Lifshitz-point correlation length exponents from the large-n expansion

The large-n expansion is applied to the calculation of thermal critical exponents describing the critical behavior of spatially anisotropic d-dimensional systems at m  -axial Lifshitz points. We derive the leading non-trivial 1/n$1/n$ correction for the perpendicular correlation-length exponent _νL2${\nu }_{L2}$ and hence several related thermal exponents to order O(1/n)$O(1/n)$. The results are consistent with known large-n expansions for d  -dimensional critical points and isotropic Lifshitz points, as well as with the second-order epsilon expansion about the upper critical dimension d^?=4+m/2$d^{?}=4+m/2$ for generic m∈[0,d]$m\in [0,d]$. Analytical results are given for the special case d=4$d=4$, m=1$m=1$. For uniaxial Lifshitz points in three dimensions, 1/n$1/n$ coefficients are calculated numerically. The estimates of critical exponents at d=3$d=3$, m=1$m=1$ and n=3$n=3$ are discussed.     

Discrete gauge symmetries in discrete MSSM-like orientifolds

Motivated by the necessity of discrete _ZN${\mathbb{Z}}_N$ symmetries in the MSSM to insure baryon stability, we study the origin of discrete gauge symmetries from open string sector U(1)$U(1)$?s in orientifolds based on rational conformal field theory. By means of an explicit construction, we find an integral basis for the couplings of axions and U(1)$U(1)$ factors for all simple current MIPFs and orientifolds of all 168 Gepner models, a total of 32 990 distinct cases. We discuss how the presence of discrete symmetries surviving as a subgroup of broken U(1)$U(1)$?s can be derived using this basis. We apply this procedure to models with MSSM chiral spectrum, concretely to all known U(3)×U(2)×U(1)×U(1)$U(3)\times U(2)\times U(1)\times U(1)$ and U(3)×Sp(2)×U(1)×U(1)$U(3)\times \mathit{Sp}(2)\times U(1)\times U(1)$ configurations with chiral bi-fundamentals, but no chiral tensors, as well as some SU(5)$\mathit{SU}(5)$ GUT models. We find examples of models with _Z2${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ (R-parity) and _Z3${\mathbb{Z}}_3$ symmetries that forbid certain B and/or L violating MSSM couplings. Their presence is however relatively rare, at the level of a few percent of all cases.