A FRAMEWORK FOR DOMAIN-WALL BRANE MODEL BUILDING

I discuss a framework for the construction of codimension-1 domain-wall brane models. Various dynamical mechanisms are invoked to localize 3+1-dimensional scalars, fermions, gauge bosons and gravitons. These pieces of the puzzle are then assembled into an explicit model that may reproduce the standard model as the effective 3 + 1-dimensional theory for the dynamically-localized fields. I discuss how the fermion mass hierarchy problem can be addressed in this model through the fact that the fermions and the scalars are automatically split along the extra dimension. Quark and lepton masses that are much smaller than the electroweak scale are obtained in a natural way due to small overlap integrals for their extra-dimensional profile functions.