Low energy aspects of superstring theories

The effective theory obtained as low energy limit of theE ₈×E ₈ superstring is analyzed from the phenomenological point of view. The supersymmetry breaking manifests itself in the low energy sector only after the radiative corrections involving the goldstino field have been taken into account. A universal mass for the scalar fields, generally smaller thanm _3/2, is generated. An intermediate scale can be obtained through the radiative breaking of part of the gauge group. As a consequence, the additional particles present in the spectrum get a heavy mass, and effective interactions are induced, which make possible the breaking of the electroweak group and the radiative generation of gaugino masses.     

Radiative gauge symmetry breaking in supersymmetric flipped SU(5)

The radiative breaking of the SU(5)×U(1) symmetry in the flipped SU(5) model recently proposed by Antoniadis et al. is studied using renormalization group techniques. It is shown that gaugino masses can only be the dominant source of supersymmetry breaking at the Planck scale if the U(1) gaugino mass M₁ is at least 10 times larger than the SU(5) gaugino mass M₅. If M₁≅M₅ at the Planck scale, non-vanishing trilinear soft breaking terms (“A-terms”) are needed already at the Planck scale. In both cases consequences for the sparticle spectrum at the weak scale are discussed.     

Relating the CMSSM and SUGRA models with GUT-scale and super-GUT-scale supersymmetry breaking

While the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM) with universal gaugino masses, m _1/2, scalar masses, m ₀, and A-terms, A ₀, defined at some high energy scale (usually taken to be the GUT scale) is motivated by general features of supergravity models, it does not carry all of the constraints imposed by minimal supergravity (mSUGRA). In particular, the CMSSM does not impose a relation between the trilinear and bilinear soft supersymmetry breaking terms, B ₀=A ₀?m ₀, nor does it impose the relation between the soft scalar masses and the gravitino mass, m ₀=m _3/2. As a consequence, tanβ is computed given values of the other CMSSM input parameters. By considering a Giudice–Masiero (GM) extension to mSUGRA, one can introduce new parameters to the Kähler potential which are associated with the Higgs sector and recover many of the standard CMSSM predictions. However, depending on the value of A ₀, one may have a gravitino or a neutralino dark matter candidate. We also consider the consequences of imposing the universality conditions above the GUT scale. This GM extension provides a natural UV completion for the CMSSM.     

Compactification and inflation in the superstring theory from the condensation of gravitino pairs

We discuss the possibility that inflation can occur in the E₈×E₈′ heterotic superstring theory, if there is a pair condensation of the gravitino field ψ_A and also of the Majorana-Weyl spinor λ, as suggested by the Helayël-Neto and Smith. In the absence of a condensation of the anti-symmetric tensor field H_MNP, then the associated potential V(θ,φ) is bounded from below and independent of the dilaton field φ. It can be made to vanish at the minimum, where the compactification scale θ is fixed. Alternatively, a small cosmological constant may remain (ultimately to be cancelled by radiative corrections at the lower energy scale of the gaugino condensation), which could in principle lead to inflation.     

Grand unification with local supersymmetry

We study general conditions for obtaining spontaneous breaking of local supersymmetry in N = 1 supergravity coupled to supersymmetric matter. We consider in particular the coupling of N = 1 supergravity to grand unified theories like SU(5) and study the conditions which must be met in order to obtain a realistic model. Specific models are built in which local supersymmetry is broken at a scale √M_Wm_p ～ 10¹⁰ GeV. This breaking of supersymmetry is only detected at low energies through soft terms breaking explicitly the global supersymmetry. These soft terms (scalar masses, gaugino masses and trilinear scalar couplings) are renormalized at low energies according to the renormalization group. The (mass)² of the Higgs doublet evolve towards negative values at low energies giving rise to SU(2) × U(1) breaking as a radiative effect of local supersymmetry breaking. We finally point out the possible relevance of non-renormalizable superpotentials for the problem of fermion masses.     

Radiative corrections in compactified superstring models

One-loop corrections to the effective potential in models obtained from compactification of ten-dimensional superstring theories are calculated. It is found that no masses are generated for gauge non-singlet scalars even in the presence of supersymmetry breaking terms induced by gauge and gaugino condensation, but that the gravitino mass is determined at one loop. The scales of grand unification, supersymmetry breaking and condensation are fixed by the gauge singlet scalars and are found to be close to Planck scale. Requiring M_GUT<M_Planck restricts the other parameters of the theory. The one-loop effective potential at scales between the condensate and compactification scales is also discussed, with possible implications for the allowed particle content of the effective theory.     

