Publisher’s Note: String-derivedD4flavor symmetry and phenomenological implications Phys. Rev. D76, 035005 (2007)

In this paper we show how some flavor symmetries may be derived from the heterotic string, when compactified on a 6D orbifold. In the body of the paper we focus on the D₄ family symmetry, recently obtained in Z₃ Z₂ orbifold constructions. We show how this flavor symmetry constrains fermion masses, as well as the soft SUSY breaking mass terms. Flavor symmetry breaking can generate the hierarchy of fermion masses and at the same time the flavor symmetry suppresses large flavor changing neutral current processes.