$Z_N$ orbifold compactifications in $AdS_6$ with Gauss-Bonnet term

TL;DR

This paper develops a framework for brane junctions in six-dimensional anti-de Sitter space with Gauss-Bonnet corrections, enabling positive tension configurations that can address the hierarchy problem without severe cosmological issues.

Contribution

It introduces a general setup for brane junctions with Gauss-Bonnet terms in $AdS_6$, linking orbifold symmetries to brane tensions and providing a novel approach to the hierarchy problem.

Findings

Positive 3-brane tensions at orbifold fixed points.

Hierarchy problem addressed without severe cosmological issues.

Framework applicable to $Z_N$ orbifold compactifications.

Abstract

We present a general setup for junctions of semi-infinite 4-branes in $AdS_6$ with the Gauss-Bonnet term. The 3-brane tension at the junction of 4-branes can be nonzero. Using the brane junctions as the origin of the $Z_N$ discrete rotation symmetry, we identify 3-brane tensions at three fixed points of the orbifold $T^2/Z_3$ in terms of the 4-brane tensions. As a result, the three 3-brane tensions can be simultaneously positive, which enables us to explain the mass hierarchy by taking one of two branes apart from the hidden brane as the visible brane, and hence does not introduce a severe cosmological problem.