Progress in D-brane model building

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in D-brane model building within string theory, highlighting progress in constructing semi-realistic four-dimensional vacua with gauge sectors, and exploring the effects of fluxes on these models.

Contribution

It provides an overview of recent developments in D-brane constructions, especially in flux compactifications, and discusses how these influence string phenomenology.

Findings

Enhanced understanding of BPS D-brane spectra

Construction of semi-realistic D=4 N=1 vacua

New model-building possibilities with fluxes

Abstract

The state of the art in D-brane model building is briefly reviewed, focusing on recent achievements in the construction of D=4 N = 1 type II string vacua with semi-realistic gauge sectors. Such progress relies on a better understanding of the spectrum of BPS D-branes, the effective field theory obtained from them and the explicit construction of vacua. We first consider D-branes in standard Calabi-Yau compactifications, and then the more involved case of compactifications with fluxes. We discuss how the non-trivial interplay between D-branes and fluxes modifies the previous model-building rules, as well as provides new possibilities to connect string theory to particle physics.