Yukawa unification in heterotic string theory

© 2016 American Physical Society.We analyze Yukawa unification in the context of E8×E8 heterotic Calabi-Yau models which rely on breaking to a grand unified theory (GUT) via a nonflat gauge bundle and subsequent Wilson line breaking to the standard model. Our focus is on underlying GUT theories with gauge group SU(5) or SO(10). We provide a detailed analysis of the fact that, in contrast to traditional field theory GUTs, the underlying GUT symmetry of these models does not enforce Yukawa unification. Using this formalism, we present various scenarios where Yukawa unification can occur as a consequence of additional symmetries. These additional symmetries arise naturally in some heterotic constructions, and we present an explicit heterotic line bundle model which realizes one of these scenarios.