We show that in O'Raifeartaigh models of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, R-symmetries can be broken by non-zero values of fields at tree level, rather than by vacuum expectation values of pseudomoduli at loop level. As a complement of the recent result by Shih, we show that there must be a field in the theory with R-charge different from zero and two in order for R-symmetry breaking to occur, no matter whether the breaking happens at tree or loop level. We review the example by CDFM, and construct two types of tree level R-symmetry breaking models with a wide range of parameters and free of runaway problem. And the R-symmetry is broken everywhere on the pseudomoduli space in these models. This provides a rich set of candidates for SUSY model building and phenomenology.
We study the question of whether spontaneous U(1)_R breaking can occur in O'Raifeartaigh-type models of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. We show that in order for it to occur, there must be a field in the theory with R-charge different from 0 or 2. We construct the simplest O'Raifeartaigh model with this property, and we find that for a wide range of parameters, it has a meta-stable vacuum where U(1)_R is spontaneously broken. This suggests that spontaneous U(1)_R breaking actually occurs in generic O'Raifeartaigh models.
Supersymmetry breaking together by constant boundary superpotentials and by the O'Raifeartaigh model is studied in a warped space model. It is shown that the contribution of constant boundary superpotentials enables the moduli of chiral supermultiplets to be stabilized and that the vacuum at the stationary point has zero cosmological constant in a wide region of parameters.
We discuss O'Raifeartaigh models with general R-charge assignments, introduced by Shih to break R-symmetry spontaneously. We argue that most of these models have runaway directions related to the R-symmetry. In addition, we study the simplest model with a U(N) global symmetry and show that in a range of parameters R-symmetry is spontaneously broken in a metastable vacuum.
O'Raifeartaigh models with general R-charge assignments can have vacua where both supersymmetry and R-symmetry are spontaneously broken. Most of these vacua are metastable because the potential shows a runaway behaviour. We explain the relation between runaway directions and R-symmetry.
We investigate finite temperature effects in O'Raifeartaigh models with global symmetries which exhibit supersymmetry breaking at a meta-stable vacuum accompanied by $U(1)_R$ breaking. The pseudo moduli field is stabilized at one-loop order at zero temperature within some coupling parameter region. We analyze the behavior of the parameter space according to non-zero temperatures and find that the parameter region which allows $U(1)_R$ breaking is considerably extended at sufficiently low temperature, even though it shrinks down at high temperature as expected. We also discuss the thermal histo…
Much has been learned about metastable vacua and R-symmetry breaking in O'Raifeartaigh models. Such work has largely been done from the perspective of the superpotential and by including Coleman-Weinberg corrections to the scalar potential. Instead, we consider these ideas from the perspective of the one loop effective Kahler potential. We translate known ideas to this framework and construct convenient formulas for computing individual terms in the expanded effective Kahler potential. We do so for arbitrary R-charge assignments and allow for small R-symmetry violating terms so that both spont…
We provide a method for obtaining simple models of supersymmetry breaking, with all small mass scales generated dynamically, and illustrate it with explicit examples. We start from models of perturbative supersymmetry breaking, such as O'Raifeartaigh and Fayet models, that would respect an $R$ symmetry if their small input parameters transformed as the superpotential does. By coupling the system to a pure supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory (or a more general supersymmetric gauge theory with dynamically small vacuum expectation values), these parameters are replaced by powers of its dynamical sca…
We study $\mathcal{N}=1$ models in which supersymmetry and $R$-symmetry are broken spontaneously. We find that even the simplest well-known O'Raifeartaigh-like models exhibit previously unnoticed phases and dynamics. D-terms play an important role in the dynamics, creating a runaway behavior at tree-level which is stabilized radiatively at a large scale. This leads to a dynamically-generated hierarchy of scales. Additionally, this mechanism generically leads to a spontaneously broken $R$-symmetry without fine tuning the couplings of the theory. These are arguably the simplest known models that…
R-symmetries, which are needed for supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking in O'Raifeartaigh models, often lead to SUSY runaway directions trough a complexified R-transformation. Non-R symmetries also lead to runaway directions in a similar way. This work investigates the occurrence of runaway directions of both SUSY and SUSY breaking types. We clarify previous issues on fractional charges and genericness, and make a refined statement on conditions for runaway directions related to either R-symmetries or non-R symmetries. We present a generic and anomaly-free model to show the existence of runaway direc…
We study a meta-stable supersymmetry-breaking vacuum in a generalized O'Raifeartaigh model at finite temperature and chemical potentials. Fields in the generalized O'Raifeartaigh model possess different R-charges to realize R-symmetry breaking. Accordingly, at finite density and temperature, the chemical potentials have to be introduced in a non-uniform way. Based on the formulation elaborated in our previous work we study the one-loop thermal effective potential including the chemical potentials in the generalized O'Raifeartaigh model. We perform a numerical analysis and find that the R-symme…
We present gauge theory completions of Wess-Zumino models admitting supersymmetry breaking vacua with spontaneously broken R-symmetry. Our models are simple deformations of generalized ITIY models, a supersymmetric theory with gauge group Sp(N), N+1 flavors plus singlets, with a modified tree level superpotential which explicitly breaks (part of) the global symmetry. Depending on the nature of the deformation, we obtain effective O'Raifeartaigh-like models whose pseudomoduli space is locally stable in a neighborhood of the origin of field space, or in a region not including it. Hence, once emb…
