.

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arXiv2000

A New Class of Supersymmetric Orientifolds with D-Branes at Angles

We describe a new class of supersymmetric orientifolds which combine the world-sheet parity transformation with a complex conjugation in the compact directions. As an example, we investigate in detail the orientifold of the Z_3 toroidal orbifold in six and four dimensions. We demonstrate how the solution to the tadpole cancellation conditions, the resulting gauge groups and the massless spectra depend on the choice of the complex structures on the tori, giving rise to a variety of inequivalent models. We also summarize the results for the orientifolds of the Z_4, Z_6 and Z_6' orbifolds in four and six dimensions.

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arXiv2000

Supersymmetric 4D Orientifolds of Type IIA with D6-branes at Angles

We study a certain class of four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric orientifolds for which the world-sheet parity transformation is combined with a complex conjugation in the compact directions. We investigate in detail the orientifolds of the Z_3, Z_4, Z_6 and Z_6' toroidal orbifolds finding solutions to the tadpole cancellation conditions for all models. Generically, all the massless spectra turn out to be non-chiral.

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arXiv1999

Supersymmetric Orientifolds in 6D with D-Branes at Angles

We study a new class of N=1 supersymmetric orientifolds in six space-time dimensions. The world-sheet parity transformation is combined with a permutation of the internal complex coordinates. In contrast to ordinary orientifolds the twisted sectors contribute to the Klein bottle amplitude leading to new tadpoles to be cancelled by twisted open string sectors. They arise from open strings stretched between D7-branes intersecting at non-trivial angles. We study in detail the Z_3, Z_4 and Z_6 permutational orientifolds obtaining in all cases anomaly free massless spectra.

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arXiv1999

D-brane Spectra of Nonsupersymmetric, Asymmetric Orbifolds and Nonperturbative Contributions to the Cosmological Constant

We study nonperturbative aspects of asymmetric orbifolds of type IIA, focussing on models that allow a dual perturbative heterotic description. In particular we derive the boundary states that describe the nonsupersymmetric D-branes of the untwisted sector and their zero mode spectra. These we use to demonstrate, how some special non BPS multiplets are identified under the duality map, and give some indications, how the mismatch of bosons and fermions in the perturbative heterotic spectrum is to be interpreted in terms of the nonperturbative degrees of freedom on the type IIA side.

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arXiv1999

Recent Developments in String Theory: From Perturbative Dualities to M-Theory

These lectures intend to give a pedagogical introduction into some of the developments in string theory during the last years. They include perturbative T-duality and non perturbative S- and U-dualities, their unavoidable demand for D-branes, an example of enhanced gauge symmetry at fixed points of the T-duality group, a review of classical solitonic solutions in general relativity, gauge theories and tendimensional supergravity, a discussion of their BPS nature, Polchinski's observations that allow to view D-branes as RR charged states in the non perturbative string spectrum, the application of all this to the computation of the black hole entropy and Hawking radiation and finally a brief survey of how everything fits together in M-theory.

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