Dirac vs. Majorana neutrino masses from a TeV interval

We investigate the nature (Dirac vs. Majorana) and size of left-handed neutrino masses in a supersymmetric five-dimensional model compactified in the interval [0,πR], where quarks and leptons are localized on the boundaries while the gauge and Higgs sectors propagate in the bulk of the fifth dimension. Supersymmetry is broken by Scherk–Schwarz boundary conditions and electroweak breaking proceeds through radiative corrections. Right-handed neutrinos propagate in the bulk and have a general five-dimensional mass M, which localizes the zero modes towards one of the boundaries, and arbitrary boundary terms. We have found that for generic boundary terms left-handed neutrinos have Majorana masses. However for specific boundary configurations left-handed neutrinos are Dirac fermions as the theory possesses a conserved global U(1) symmetry which prevents violation of lepton number. The size of neutrino masses depends on the localization of the zero-modes of right-handed neutrinos and/or the size of the five-dimensional neutrino Yukawa couplings. Left-handed neutrinos in the sub-eV range require either MR10 or Yukawa couplings 10⁻³R, which make the five-dimensional theory perturbative up to its natural cutoff.     

Testing the supersymmetric QCD Yukawa coupling in a combined LHC/ILC analysis

In order to establish supersymmetry (SUSY) at future colliders, the identity of gauge couplings and the corresponding Yukawa couplings between gauginos, sfermions and fermions needs to be verified. A first phenomenological study for determining the Yukawa coupling of the SUSY-QCD sector is presented here, using a method which combines information from LHC and ILC.      

Seesaw neutrinos from the heterotic string

We study the possibility of realizing the neutrino seesaw mechanism in the E(8) x E(8) heterotic string. In particular, we consider its Z6 orbifold compactifications leading to the supersymmetric standard model gauge group and matter content. We find that these models possess all the necessary ingredients for the seesaw mechanism, including the required Dirac Yukawa couplings and large Majorana mass terms. We argue that this situation is quite common in heterotic orbifolds. In contrast with the conventional seesaw of grand unified theories (GUTs), no large GUT representations are needed to generate the Majorana mass terms. The total number of right-handed neutrinos can be very large, up to O(100).     

Supersymmetry breaking in warped geometry

We examine the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters in supersymmetric theories on a slice of AdS₅ which generate the hierarchical Yukawa couplings by dynamically quasi-localizing the bulk matter fields in an extra dimension. Such models can be regarded as the AdS dual of the recently studied 4-dimensional models which contain a supersymmetric CFT to generate the hierarchical Yukawa couplings. In such models, if supersymmetry breaking is mediated by the bulk radion superfield and/or some brane chiral superfields, potentially dangerous flavor-violating soft parameters are suppressed with an appropriate correlation with the Yukawa coupling suppression, thereby avoiding the SUSY flavor problem in a natural manner. We present some models of radion-dominated supersymmetry breaking which yield a highly predictive form of soft parameters in this framework, and discuss the constraints from flavor-changing rare processes. Most of the discussions in this paper can be applied also to models with a flat extra dimension in which the Yukawa hierarchy is generated by quasi-localizing the bulk matter fields in the extra dimension.Received: 21 October 2003, Revised: 12 January 2004, Published online: 5 May 2004     

On messengers and metastability in gauge mediation

One notoriously difficult problem in perturbative gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking via messenger fields is the generic presence of a phenomenologically unacceptable vacuum with messenger vevs, with a lower energy than the desired (“MSSM”) vacuum. We investigate the possibility that quantum corrections promote the latter to the ground state of the theory, and find that this is indeed feasible. For this to happen, the couplings of the messengers to the goldstino superfield must be small, and this implies an additional suppression of the MSSM soft terms with respect to the supersymmetry breaking scale. This in turn sets a lower limit on the masses of the messengers and of the supersymmetry breaking fields, which makes both sectors inaccessible at colliders. Contrary to other scenarios like direct gauge mediation, gaugino masses are unsuppressed with respect to scalar masses.     

Proposal for a supersymmetric standard model

The fact that neutrinos are massive suggests that the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) might be extended in order to include three gauge-singlet neutrino superfields with Yukawa couplings of the type H2Lnuc. We propose to use these superfields to solve the mu problem of the MSSM without having to introduce an extra singlet superfield as in the case of the next-to-MSSM (NMSSM). In particular, terms of the type nuc H1H2 in the superpotential may carry out this task spontaneously through neutrino vacuum expectation values. In addition, terms of the type (nuc)3 avoid the presence of axions and generate effective Majorana masses for neutrinos at the electroweak scale. On the other hand, these terms break lepton number and R parity explicitly. For Dirac masses of the neutrinos of order 10(-4) GeV, eigenvalues reproducing the correct scale of neutrino masses are obtained.     

