On type II superstrings in less than four dimensions

We study gauge theories which are associated with classical vacua of perturbative type II string theory that allows for a conformal field theory description. We show that even if we compactify seven spatial dimensions (allowing for one macroscopic dimension to arise non-perturbatively) the Standard Model cannot be obtained from the perturbative sector of type II superstrings. Therefore, the construction of the Standard Model (or extensions thereof) from M theory must involve fields that are non-perturbative from the type II perspective. We also address the case of eight compact dimensions.