Effective mass and symmetry breaking in the IKKT matrix model from compactification

Abstract

The IKKT model is a promising candidate for a non-perturbative description of Type IIB superstring theory. It is known from analytic approaches and numerical simulations that the IKKT matrix model with a mass term admits interesting cosmological solutions. However, this mass term is often introduced by hand, and serves as a regulator in the theory. In the present paper, we show that an effective mass matrix can arise naturally in the IKKT model by imposing a toroidal compactification where the space-time fermions acquire anti-periodic boundary conditions. When six spatial dimensions are chosen to be compact, the effective mass matrix breaks the SO(1,9) space-time symmetry of the IKKT model to SO(1,3) $\times$ SO(6). This paves the way for space-time solutions of the IKKT model where SO(1,9) symmetry is naturally broken to SO(1,3) $\times$ SO(6).