arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Herman Verlinde.
We give a concise geometric recipe for constructing D-brane gauge theories that exhibit metastable SUSY breaking. We present two simple examples in terms of branes at deformed CY singularities.
Based on recent developments, in this letter we find 2+1 dimensional gauge theories with scale invariance and N=8 supersymmetry. The gauge theories are defined by a Lagrangian and are based on an infinite set of 3-algebras, constructed as an extension of ordinary Lie algebras. Recent no-go theorems on the existence of 3-algebras are circumvented by relaxing the assumption that the invariant metric is positive definite. The gauge group is non compact, and its maximally compact subgroup can be chosen to be any ordinary Lie group, under which the matter fields are adjoints or singlets. The theories are parity invariant and do not admit any tunable coupling constant. In the case of SU(N) the moduli space of vacua contains a branch of the form (R^8)^N/S_N. These properties are expected for the field theory living on a stack of M2 branes.
We study geometric aspects of extensions of the supersymmetric standard model that exhibit a periodic duality cascade. Via the holographic correspondence, the growth of the gauge group rank towards the UV is interpreted as a gradual decompactification transition. We show that this class of models typically develop a duality wall in the UV, and present an efficient method for estimating the hierarchy between the on-set of the cascade and the formation of the wall. As an illustrative example, we study the model introduced by Cascales, Saad and Uranga in [14], which has an known geometric realization in terms of D-branes on an SPP/Z_3 singularity.
We show that, in string models with the MSSM residing on D-branes, the bino mass can be generated in a geometrically separated hidden sector. Hypercharge mediation thus naturally teams up with anomaly mediation. The mixed scenario predicts a distinctive yet viable superpartner spectrum, provided that the ratio αbetween the bino and gravitino mass lies in the range 0.05 < |α| < 0.25, and m_{3/2} > 35 TeV. We summarize some of the phenomenological features of this scenario.
We exhibit a simple and robust mechanism for mediation of supersymmetry breaking between geometrically separated D-branes in type II string theory. The mediation proceeds via RR p-forms that couple via linear Chern-Simons terms to the abelian vector bosons on the branes. From a 4-d low energy perspective, the mechanism reduces to U(1) mediation.
In these notes we give an introduction to some of the concepts involved in constructing SM-like gauge theories in systems of branes at singularities of CY manifolds. These notes are an expanded version of lectures given by Herman Verlinde at the Cargese 2006 Summer School.
The MSSM can arise as an orientifold of a pyramid-like quiver in the context of intersecting D-branes. Here we consider quiver realizations of the MSSM which can emerge at the bottom of a duality cascade. We classify all possible minimal ways this can be done by allowing only one extra node. It turns out that this requires extending the geometry of the pyramid to an octahedron. The MSSM at the bottom of the cascade arises in one of two possible ways, with the extra node disappearing either via Higgsing or confinement. Remarkably, the quiver of the Higgsing scenario turns out to be nothing but the quiver version of the left-right symmetric extension of the MSSM. In the minimal confining scenario the duality cascade can proceed if and only if there is exactly one up/down Higgs pair. Moreover, the symmetries of the octahedron naturally admit an automorphism of the quiver which solves a version of the mu problem precisely when there are an odd number of generations.
String compactifications with D-branes may exhibit regular magnetic monopole solutions, whose presence does not rely on broken non-abelian gauge symmetry. These stringy monopoles exist on interesting metastable brane configurations, such as anti-D3 branes inside a flux compactification or D5-branes wrapping 2-cycles that are locally stable but globally trivial. In brane realizations of SM-like gauge theories, the monopoles carry one unit of magnetic hypercharge. Their mass can range from the string scale down to the multi-TeV regime.
We report on progress towards the construction of SM-like gauge theories on the world-volume of D-branes at a Calabi-Yau singularity. In particular, we work out the topological conditions on the embedding of the singularity inside a compact CY threefold, that select hypercharge as the only light U(1) gauge factor. We apply this insight to the proposed open string realization of the SM of hep-th/0508089, based on a D3-brane at a dP_8 singularity, and present a geometric construction of a compact Calabi-Yau threefold with all the required topological properties. We comment on the relevance of D-instantons to the breaking of global U(1) symmetries.
We consider the dynamics of p anti-D3 branes inside the Klebanov-Strassler geometry, the deformed conifold with M units of RR 3-form flux around the S^3. We find that for p<<M the system relaxes to a nonsupersymmetric NS 5-brane ``giant graviton'' configuration, which is classically stable, but quantum mechanically can tunnel to a nearby supersymmetric vacuum with M-p D3 branes. This decay mode is exponentially suppressed and proceeds via the nucleation of an NS 5-brane bubble wall. We propose a dual field theory interpretation of the decay as the transition between a nonsupersymmetric ``baryonic'' branch and a supersymmetric ``mesonic'' branch of the corresponding SU(2M-p)x SU(M-p) low energy gauge theory. The NS 5-brane tunneling process also provides a simple explanation of the geometric transition by which D3-branes can dissolve into 3-form flux.
