High Energy Theory Seminar

We construct a general form for an F-theory Weierstrass model over any base giving a 6D or 4D supergravity theory with gauge group SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) / Z_6 and associated generic matter. The concept of 'generic matter' can be rigorously defined in 6D supergravity and generalizes naturally to four dimensions for F-theory models. We describe general F-theory models with this gauge group and the associated generic matter content, which fit into two distinct classes, and present an explicit Weierstrass model that realizes these models as two distinct branches. We also discuss, as a special case, the class of models recently studied by Cvetic, Halverson, Lin, Liu, and Tian, for which we demonstrate explicitly the possibility of unification through an SU(5) unHiggsing.