We study the possibility of obtaining metastable supersymmetry breaking vacua in a perturbative gauge theory without singlet fields, thus allowing for scenarios where a grand unified symmetry and supersymmetry are broken by the same sector. We show some explicit SU(5) examples. The minimal renormalizable example requires the use of two adjoints, but it is shown to inevitably lead to unwanted light states. We suggest various alternatives, and show that the viable possibilities consist of allowing for non-renormalizable operators, of employing four adjoints or of adding at least one field in a d…
We study the stability of supersymmetry breaking metastable vacua and supersymmetric vacua in the presence of solitons. The metastable vacua of supersymmetric QCD and those found elsewhere such as in models based on the SU(5) grand unified group support the existence of topological solitons. The vacua containing such topological defects can become unstable against decay into lower energy configurations. We show for a specific model that a finite region of the available parameter space of couplings becomes disallowed due to the presence of monopoles. In a manner similar to previous studies base…
Flat directions charged under an R-symmetry are a generic feature of O'Raifeartaigh models. Non-topological solitons associated with this symmetry, R-balls, are likely to form through the fragmentation of a condensate, itself created by soft terms induced during inflation. In gravity mediated SUSY breaking R-balls decay to gravitinos, reheating the universe. For gauge mediation R-balls can provide a good dark matter candidate. Alternatively they can decay, either reheating or cooling the universe. Conserved R-symmetry permits decay to gravitinos or gauginos, whereas spontaneously broken R-symm…
We analyze two loop quantum corrections for pseudomoduli in O'Raifeartaigh like models. We argue that R-symmetry can be spontaneously broken at two loop in non supersymmetric vacua. We provide a basic example with this property. We discuss on phenomenological applications.
We examine generalized O'Raifeartaigh models that feature multiple tree-level flat directions and only contain fields with R-charges 0 or 2. We show that spontaneous R-breaking at up to one-loop order is impossible in such theories. Specifically, we prove that the R-symmetric origin of field space is always a local minimum of the one-loop Coleman-Weinberg potential, generalizing an earlier result for the case of a single flat direction. This result has consequences for phenomenology and helps elucidate the behavior of various models of dynamical SUSY breaking.
We show that metastable supersymmetry breaking is generic near certain enhanced symmetry points of gauge theory moduli spaces. Our model consists of two sectors coupled by a singlet and combines dynamical supersymmetry breaking with an O'Raifeartaigh mechanism in terms of confined variables. All relevant mass parameters, including the supersymmetry breaking scale, are generated dynamically. The metastable vacua appear as a result of a balance between non-perturbative and perturbative quantum effects along a pseudo-runaway direction.
The objective of this article is to discuss the coupling of fermionic fields with mass dimension one to the O'Raifeartaigh model to study supersymmetry breaking for fermionic fields with mass dimension one. We find that the coupled model has two distinct solutions. The first solution represents a local minimum of the superpotential which spontaneously breaks supersymmetry in perfect analogy to the O'Raifeartaigh model. The second solution is more intriguing as it corresponds to a global minimum of the superpotential. In this case the coupling to the fermionic sector restores supersymmetry. How…
We study the questions of how supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in Anti de-Sitter spacetime. We verify that the would-be R-symmetry in $AdS_4$ plays a central role for the existence of meta-stable supersymmetry breaking. To illustrate, some well-known models such as Poloyni models and O'Raifeartaigh models are investigated in detail. Our calculations are reliable in flat spacetime limit and confirm us that meta-stable vacua are generic even though quantum corrections are taken into account.
We discuss generalizations of Intriligator-Seiberg-Shih (ISS) vacua to chiral models. We study one example, of an s-confining theory, in detail. In the IR, this example reduces to two ISS-like sectors, and exhibits a supersymmetry-breaking vacuum with all pseudo-moduli stabilized at the origin, and with the R-symmetry unbroken. The IR theory is interesting from the point of view of R-symmetry breaking. This theory is an O'Raifeartaigh model with all charges zero or two, but the presence of a second R-charged pseudo-modulus with superpotential couplings to the messengers in principle allows for…
Low energy descriptions of metastable supersymmetry breaking models often possess an accidental R-symmetry. Viable phenomenological applications of this class of models require R-symmetry to be broken in the ground state. This can be achieved in O'Raifeartaigh-like models where some of the chiral superfields carry negative R-charges. In this paper we consider UV completions of this class of models and formulate necessary conditions that they must satisfy. We show that the R-symmetry of the IR description can be traced to an anomalous or anomaly-free R-symmetry of the UV theory and discuss seve…
Motivated by supersymmetry breaking in matrix model formulations of superstrings, we present some concrete models, in which the supersymmetry is preserved for any finite $N$, but gets broken at infinite $N$, where $N$ is the rank of matrix variables. The models are defined as supersymmetric field theories coupled to some matrix models, and in the induced action obtained after integrating out the matrices, supersymmetry is spontaneously broken only when $N$ is infinity. In our models, the large value of $N$ gives a natural explanation for the origin of small parameters appearing in the field th…
We settle a result on generic exactness of SUSY in 3-D, and provide a mechanism of F-term spontaneous breaking of 3-D SUSY, with a different set of tools from those used by O'Raifeartaigh in his seminal work on 4-D SUSY. In our study, we use techniques of projective algebraic geometry so as to deal successfully with cubic hypersurfaces.
