Cosmological and phenomenological implications of Wilsonian matter in realistic superstring derived models ∗

Superstring phenomenology aims at achieving two goals. The first is to reproduce the observed physics of the Standard Model. The second is to identify experimental signatures of superstring unification which, if observed, will provide further evidence for the validity of superstring theory. I discuss such potential signatures of superstring unification. I propose that proton lifetime constraints imply that the Standard Model gauge group must be obtained directly at the string level. In this case the unifying gauge group, for example SO(10), is broken to the Standard Model gauge group by “Wilson lines”. The symmetry breaking by “Wilson line” has important implications. It gives rise to exotic massless states which cannot fit into multiplets of the original unifying gauge group. This is an important feature because it results in conservation laws which forbid the interaction of the exotic “Wilsonian” states with the Standard Model states. The “Wilsonian” matter states then have important phenomenological implications. I discuss two such implications: exotic “Wilsonian” states as dark matter candidates and “Wilsonian” matter as the messenger sector in gauge mediated dynamical SUSY breaking scenarios. talk presented at String 96, July 15–2