On Abelian Gauge Symmetries and Proton Decay in Global F-theory GUTs

Understand

The existence of abelian gauge symmetries in four-dimensional F-theory compactifications depends on the global geometry of the internal Calabi-Yau fourfold and has important phenomenological consequences.

• We study conceptual and phenomenological aspects of such U(1) symmetries along the Coulomb and the Higgs branch.
• As one application we examine abelian gauge factors arising after a certain global restriction of the Tate model that goes beyond a local spectral cover analysis.
• In SU(5) GUT models this mechanism enforces a global U(1)_X symmetry that prevents dimension-4 proton decay and allows for an identification of candidate right-handed neutrinos.