Title: Particle Interactions, String Theory and Geometry (slides)

Speaker: James Gray (Virginian Tech)

Time: 16:15-16:50 (GMT+0), 2021.08.10

Abstract:

In heterotic string theory models the universe has six extra dimensions which are hidden on a microscopic six dimensional space. Recent research has shown that aspects of the geometry of these hidden dimensions are linked to an absence of certain interactions between the particles the theory predicts. I will describe a variety of relevant substructures that can appear in the geometries of interest and how they all give rise to different restrictions on the interactions that can be present. The consequence of this discussion is that a large fraction of the particle interactions that one would naively expect to be present, by the consideration of known symmetries of these models, are actually forbidden by seemingly purely topological considerations.