String Phenomenology in the Era of LHC

The field of research of this project is string theory and the associated phenomenological effects. The applicant aims, on one hand, to investigate how the Standard Model is embedded in open string vacua and establish the low energy theories of such vacua and, on the other hand, to analyze phenomenological implications of such embeddings in view of experimental data expected from LHC at CERN. The way that Standard Model is embedded in string vacua is one of the most important open prob- lems in string theory and progress in this direction will open the Pandoras box for phenomenological implications of such vacua. In this framework, the applicant aims to focus on the analysis of new massive gauge bosons, one of the most attractive scenarios at LHC for physics beyond the Standard Model. The aim is to investigate the nature of such new particles by studying specific decays that will be compared with the LHC data in order to gain information about the underlying Fundamental Theory. The field of research involved in this proposal is String Phenomenology, which is strong in Europe compared to other areas worldwide. It is to the advantage of european Institutions to keep the leading position in this field, whose input will come from CERN through the LHC, the largest experimental project of all times. Until now, the applicant has shown skill, perseverance and independence and with this fellowship he will get the final touches in his professional evolution and will be capable of qualifying for a tenure track faculty position in an academic institution in Austria or other European centers.

The field of research of this project was String Theory and the associated phenomenological effects. Our aims were, on one hand, to investigate how String Theory can describe the Standard Model particles and, on the other hand, to analyze phenomenological implications of such description in view of experimental data expected from LHC at CERN. Here we present some more detail and the results of the project: The way that Standard Model is embedded in String Theory is one of the most important open problems in the field and progress in this direction will open up a plethora of phenomenological implications of string theory. Towards this direction we have studied some discrete gauge symmetries that forbid couplings which could lead to unphysical decays, and it is a useful tool in model building. Anomalous U (1) symmetries can represent an important extension of the Standard Model offering interesting alternatives to Z models, one of the most attractive scenarios at LHC for physics beyond the Standard Model. In this framework we develop a powerful computational program for the identification of anomalous gauge bosons (massive gauge bosons, similar to Zs) using data from the LHC. All open string models which describe the Standard Model predict the presence of new massive particles with the same characteristics (spin and quantum numbers) like the Standard Model ones. These fields are different from the usual Kaluza-Klein towers of fields making their study very interesting. On this field, we investigate the nature of such new particles by studying specific decays that will be compared with the LHC data in order to gain information about the underlying Fundamental Theory. The field of research involved in this proposal is String Phenomenology, which is strong in Europe compared to other areas worldwide. It is to the advantage of European Institutions to keep the leading position in this field, whose input will come from CERN through the LHC, the largest experimental project of all times.