D-brane models and flux supersymmetry breaking

We describe recent work on constructing four-dimensional string models with moduli stabilized by field strength fluxes and chiral gauge sectors close to the Standard Model from D-brane configurations. We discuss how the interplay of both ingredients relates to phenomenological issues, in particular the appearance of soft terms on the D-brane gauge sector induce from non-supersymmetric flux backgrounds. To cite this article: A.M. Uranga, C. R. Physique 5 (2004).

Résumé

Nous décrivons des travaux récents de constructions de modèles de cordes à 4 dimensions ayant des modules stabilisés par des flux, ainsi que des secteurs chiraux de jauge proches du modèle standard, réalisés à partir de configurations de D-branes. Nous expliquons comment les liens entre les différents ingrédients relient des aspects phénoménologiques, en particulier l'apparition de termes doux dans le secteur de jauge des D-branes à partir de champs de fonds non-supersymétriques avec flux. Pour citer cet article : A.M. Uranga, C. R. Physique 5 (2004).     

Electroweak breaking and supersymmetry breaking

We discuss the clash between the absence of fine tuning in the Higgs potential and a sufficient suppression of flavour changing neutral current transitions in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. It is pointed out that horizontalU(1) symmetry combined with theD-term supersymmetry breaking provides a realistic framework for solving both problems.     

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.     

Constraints on sparticle spectrum in different supersymmetry breaking models

We derive sum rules for the sparticle masses in different models of supersymmetry breaking. This includes the gravity-mediated models (SUGRA models) as well as models in which supersymmetry breaking terms are induced by super-Weyl anomaly (AMSB models). These sum rules can help in distinguishing between these models. In particular, we obtain an upper bound on the mass of the lightest neutralino as a function of the gluino mass in SUGRA and AMSB models.     

Grand unification with large supersymmetry breaking

We give general criteria for the magnitudes of mass splittings between supersymmetric partners compatible with the desired hierarchy of mass scales in GUTs. These splittings arise naturally when masses are generated radiatively from a Higgs sector breaking supersymmetry through the O'Raifeartaigh mechanism. We construct explicit GUTs in which the supersymmetry-breaking scale may easily be as large as the Planck mass.     

Stop coannihilation in the CMSSM and SubGUT models

Stop coannihilation may bring the relic density of heavy supersymmetric dark matter particles into the range allowed by cosmology. The efficiency of this process is enhanced by stop-antistop annihilations into the longitudinal (Goldstone) modes of the W and Z bosons, as well as by Sommerfeld enhancement of stop annihilations and the effects of bound states. Since the couplings of the stops to the Goldstone modes are proportional to the trilinear soft supersymmetry-breaking A-terms, these annihilations are enhanced when the A-terms are large. However, the Higgs mass may be reduced below the measured value if the A-terms are too large. Unfortunately, the interpretation of this constraint on the stop coannihilation strip is clouded by differences between the available Higgs mass calculators. For our study, we use as our default calculator FeynHiggs 2.13.0, the most recent publicly available version of this code. Exploring the CMSSM parameter space, we find that along the stop coannihilation strip the masses of the stops are severely split by the large A-terms. This suppresses the Higgs mass drastically for \(\mu \) and \(A_0 > 0\), whilst the extent of the stop coannihilation strip is limited for \(A_0 < 0\) and either sign of \(\mu \). However, in sub-GUT models, reduced renormalization-group running mitigates the effect of the large A-terms, allowing larger LSP masses to be consistent with the Higgs mass calculation. We give examples where the dark matter particle mass may reach \(\gtrsim 8\) TeV.     

Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in large-N matrix models with slowly varying potential

We construct a class of matrix models, where supersymmetry (SUSY) is spontaneously broken at the matrix size N infinite. The models are obtained by dimensional reduction of matrix-valued SUSY quantum mechanics. The potential of the models is slowly varying, and the large-N limit is taken with the slowly varying limit.     

Mixing-induced spontaneous supersymmetry breaking

It is conjectured that flavor mixing furnishes a universal mechanism for the spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry. The conjecture is proved explicitly for the mixing of two chiral N=1 supermultiplets and arguments for its general validity are given. That is an instance of the O?Raifeartaigh Lagrangian for which there is no tree-level nor perturbative breaking. Nonetheless, the dynamical breaking occurs due to the vacuum condensate, a mixing-induced nonperturbative effect that lifts the zero point energy.     

Constraints on supersymmetry breaking

Some non-perturbative constraints on supersymmetry breaking are derived. It is demonstrated that dynamical supersymmetry breaking does not occur in certain interesting classes of theories.     

