Multiple unfoldings of orbifold singularities: Engineering geometric analogies to unification

Katz and Vafa [Nucl. Phys. B497, 146 (1997)] showed how charged matter can arise geometrically by the deformation of ADE-type orbifold singularities in type IIa, M-theory, and F-theory compactifications. In this paper we use those same basic ingredients, used there to geometrically engineer specific matter representations, here to deform the compactification manifold itself in a way which naturally compliments many features of unified model building. We realize this idea explicitly by deforming a manifold engineered to give rise to an SU5 grand unified model into a one giving rise to the standard model. In this framework, the relative local positions of the singularities giving rise to standard model fields are specified in terms of the values of a small number of complex structure moduli which deform the original manifold, greatly reducing the arbitrariness of their relative positions.