String Universality

TL;DR

This paper proposes the concept of String Universality, suggesting all string theories and M-theory share a common domain of validity, with implications for moduli stabilization and supersymmetry breaking.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that all string theories are connected within a single universality class and explores how non-perturbative effects and dualities influence moduli stabilization.

Findings

Non-perturbative effects relate via dualities

Moduli stabilization likely occurs at the self-dual point

Supersymmetry breaking occurs at a lower scale

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 in 10D, and 11D SUGRA, then it is possible that all six of them have some common 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 the same. We call this notion String Universality. This suggests that the true vacuum of string theory is in a region of moduli space equally far (in some sense) from all perturbative theories, most likely around the self-dual point with respect to duality symmetries connecting them. We estimate stringy non-perturbative effects from wrapped brane instantons in each perturbative 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 SUSY breaking should occur at a much lower intermediate scale, and that it originates from different sources. We discuss the problems of moduli stabilization and SUSY breaking in currently popular scenarios, explain why these problems are generic, and discuss how our scenario can evade them. We show that String Universality is not inconsistent with phenomenology but that it is in conflict with some popular versions of brane world scenarios.