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Non-Higgsable QCD and the Standard Model Spectrum in F-theory

Many four-dimensional supersymmetric compactifications of F-theory contain gauge groups that cannot be spontaneously broken through geometric deformations. These "non-Higgsable clusters" include realizations of $SU(3)$, $SU(2)$, and $SU(3) \times SU(2)$, but no $SU(n)$ gauge groups or factors with $n> 3$. We study possible realizations of the standard model in F-theory that utilize non-Higgsable clusters containing $SU(3)$ factors and show that there are three distinct possibilities. In one, fields with the non-abelian gauge charges of the standard model matter fields are localized at a single locus where non-perturbative $SU(3)$ and $SU(2)$ seven-branes intersect; cancellation of gauge anomalies implies that the simplest four-dimensional chiral $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ model that may arise in this context exhibits standard model families. We identify specific geometries that realize non-Higgsable $SU(3)$ and $SU(3) \times SU(2)$ sectors. This kind of scenario provides a natural mechanism that could explain the existence of an unbroken QCD sector, or more generally the appearance of light particles and symmetries at low energy scales.