Progress in weakly coupled string phenomenology

Abstract

The weakly coupled vacuum of $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory remains an attractive scenario for particle physics. The particle spectrum and the issue of dilaton stabilization are reviewed. A specific model for hidden sector condensation and supersymmetry breaking, that respects known constraints from string theory, is described, and its phenomenological and cosmological implications are discussed.

Comments: 15 pages, full postscript also available from http://phyweb.lbl.gov/theorygroup/papers/48640.ps