Counting string theory standard models

Journal article

We derive an approximate analytic relation between the number of consistent heterotic Calabi-Yau compactifications of string theory with the exact charged matter content of the standard model of particle physics and the topological data of the internal manifold: the former scaling exponentially with the number of Kähler parameters. This is done by an estimate of the number of solutions to a set of Diophantine equations representing constraints satisfied by any consistent heterotic string vacuum with three chiral massless families, and has been computationally checked to hold for complete intersection Calabi-Yau threefolds (CICYs) with up to seven Kähler parameters. When extrapolated to the entire CICY list, the relation gives ∼10 23 string theory standard models; for the class of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in toric varieties, it gives ∼10 723 standard models.

Authors: Constantin, A; He, Y-H; Lukas, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Physics Letters B
• Volume: 792
• Pages: 258-262
• Publication date: 2019-03-28
• Acceptance date: 2019-03-25
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2019.03.048
• EISSN: 1873-2445
• ISSN: 0370-2693
• Keywords: FFR