Renormalization group constraints on unified gauge theories

Renormalization group constraints on the behavior of Yukawa and scalar quartic couplings in unified gauge theories are examined. Yukawa couplings are generally asymptotically free whenever the gauge couplings are, but scalar quartic couplings can be asymptotically free only for simple scalar multiplets in large groups with large fermion content. The infrared behavior of Yukawa and scalar quartic couplings implied by the renormalization group equations has interesting and phenomenologically useful consequences: infrared fixed points (or quasifixed points) lead to bounds on masses of fermions and scalars, while scalar quartic couplings can be driven out of the domain of positivity of the classical potential, with possible implications for patterns of symmetry breaking.     

A renormalizable SO(10) GUT scenario with spontaneous CP violation

We consider fermion masses and mixings in a renormalizable SUSY SO(10) GUT with Yukawa couplings of scalar fields in the representation . We investigate a scenario defined by the following assumptions. (i) We have a single large scale in the theory, the GUT scale. (ii) The small neutrino masses are generated by the type I seesaw mechanism with negligible type II contributions. (iii) We assume a suitable form of spontaneous CP breaking that induces hermitian mass matrices for all fermion mass terms of the Dirac type. Our assumptions define an 18-parameter scenario for the fermion mass matrices for 18 experimentally known observables. Performing a numerical analysis, we find excellent fits to all observables in the case of both the normal and inverted neutrino mass spectrum.     

Heavy Dirac and Majorana neutrino production ine + e − collisions

The production of heavy Dirac and Majorana neutrinos ine ⁺ e ^? collisions is investigated. The heavy Dirac and/or Majorana neutrinos can be produced in charged and neutral current processes $(e^ + e^ - \to N_1 \bar N_2 )$ . The production of a single heavy neutrino is possible if it mixes with the light neutrino species. The production of heavy neutrinos in Higgs channels is also studied, since in some specific models the Yukawa couplings could be large enough to make the production of heavy neutrinos through Higgs boson exchanges sufficiently large for detection. The most general left-right symmetric model with possibly complexV orA couplings is used in the analytic calculations of the production cross sections, but the numerical examples are given using simplified left-right symmetric model. The interference terms between different production channels have been studied in great detail and in some cases the interference terms are found to be non-negligible in wide range of production spectrum. The pair production cross section is larger in the Dirac case than it is in the Majorana case, but the single heavy Majorana neutrino production cross section is roughly twice as large as that of a Dirac neutrino.     

New formulas and predictions for running masses at higher scales in MSSM

The effects of the scale dependent vacuum expectation values (VEVs) on the running masses of quarks and leptons in non-SUSY gauge theories have been considered by a number of authors. Here we use RGEs of the VEVs, and the gauge and Yukawa couplings in the MSSM to analytically derive new one loop formulas for the running masses above the SUSY breaking scale. Some of the masses exhibit a substantially different behaviour with respect to their dependence on the gauge and Yukawa couplings when compared with earlier formulas in the MSSM derived ignoring RGEs of VEVs. In particular, the masses of the first two generations are found to be independent of the Yukawa couplings of the third generation in the small mixing limit. New numerical estimates at the two loop level are also presented. Received: 30 July 1999 / Published online: 6 April 2000     

From N = 1 to N = 4 extended supersymmetric Yang-Mills fields in a covariant Wess-Zumino gauge

It is assumed that N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills fields coupled to chiral matter fields can be renormalized in a covariant Wess-Zumino gauge with a minimal number of subtractions so that the Ward identities of supersymmetry, ordinary gauge invariance and matter-field-flavour symmetries are satisfied. The chiral Yukawa couplings are supposed to remain unrenormalized. I show that on the basis of these assumptions an N = 4 extended manifestly O(4) invariant theory can be constructed with finite Yukawa and φ⁴ couplings. A consequence of these non-renormalizations is the vanishing of the renormalization group β function.     

Higgs phenomenology of the supersymmetric model with a gauge singlet

We discuss the Higgs sector of the supersymmetric standard model extended by a gauge singlet for the range of parameters, which is compatible with universal soft supersymmetry breaking terms at the GUT scale. We present results for the masses, couplings and decay properties of the lightest Higgs bosons, in particular with regard to Higgs boson searches at LEP. The prospects differ significantly from the ones within the MSSM.     

