Particle Physics Implications of F-theory

TL;DR

This paper reviews the development of F-theory GUT models, focusing on their low-energy phenomenology, key features like GUT breaking, flavor hierarchies, and supersymmetry breaking scenarios, with implications for experiments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of F-theory GUT constructions, highlighting their phenomenological features and minimal realizations, advancing understanding of string-inspired GUT models.

Findings

Qualitative features of GUT models in F-theory framework

Proposals for realizing flavor hierarchies in quark and lepton sectors

Discussion of supersymmetry breaking scenarios and experimental implications

Abstract

We review recent progress in realizing Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) in a strongly coupled formulation of type IIB string theory known as F-theory. Our main emphasis is on the expected low-energy phenomenology of a minimal class of F-theory GUTs. We introduce the primary ingredients in such constructions, and then present qualitative features of GUT models in this framework such as GUT breaking, doublet-triplet splitting, and proton decay. Next, we review proposals for realizing flavor hierarchies in the quark and lepton sectors. We discuss possible supersymmetry breaking scenarios, and their consequences for experiment, as well as geometrically minimal realizations of F-theory GUTs which incorporate most of these features.