The statistics of string/M theory vacua

TL;DR

This paper explores systematic methods for classifying string/M theory vacua, using ensembles of effective Lagrangians to assess the theory's predictive power and estimate the number of vacua compatible with the Standard Model.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to classify vacua via ensembles of effective Lagrangians, aiming to quantify the landscape of string/M theory solutions.

Findings

Proposes a framework for studying the distribution of vacua.

Suggests universality results in simple models.

Provides estimates for vacua realizing the Standard Model.

Abstract

We discuss systematic approaches to the classification of string/M theory vacua, and physical questions this might help us resolve. To this end, we initiate the study of ensembles of effective Lagrangians, which can be used to precisely study the predictive power of string theory, and in simple examples can lead to universality results. Using these ideas, we outline an approach to estimating the number of vacua of string/M theory which can realize the Standard Model.