Dynamical breaking of supersymmetry

General conditions for dynamical supersymmetry breaking are discussed. Very small effects that would usually be ignored, such as instantons of a grand unified theory, might break supersymmetry at a low energy scale. Examples are given (in 0 + 1 and 2 + 1 dimensions) in which dynamical supersymmetry breaking occurs. Difficulties that confront such a program in four dimensions are described.     

Leptogenesis from supersymmetry breaking

We show that soft supersymmetry breaking terms involving the heavy sneutrinos can lead to sneutrino-antisneutrino mixing and to new sources of CP violation, which are present even if a single generation is considered. These terms are naturally present in supersymmetric versions of leptogenesis scenarios, and they induce indirect CP violation in the decays of the heavy sneutrinos, eventually generating a baryon asymmetry. This new contribution can be comparable to or even dominate over the asymmetry produced in traditional leptogenesis scenarios.     

Soft breaking of supersymmetry

Using superfield methods we discuss systematically explicit soft breaking of global supersymmetry. We find that, in a component field language, dimension-two operators are soft while, in general, dimension-three operators are not and introduce quadratic divergences not present in the unbroken theory. At the one-loop level we give a parallel discussion based on the effective potential.     

Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in matrix models from the viewpoints of localization and Nicolai mapping

In the previous work, it was shown that, in supersymmetric (matrix) discretized quantum mechanics, inclusion of an external field twisting the boundary condition of fermions enables us to discuss spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry (SUSY) in the path-integral formalism in a well-defined way. In the present work, we continue investigating the same systems from the points of view of localization and Nicolai mapping. The localization is studied by changing of integration variables in the path integral, which is applicable whether or not SUSY is explicitly broken. We examine in detail how the integrand of the partition function with respect to the integral over the auxiliary field behaves as the auxiliary field vanishes, which clarifies a mechanism of the localization. In SUSY matrix models, we obtain a matrix-model generalization of the localization formula. In terms of eigenvalues of matrix variables, we observe that eigenvalues' dynamics is governed by balance of attractive force from the localization and repulsive force from the Vandermonde determinant. The approach of the Nicolai mapping works even in the presence of the external field. It enables us to compute the partition function of SUSY matrix models for finite N (N is the rank of matrices) with arbitrary superpotential at least in the leading nontrivial order of an expansion with respect to the small external field. We confirm the restoration of SUSY in the large-N limit of a SUSY matrix model with a double-well scalar potential observed in the previous work.     

Low-scale leptogenesis and soft supersymmetry breaking

We investigate the possibility of low-scale leptogenesis in the minimal supersymmetric standard model extended with right-handed (s)neutrinos. We demonstrate that successful leptogenesis can be easily achieved at a scale as low as approximately TeV where lepton number and CP violation comes from soft supersymmetry breaking terms. The scenario is shown to be compatible with neutrino masses data.     

Dynamical supersymmetry breaking and gauge anomalies

Some aspects of supersymmetric gauge theories and discussed. It is shown that dynamical supersymmetry breaking does not occur in supersymmetric QED in higher dimensions. The cancellation of both local (perturbative) and global (non-perturbative) gauge anomalies are also discussed in supersymmetric gauge theories. We argue that there is no dynamical supersymmetry breaking in higher dimensions in any supersymmetric gauge theories free of gauge anomalies. It is also shown that for supersymmetric gauge theories in higher dimensions with a compact connected simple gauge group, when the local anomaly-free condition is satisfied, there can be at most a possibleZ ₂ global gauge anomaly in extended supersymmetricSO(10) (or spin (10)) gauge theories inD=10 dimensions containing additional Weyl fermions in a spinor representation ofSO(10) (or spin (10)). In four dimensions with local anomaly-free condition satisfied, the only possible global gauge anomalies in supersymmetric gauge theories areZ ₂ global gauge anomalies for extended supersymmetricSP(2N) (N=rank) gauge theories containing additional Weyl fermions in a representation ofSP(2N) with an odd 2nd-order Dynkin index.     

On supersymmetry breaking in superstrings

We prove that the existence of a slightly massive or gravitino or gaugino in a class of gaussian string compactifications, implies the existence of an entire tower of such states below M_Planck, signaling the approach to a limit of decompactification.     

Metastable supersymmetry breaking without scales

We construct new examples of models of metastable D=4$D=4$N=1$N=1$ supersymmetry breaking in which all scales are generated dynamically. Our models rely on Seiberg duality and on the ISS mechanism of supersymmetry breaking in massive SQCD. Some of the electric quark superfields arise as composites of a strongly coupled gauge sector. This allows us to start with a simple cubic superpotential and an asymptotically free gauge group in the ultraviolet, and end up with an infrared effective theory which breaks supersymmetry dynamically in a metastable state.