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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Physics, December 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Much of the low energy phenomenology which can be extracted from the field theory limit of the intrinsically ten dimensional E 8 ® E 8 heterotic superstring depends upon the topological and geometrical properties of the six dimensional compactified component of spacetime. After briefly reviewing the topological constraints on the latter manifold which ensure the survival of N=l four dimensional supersymmetry, we present and apply the mathematics necessary for the rigorous construction of vacuum solutions and the determination of the four dimensional massless field content. Two phenomenologically attractive classes of solutions, with unbroken E₈ ⨂ SU(5) and E₈ ⨂ SO(10) gauge groups, arise if the vacuum configuration contains a Ricci flat Kahler manifold with SU(3) holonomy (Calabi-Yau manifold), which admits certain SU(5) or SU(4) vector bundles. Further reduction of the gauge group and emergence of naturally light weak Higgs doublets may also occur by flux breaking if the Calabi Yau manifold is multiply connected. We analyse the feasibility of such scenarios for Calabi Yau manifolds with any possible fundamental group. Phenomenological considerations place severe constraints on the dimensions and transformation properties of certain cohomology groups and thereby lead to a highly restricted class of acceptable models. We then present the mathematical analysis of a three generation heterotic superstring inspired model, with E₈ ⨂ E₆ gauge symmetry. A detailed description of the manifold of compactification is given, along with a determination of its Hodge numbers and of the associated light supermultiplet structure. For a particular choice of vacuum moduli we derive this manifold's symmetry group, and determine its action on the massless fields in the theory. Preliminary investigation indicates that these transformation properties give rise to a remarkably realistic model. In the second volume we derive cosmological constraints on a supersymmetric extension of the standard model in which weak gauge symmery breaking is triggered at the tree level by a Higgs singlet superfield. The fermionic component of this gauge singlet (the "nino") is shown to be the lightest supersymmetric particle with a relic abundance near the critical closure density for a surprisingly wide range of the unconstrained parameters. The previously favoured photino dark matter scenario has been eliminated by the non observation of high energy solar neutrinos. After briefly reviewing this argument, we extend the analysis to eliminate Higgsino dark matter scenarios with and#60H₁°and#62 ≠ and#60H₂°and#62. We show that the nino produces an acceptably low level of solar neutrinos and that it may also account for the anomalously high level of cosmic ray antiproton flux.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Physics and Astronomy." Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-96).

Realistic four-dimensional model building from string theory has been a focus of the string theory community ever since its inception. Toroidal orientifold constructions have emerged as a technically simple class of candidate models. Novel ingredients, such as background fluxes, have been discovered and intensely studied over the past few years. They allow for a (partial) solution of several long standing problems associated with model building in this framework. In this thesis, I summarize progress that has been made in toroidal orientifold constructions in type IIA string theory.This includes a detailed discussion of moduli stabilization and (non-) supersymmetric AdS and Minkowski vacua. Furthermore I commence a systematic study of generalized NSNS, i.e., metric and non-geometric, fluxes. The emergence of novel D-terms is presented in detail. While most of the discussion applies to generic orientifolds of T⁶, most features are exemplified by and studied in terms of a certain orientifold of T⁶/ℤ₄ owing to its somewhat richer structure compared to simpler models studied before. It is also briefly reported on efforts of finding de Sitter vacua and inflation in this class of models. / text

MSc., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Anomalous dimensions are calculated for a certain class of operators in the restricted Schur polynomial basis in the large N limit. A new computationally simple form of the dilatation operator is derived and used in this dissertation. The class of operators investigated have bare dimension of O(N). Thus the calculation necessarily sums non-planar Feynmann diagrams as the planar approximation has broken down for operators of this size. The operators investigated have two long columns and the operators mix under the action of the dilatation operator, however the mixing of operators having a different number of columns is suppressed and can be neglected in the large N limit. The action of the one loop dilatation operator is explicitly calculated for the cases where the operators have two, three and four impurities and it is found that in a particular limit the action of the one loop dilatation operator reduces to that of a discrete second derivative. The lattice on which the discretised second derivative is defined is provided by the Young tableaux itself. The one loop dilatation operator is diagonalised numerically and produces a surprisingly simple linear spectrum, with interesting degeneracies. The spectrum can be understood in terms of a collection of harmonic oscillators. The frequencies of the oscillators are all multiples of 8g2Y M and can be related to the set of Young tableaux acted upon by the dilatation operator. This equivalence to harmonic oscillators generalises on previously found results in the BPS sector, and suggests that the system is integrable. The work presented here is based primarily on research carried out by R.de Mello Koch, V De Comarmond, and K. Jefferies in [1].

A simple two scale compactification scheme for the E(8) x E(8) heterotic string is studied. The internal space used is a direct product of two compact spaces, each with its own length scale. Compactification on the smaller 4-dimensional (4d) manifold is carried out to obtain 6d theories with simple supersymmetry (SUSY). Assuming the background torsion vanishes, we show that this manifold must be K3. Compactification on K3 is studied in detail. Also analyzed are the two possible torsion-free compactifications on the orbifold K3$ sp prime$ (the limit of the manifold K3). The compactification from 6d to 4d on the larger scale 2d manifold results in Grand Unified Theories (GUT's) with broken SUSY. We show that it is not possible to generate a realistic theory using our scheme. Strings exclude what is conceivable from the perspective of point field theories: getting a realistic GUT from a 6d theory with simple SUSY.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.