1996/09/05 by T. Banks, Banks, T., Michael Dine +2 · 1 citation
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #advanced mathematical theories #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/9609046
Uses harvmac. Talk which recapitulates hep-th/9605136
arxiv created 1996/09/05 · openalex publication_date 1996/09/05 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This is the text of a talk given at the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Seoul, Korea, June 9, 1996. If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of M-theory. We discuss some phenomenological aspects of this view. The scale at which conventional quantum field theory breaks down is of order the unification scale and consequently (approximate) discrete symmetries are essential to prevent proton decay. There are one or more light axions, one of which solves the strong CP problem. Modular cosmology is still problematic but much more complex than in perturbative string vacua.