Gauge unification in type I/I′ models

We discuss whether the (MSSM) unification of gauge couplings can be accommodated in string theories with a low (TeV) string scale. This requires either power law running of the couplings or logarithmic running extremely far above the string scale. In both cases it is difficult to arrange for the multiplet structure to give the MSSM result. For the case of power law running there is also enhanced sensitivity to the spectrum at the unification scale. For the case of logarithmic running there is a fine tuning problem associated with the light closed string Kaluza Klein spectrum which requires gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking on the “visible” brane with a dangerously low scale of supersymmetry breaking. Evading these problems in low string scale models requires a departure from the MSSM structure, which would imply that the success of gauge unification in the MSSM is just an accident.     

Neutrino mass and new light gauge boson in superstring models

The proposal that the neutrino owes the smallness of its mass to the spontaneous breaking of R parity in superstring models with an additional gauge boson coupled to the right-handed neutrino is analysed. The right-handed neutrino can not in general decouple from the low-energy theory in models with supersymmetry at the TeV scale and which possess the light Higgs doublets necessary for generating fermion masses. Experimental limits on neutrino mass then imply an upper limit on the new gauge boson mass m_Zr ⪅ 220 GeV.     

Soft leptogenesis in Higgs triplet model

We consider the minimal supersymmetric triplet seesaw model as the origin of neutrino masses and mixing as well as of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, which is generated through soft leptogenesis employing a CP-violating phase and a resonant behavior in the supersymmetry breaking sector. We calculate the full gauge-annihilation cross section for the Higgs triplets, including all relevant supersymmetric intermediate and final states, as well as coannihilations with the fermionic superpartners of the triplets. We find that these gauge annihilation processes strongly suppress the resulting lepton asymmetry. As a consequence of this, successful leptogenesis can occur only for a triplet mass at the TeV scale, where the contribution of soft supersymmetry breaking terms enhances the CP and lepton asymmetry. This opens up an interesting opportunity for testing the model in future colliders.     

Photon signatures for low energy supersymmetry breaking and broken R-parity

The possible phenomenological consequences of R-parity violating interactions in the framework of low energy supersymmetry breaking are studied. It is pointed out that even very weak R-parity violation would completely overshadow one of the basic signatures of low energy supersymmetry breaking models, that is the decay of the next to lightest supersymmetric particle into a photon (lepton) and missing energy. Thus, the observation of these decays would put very strong limits on R-parity violating couplings. Vice-versa, if R-parity violation is established experimentally, before a detailed knowledge of the spectrum is obtained, it will be very difficult to distinguish gravity mediated from low energy gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios. Those conclusions are very model independent. We also comment on the possibility of mixing between charged and neutral leptons with charginos and neutralinos, respectively, and its phenomenological consequences for the photon (lepton) signatures, in scenarios where this mixing is generated by the presence of bilinear or trilinear R-parity violating terms in the superpotential.     

Remarks on (0,2) models and intermediate scale scenarios in string theory

Problems associated with large intermediate scales in string theory are discussed. It is shown that, in σ-model perturbation theory, the superpotential of theories with (2,2) supersymmetry is purely cubic. As a result, to exhibit flat directions with (0,2) supersymmetry, one needs to study only a small number of Yukawa couplings. Usually these flat directions are lifted by nonperturbative effects in the σ model. Examples where this is not the case, due to Cvetic and to Distler and Greene, are discussed. It is shown that in the former case, there are not, generically, extra massless particles to play the role of Higgs fields. The problems of proton decay, neutrino masses, and obtaining light Higgs fields in models with large intermediate scales are considered, and various difficulties with existing proposals are pointed out.     

Goldstone fermion couplings and supersymmetry breaking in superstring models

We re-examine supersymmetry breaking in the observable sectors of superstring-inspired supergravity models by computing Goldstone fermion couplings at the one-loop level. We find that a single global U (1) phase invariance is sufficient to forbid masses for gauge non-singlet chiral scalar bosons, and that Heisenberg symmetry is not necessary.     

Single field baryogenesis

We propose a new variant of the Affleck-Dine baryogenesis mechanism in which a rolling scalar field couples directly to left- and right-handed neutrinos, generating a Dirac mass term through neutrino Yukawa interactions. In this setup, there are no explicitly CP violating couplings in the Lagrangian. The rolling scalar field is also taken to be uncharged under the B - L quantum numbers. During the phase of rolling, scalar field decays generate a nonvanishing number density of left-handed neutrinos, which then induce a net baryon number density via electroweak sphaleron transitions.