Dilaton stabilization and composite dark matter in the string frame of   heterotic-M-theory
  In this paper we further elaborate on our recently proposed solution to the cosmological constant problem - Phys. Rev. D82 (2010) 044006. One of the elements of the solution is the chameleonic behaviour of the Einstein frame dilaton: the mass of the dilaton is an increasing function of the matter density. In that model, a proper structure of the string-frame form factors in the strong coupling region of string theory is assumed. In particular, a stabilizing potential of the string frame dilaton is present and it is supposed to be the result of a quantum calculation. Our main purpose in this article is to point out that the lagrangian of the chameleonic model for the dilaton can be embedded, to a large extent, in heterotic-M-theory. We illustrate some theoretical grounds that support the ansatz about the form factors. In this paper, we break bulk supersymmetry with a massive sterile spinor field (i.e. a bulk neutrino field) and, under certain assumptions about the full M-theory action, we point out the Casimir origin of the stabilizing potential for the string frame dilaton (particular attention is dedicated to the role of the conformal transformations involved). Moreover, we point out the similarity between the string frame dark matter lagrangian and a Ginzburg-Landau lagrangian with sterile neutrino pairs playing the role of dark matter particles. However, more research efforts are necessary to connect the bulk spinor (neutrino) lagrangian with the Ginzburg-Landau lagrangian through direct calculations. A phenomenological test of these ideas is definitely required. 
Andrea Zanzi
hep-th gr-qc hep-ph