Higher-Dimensional Unified Theories with Fuzzy Extra Dimensions

Theories defined in higher than four dimensions have been used in various frameworks and have a long and interesting history. Here we review certain attempts, developed over the last years, towards the construction of unified particle physics models in the context of higher-dimensional gauge theories with non-commutative extra dimensions. These ideas have been developed in two complementary ways, namely (i) starting with a higher-dimensional gauge theory and dimensionally reducing it to four dimensions over fuzzy internal spaces and (ii) starting with a four-dimensional, renormalizable gauge theory and dynamically generating fuzzy extra dimensions. We describe the above approaches and moreover we discuss the inclusion of fermions and the construction of realistic chiral theories in this context.