Applications of Flux Compactifications in F-Theory

Abstract

This thesis studies 4D F-theory compactifications with fluxes and their connection to particle physics, accompanied with a review of F-theory. First, we develop a general formalism for gauge symmetry breaking with fluxes. Vertical and remainder fluxes can be used to break a rigid gauge group, with the former simultaneously inducing chiral matter, even when the unbroken gauge group has no complex representations. We show that it is fairly likely to have three generations of chiral matter. We focus on the realization of the Standard Model gauge groups and chiral matter by breaking rigid $E_7,E_6$ gauge groups with an intermediate SU(5) gauge group, and provide examples of explicit constructions. Then, the phenomenological aspects of rigid $E_7$ models are studied in detail. We find that many other Standard-Model like features are naturally compatible with the $E_7$ models. For example, dimension-4 and dimension-5 proton decay are ubiquitously suppressed. Many of these features are due to the group-theoretic structure of $E_7$ and its F-theory geometry. In particular, a set of approximate global symmetries descends from the $E_7$ group, leading to exponential suppression of undesired couplings. These features suggest a new set of grand unified theories based on the $E_7$ group and its string theory construction. Finally, we study constructions of abelian gauge symmetries with exotic charges. By breaking a rigid nonabelian group to a U(1) gauge group using vertical flux, very large charges can arise in the massless or light spectrum. We give an explicit construction in 4D F-theory in which the vector-like matter carries charges as large as 657, which is much larger than the previously known bounds in F-theory. We heuristically argue that this result may provide an upper bound on charges for light fields under decoupled U(1) gauge groups in the F-theory landscape.

Comments: PhD thesis; 189 pages, 3 figures