From F-theory GUTs to the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent developments in F-theory GUTs, highlighting their potential for predictive string phenomenology, supersymmetry breaking mechanisms, and LHC testable predictions within a minimal string theory framework.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal F-theory GUT framework that naturally addresses GUT puzzles, details supersymmetry breaking, and derives testable LHC predictions.

Findings

Predictive sparticle spectrum consistent with gauge mediation.

Specific supersymmetry breaking scale solves mu/B mu problem.

LHC signals can potentially falsify these models.

Abstract

This paper provides an overview to three recent papers on the bottom up approach to GUTs in F-theory. We assume only a minimal familiarity with string theory and phenomenology. After explaining the potential for predictive string phenomenology within this framework, we introduce the ingredients of F-theory GUTs, and show how these models naturally address various puzzles in four-dimensional GUT models. We next describe how supersymmetry is broken, and show that in a broad class of models, solving the mu/B mu problem requires a specific scale of supersymmetry breaking consistent with a particular deformation of the gauge mediation scenario. This rigid structure enables us to reliably extract predictions for the sparticle spectrum of the MSSM. A brief sketch of expected LHC signals, as well as ways to falsify this class of models is also included.