Limits on the top quark mass within the frame of the minimal superstrings inspired model

We study the process of spontaneous R parity breaking in minimal stringy models. In these models the top quark mass is bounded from below to allow the spontaneous breaking of SU (2)_L × U (1)_Y. On the other hand the requirement of stability for the neutral potential which is sufficient to avoid R parity breaking, gives us an upper bound. Allowed values for the top quark mass remain between 70 and 95 GeV, if supersymmetry breaking is triggered by gaugino masses.     

Low scale direct gauge mediation with perturbatively stable vacuum

In a class of direct gauge mediation with a perturbatively stable SUSY breaking vacuum, gaugino masses vanish at the leading order of SUSY breaking F-term. We study the allowed parameter space of the gauge mediation models. By imposing a Tevatron bound on the lightest chargino mass \( {m_{\tilde \chi_1^\pm }} \gtrsim 270\;{\text{eV}} \) and a warm dark-matter mass bound on the light gravitino mass m _3/2 ? 16 eV, we find that almost all the parameter space is excluded. Near future experiments may completely exclude, or possibly discover, the scenario.     

Frequentist analysis of the parameter space of minimal supergravity

We make a frequentist analysis of the parameter space of minimal supergravity (mSUGRA), in which, as well as the gaugino and scalar soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters being universal, there is a specific relation between the trilinear, bilinear and scalar supersymmetry-breaking parameters, A ₀=B ₀+m ₀, and the gravitino mass is fixed by m _3/2=m ₀. We also consider a more general model, in which the gravitino mass constraint is relaxed (the VCMSSM). We combine in the global likelihood function the experimental constraints from low-energy electroweak precision data, the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, the lightest Higgs boson mass M _h , B physics and the astrophysical cold dark matter density, assuming that the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is a neutralino. In the VCMSSM, we find a preference for values of m _1/2 and m ₀ similar to those found previously in frequentist analyses of the constrained MSSM (CMSSM) and a model with common non-universal Higgs masses (NUHM1). On the other hand, in mSUGRA we find two preferred regions: one with larger values of both m _1/2 and m ₀ than in the VCMSSM, and one with large m ₀ but small m _1/2. We compare the probabilities of the frequentist fits in mSUGRA, the VCMSSM, the CMSSM and the NUHM1: the probability that mSUGRA is consistent with the present data is significantly less than in the other models. We also discuss the mSUGRA and VCMSSM predictions for sparticle masses and other observables, identifying potential signatures at the LHC and elsewhere.     

SU(7) Electroweak unification

Electroweak unification is obtained in anSU(7) model at a mass scale 3×10¹⁰≦M≦3×10¹⁶ GeV's, with left-right symmetric subgroups and sin² θ _w (M)=3/8. BelowM, the model reduces toSU(3) _L ×SU(3) _R , the flavor sector of the “trinification theory” of Glashow et al., or of theE ₆ grand unified theory. This model predicts a natural massless neutrino, and fractionally charged leptons with masses in theM regime.     

No-scale supersymmetric GUTs

We construct locally supersymmetric GUTs in which radiative corrections determine all the mass scales which are hierarchically smaller than the Planck mass: $\text{m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{=}\text{O}\text{(m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>W</mtext>}}\text{) =}\text{exp}\text{(}\text{?}\text{O}\text{(1)}\text{α}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>t</mtext>}}\text{)m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>p</mtext>}}$, etc. Such no-scale GUTs are based on a hidden sector with a flat potential guaranteed by SU(1, 1) conformal invariance. This is extended to include observable chiral fields in an SU(n, 1)/SU(n) × U(1) structure reminiscent of N ? 5 extended supergravity theories. Tree-level supersymmetry breaking is present only for the gravitino, and for the light gaugino masses through non-minimal kinetic terms reminiscent of N?4 extended supergravity theories. Radiative corrections generate squark and slepton masses which are phenomenologically acceptable, and the right value of m_W is obtained if m_t ≈ 50 GeV in the simplest such model.     

