Abstract
Title: "Phenomenological Aspects of F-Theory GUTs "
Abstract:
F-theory can be thought of the correct way to describe Type IIB theory
with 7-branes in generic situations where the string coupling cannot be
assumed to be small. It geometrizes the variation of the string coupling
and the backreaction of the 7-branes on the ambient space by introducing
two additional auxiliary dimensions. Thus, it is formulated using twelve
dimensions. For string phenomenology it is very interesting because one
the one hand exceptional gauge groups are available, which are highly
relevant in the context of unification and are heavily exploited in
heterotic string theory, and on the other hand the particle physics
degrees of freedom localize on submanifolds of the compactification, as
is the case in Type II theories with intersecting D-branes. Given this
localization, a considerable number of phenomenological questions can be
answered in a so-called local model where large parts of the
compactification space are decoupled and particle physics essentially
takes place in eight space-time dimensions. I will briefly introduce the
mathematical description of the theory and then focus on local model
building with explicit examples in the framework of SU(5) GUTs.