String universality - art. no. 046004

Citation
R. Brustein et Sp. De Alwis, String universality - art. no. 046004, PHYS REV D, 6404(4), 2001, pp. 6004
Citations number
51
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
PHYSICAL REVIEW D
ISSN journal
0556-2821 → ACNP
Volume
6404
Issue
4
Year of publication
2001
Database
ISI
SICI code
0556-2821(20010815)6404:4<6004:SU-AN0>2.0.ZU;2-8
Abstract
If there is a single underlying "theory of everything" which in some limits of its "moduli space" reduces to the five weakly coupled string theories i n 10D, and 11D SUGRA, then it is possible that all six of them have some co mmon domain of validity, and that they are in the same universality class, in the sense that the 4D low-energy physics of the different theories is th e same. We call this notion string universality. This suggests that the tru e vacuum of string theory is in a region of moduli space equally far (in so me sense) from all perturbative theories. most likely around the self-dual point with respect to duality symmetries connecting them. We estimate strin gy nonperturbative effects from wrapped brane instantons in each perturbati ve theory, show how they are related by dualities, and argue that they are likely to lead to moduli stabilization only around the self-dual point. We argue that moduli stabilization should occur near the string scale, and SUS Y breaking should occur at a much lower intermediate scale, and that it ori ginates from different sources. We discuss the problems of moduli stabiliza tion and SUSY breaking in currently popular scenarios, explain why these pr oblems are generic, and discuss how our scenario can evade them. We show th at string universality is not inconsistent with phenomenology, but that it is in conflict with some popular versions of brane world scenarios.