We motivate and apply a bottom-up approach to string phenomenology, which aims to construct the Standard Model as a decoupled world-volume theory on a D3-brane. As a concrete proposal for such a construction, we consider a single probe D3-brane on a partial resolution of a del Pezzo 8 singularity. The resulting world-volume theory reproduces the field content and interactions of the MSSM, however with a somewhat extended Higgs sector. An attractive feature of our approach is that the gauge and Yukawa couplings are dual to non-dynamical closed string modes, and are therefore tunable parameters.
We study Schwinger pair creation of charged Kaluza-Klein particles from a static KK electric field. We find that the gravitational backreaction of the electric field on the geometry - which is incorporated via the electric KK Melvin solution - prevents the electrostatic potential from overcoming the rest mass of the KK particles, thus impeding the tunneling mechanism which is often thought of as responsible for the pair creation. However, we find that pair creation still occurs with a finite rate formally similar to the classic Schwinger result, but via an apparently different mechanism, involving a combination of the Unruh effect and vacuum polarization due to the E-field.
We use the matrix model to study the final state resulting from a coherent high energy pulse in 2-d string theory at large string coupling. We show that the outgoing signal produced via reflection off the potential has a thermal spectrum, with the correct temperature and profile to be identified with Hawking radiation. We confirm its origin as geometrical radiation produced by the gravitational background. However, for a total incoming energy M, the amount of energy carried by the thermal radiation scales only as log(M). Most of the incoming energy is returned via the transmitted wave, which does not have a thermal spectrum, indicating the absence of macroscopic black hole formation.
We investigate a new mechanism for realizing slow roll inflation in string theory, based on the dynamics of p anti-D3 branes in a class of mildly warped flux compactifications. Attracted to the bottom of a warped conifold throat, the anti-branes then cluster due to a novel mechanism wherein the background flux polarizes in an attempt to screen them. Once they are sufficiently close, the M units of flux cause the anti-branes to expand into a fuzzy NS5-brane, which for rather generic choices of p/M will unwrap around the geometry, decaying into D3-branes via a classical process. We find that the effective potential governing this evolution possesses several epochs that can potentially support slow-roll inflation, provided the process can be arranged to take place at a high enough energy scale, of about one or two orders of magnitude below the Planck energy; this scale, however, lies just outside the bounds of our approximations.
We construct a kappa-symmetric Green-Schwarz action for type IIA string theory on AdS_2. As a candidate holographic dual, we consider superconformal matrix quantum mechanics, given by the Marinari-Parisi model with vanishing or logarithmic superpotential. We derive that the super-eigenvalues form a consistent subsector, and that their dynamics reduces to that of the supersymmetric Calogero-Moser model. The classical string action and the matrix model both have an infinite set of conserved charges, that include an N=2 target space super-Virasoro symmetry. As a microscopic test of the duality, we reproduce the exact form of the Calogero interaction via a string worldsheet calculation.
We present evidence that the supersymmetric matrix model of Marinari and Parisi represents the world-line theory of N unstable D-particles in type II superstring theory in two dimensions. This identification suggests that the matrix model gives a holographic description of superstrings in a two-dimensional black hole geometry.
We propose a new interpretation of the c=1 matrix model as the world-line theory of N unstable D-particles, in which the hermitian matrix is provided by the non- abelian open string tachyon. For D-particles in 1+1-d string theory, we find a direct quantitative match between the closed string emission due to a rolling tachyon and that due to a rolling eigenvalue in the matrix model. We explain the origin of the double-scaling limit, and interpret it as an extreme representative of a large equivalence class of dual theories. Finally, we define a concrete decoupling limit of unstable D-particles in IIB string theory that reduces to the c=1 matrix model, suggesting that 1+1-d string theory represents the near-horizon limit of an ultra-dense gas of IIB D-particles.
We investigate two classes of D-branes in 2-d string theory, corresponding to extended and localized branes, respectively. We compute the string emission during tachyon condensation and reinterpret the results within the $c=1$ matrix model. As in hep-th/0304224, we find that the extended branes describe classical eigenvalue trajectories, while, as found in hep-th/0305159, the localized branes correspond to the quantum field that creates and destroys eigenvalues. The matrix model relation between the classical probe and the local collective field precisely matches with the descent relation between the boundary states of D-strings and D-particles.