Published April 2007 | Version v1
Journal article

Flux compactification

  • 1. Department of Physics and SLAC, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States) and Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
  • 2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855 (United States) and Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, 35 route des Chartres, Bures-sur-Yvette 91440 (France)

Description

Recent work is reviewed in which compactifications of string and M theory are constructed in which all scalar fields (moduli) are massive, and supersymmetry is broken with a small positive cosmological constant, features needed to reproduce real world physics. In this work it is explained that there is a 'landscape' of string/M theory vacua, perhaps containing many candidates for describing real world physics, and arguments are presented for and against this idea. Statistical surveys of the landscape are discussed, as well as the prospects for testable consequences of this picture, such as observable effects of moduli, constraints on early cosmology, and predictions for the scale of supersymmetry breaking

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Reviews of Modern Physics
Journal Volume
79
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. 733-796
ISSN
0034-6861
CODEN
RMPHAT

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
39035893
Subject category
S72: PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS;
Descriptors DEI
COMPACTIFICATION; COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT; COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; COSMOLOGY; SCALAR FIELDS; STRING THEORY; SUPERSYMMETRY; SYMMETRY BREAKING
Descriptors DEC
M-THEORY; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; SYMMETRY

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2007 The American Physical Society