Leptophobic Z' from Superstring Derived Models

Abstract

It was recently suggested that the reported anomalies in $R_b$ and $R_c$ can be interpreted as the effect of a heavy vector boson that couples to quarks and is universally decoupled from leptons. We examine how an extra gauge boson with this property can arise from superstring derived models. In a specific three generation model we show that the $U(1)_{B-L}$ symmetry combines with the horizontal flavor symmetries to form a universal leptophobic $U(1)$ symmetry. In our model there is an enhancement of the color gauge group from twisted sectors. The enhancement occurs after the breaking of the unifying gauge symmetry by ``Wilson lines''. The leptophobic $U(1)$ symmetry then becomes a generator of the color $SU(4)$ gauge group. We examine how similar symmetries may appear in other string models without the enhancement. We propose that if the current LEP anomalies persist it may be evidence for a certain class of un--unified superstring models.