New Gauge Bosons from String Models

Abstract

We address the mass ranges of new neutral gauge bosons and constraints on the accompanying exotic particles as predicted by a class of superstring models. Under certain assumptions about the supersymmetry breaking parameters we show that breaking of an additional U(1)' symmetry is radiative when the appropriate Yukawa couplings of exotic particles are of order one, analogous to the radiative breaking of the electro-weak symmetry in the supersymmetric standard model due to the large top-quark Yukawa coupling. Such large Yukawa couplings occur for a large class of string models. The Z' and exotic masses are either of O(M_Z), or of a scale intermediate between the string and electro-weak scales. In the former case, M_Z'=O(1 TeV) may be achievable without excessive fine tuning, and is within future experimental reach. (This paper is a summary, with a more phenomenological emphasis and additional discussion, of the results in our earlier article "Implications of Abelian Extended Gauge Structures from String Models", hep-ph/9511378.)