Towards Low Energy Physics from the Heterotic String

Understand

We investigate orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string, addressing in detail their construction, classification and phenomenological potential.

• We present a strategy to search for models resembling the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM) in Z_6-II orbifold compactifications.
• We find several MSSM candidates with the gauge group and the exact spectrum of the MSSM, and supersymmetric vacua below the compactification scale.
• They also exhibit the following realistic features: R-parity, seesaw suppressed neutrino masses, and intermediate scale of supersymmetry breakdown.