Split supersymmetry in brane models

Type-I string theory in the presence of internal magnetic fields provides a concrete realization of split supersymmetry. To lowest order, gauginos are massless while squarks and sleptons are superheavy. For weak magnetic fields, the correct Standard Model spectrum guarantees gauge coupling unification with sin² ϑW=3/8 at the compactification scale of M _GUT ⋍ 2 × 10¹⁶ GeV. I discuss mechanisms for generating gaugino and higgsino masses at the TeV scale, as well as generalizations to models with split extended supersymmetry in the gauge sector.     

Dynamical mass generation for the gravitino in N = 1 supergravity

The Volkov-Akulov field is coupled to supergravity and it is gauged away through a field redefinition, remaining with a negative cosmological constant plus N = 1 supergravity lagrangian. Then the gravitino sector is quantized and a positive cosmological constant is obtained along with a mass-like term for the gravitino. Imposing the effective cosmological constant to be zero, consequently a genuine mass term for the gravitino is obtained. The corresponding energy-gap equation shows that this mass turns out to be of the order of the Planck mass.     

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.     

Chiral U(1) anomaly in D=4 super Yang-Mills theory coupled to supergravity

We evaluate the chiral U(1) anomaly in D=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory coupled to supergravity. We consider not only the minimal coupling between the gauge fields and fermions but also the interaction term which mixes the gravitino and the gaugino. We show that the mixing interaction gives new contributions to the anomaly.     

Search for SUSY at LHC in jets + E T miss final states for the case of nonuniversal gaugino masses

We investigate squark and gluino pair production at LHC (CMS) with subsequent decays into quarks and an LSP for the case of nonuniversal gaugino masses. Visibility of a signal by an excess over the SM background in (n≥2)jets+E _T ^miss events depends rather strongly on the relation between the LSP, gluino, and squark masses and decreases with increasing LSP mass. For a relatively heavy LSP mass close to the squark or the gluino mass and for $m_{\tilde q} ,m_{\tilde g} \geqslant 1.5$ TeV, the sygnal is overly small to be observable.     

Vanishing scalar masses in no-scale supergravity

Radiative corrections to the effective scalar potential are studied in no-scale supergravity models with local supersymmetry spontaneously broken by a gravitino mass. A simple proof is given that gauge non-singlet scalar fields acquire no supersymmetry breaking masses at the one-loop level, and a general argument is given extending this result to all orders of perturbation theory in the effective low-energy theory, proving also that no trilinear soft supersymmetry breaking terms in the effective potential are generated. These results are applicable to the four-dimensional no-scale supergravity theory obtained from the superstring after compactification, and support suggestions that the dominant source of global supersymmetry breaking in this theory may be the gaugino mass.     

Gravitational waves as a probe of the gravitino mass

If gaugino condensations occur in the early universe, domain walls are produced as a result of the spontaneous breaking of a discrete R symmetry. Those domain walls eventually annihilate with one another, producing the gravitational waves. We show that the gravitational waves can be a probe for measuring the gravitino mass, if the constant term in the superpotential is the relevant source of the discrete R symmetry breaking.     

SU(5) andSU(2)×U(1) radiative breakings inN=1 supergravity unified models

Non-minimalSU(5) supergravity GUTs are analyzed in order to obtain theSU(5) andSU(2)×U(1) breakings à la Coleman-Weinberg as dynamical effects generated by the soft breaking terms, residues of supergravityN=1 (minimally coupled). Solutions are found that predict the existence ofSU(2)-triplets andSU(3)-octets as heavy asO(1 TeV). Supersymmetric Higgs masses, of the same order than the gravitino mass, must be introduced for the heavy, Σ(24), and lightH ₁ (2),H ₂ (2) sectors. Imposing the experimental bound \(m_{\tilde g} \gtrsim 60GeV\) , the lower boundsm _3/2?30 GeV, \(m_{\bar e} > 140GeV\) \(m_{\bar u} > 133GeV\) are obtained.     

On supersymmetry breaking in superstring theories

We show that non-zero gaugino condensates of several non-abelian gauge groups G₁⊗…⊗G_k∃E₈ in low-energy d=4 superstring E₈⊗E₆ gauge theory can lead to the exponentially small (compared to the Planck scale) supersymmetry breaking scale. The Hosotani mechanism can provide the E₈→G₁⊗…⊗G_k breaking.