We propose a new spontaneous supersymmetry breaking mechanism, in which extra compact dimensions play an important role. To illustrate our mechanism, we study a simple model consisting of two chiral superfields, where one spatial dimension is compactified on a circle $S^1$. It is shown that supersymmetry is spontaneously broken irrespective of the radius of the circle, and also that the translational invariance for the $S^1$-direction and a global symmetry are spontaneously broken when the radius becomes larger than a critical radius. These results are expected to be general features of our me…
We study N=1 global and local supersymmetric theories with a continuous global $U(1)_R$ symmetry as models of dynamical supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking. We introduce explicit R-symmetry breaking terms into such models, in particular a generalized O'Raifeartaigh model. Such explicit R-symmetry breaking terms can lead to a SUSY preserving minimum. We classify explicit R-symmetry breaking terms by the structure of newly appeared SUSY stationary points as a consequence of the R-breaking effect, which could make the SUSY breaking vacuum metastable. We show that the R-breaking terms are basically divi…
We analyze the spontaneous $U(1)_R$ symmetry breaking at finite temperature for the simple O'Raifeartaigh-type model introduced in [1] in connection with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. We calculate the finite temperature effective potential (free energy) to one loop order and study the thermal evolution of the model. We find that the R-symmetry breaking occurs through a second order phase transition. Its associated meta-stable supersymmetry breaking vacuum is thermodynamically favored at high temperatures and the model remains trapped in this state by a potential barrier, as the temperatu…
We consider models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking in which the extremization of a tree-level superpotential conflicts with a quantum constraint. We show that in such models the low-energy effective theory near the origin of moduli space is an O'Raifeartaigh model, and the sign of the mass-squared for the pseudo-flat direction at the origin is calculable. We analyze vector-like models with gauge groups SU(N) and Sp(2N) with and without global symmetries. In all cases there is a stable minimum at the origin with an unbroken U(1)_R symmetry.
Large-field inflation is an interesting and predictive scenario. Its non-trivial embedding in supergravity was intensively studied in the recent literature, whereas its interplay with supersymmetry breaking has been less thoroughly investigated. We consider the minimal viable model of chaotic inflation in supergravity containing a stabilizer field, and add a Polonyi field. Furthermore, we study two possible extensions of the minimal setup. We show that there are various constraints: first of all, it is very hard to couple an O'Raifeartaigh sector with the inflaton sector, the simplest viable o…
Dynamical, metastable supersymmetry breaking appears to be a generic phenomena in supersymmetric field theories. It's simplest implementation is within the so-called "retrofitted O'Raifeartaigh Models". While seemingly flexible, model building in these theories is significantly constrained. In gauge-mediated versions, if the approximate $R$ symmetry of the theory is spontaneously broken, the messenger scale is fixed; if explicitly broken by retrofitted couplings, a very small dimensionless number is required; if supergravity corrections are responsible for the symmetry breaking, at least two m…
We show how supersymmetric QCD in a slice of AdS can naturally acquire metastable vacua. The formulation closely follows that of Intriligator, Seiberg and Shih (ISS), with an "electric" sector on the UV brane and a "magnetic" sector on the IR brane. However the 't Hooft anomaly matching that constrains the Seiberg duality central to ISS is replaced by anomaly inflow and cancellation, and the source of strong coupling is the CFT to which the theory couples rather than the gauge groups. The theory contains an anomaly free R-symmetry that, when broken by UV effects, leads to an O'Raifeartaigh mod…
It is proposed that an event that constitutes a quantum measurement corresponds to the spontaneous breaking of a symmetry in the measuring device over time.
We consider O'Raifeartaigh-like models with explicit R-symmetry breaking and analyze the vacuum landscape. Taking such models as candidates for the hidden sector, we analyze the gauge mediation of the supersymmetry breaking, focusing on the effects produced by R-symmetry breaking. First, we construct families of non-R-symmetric models containing only singlet chiral superfields, and determine the conditions under which SUSY vacua, runaway directions and (longlived) metastable vacua exist. We then extend the results to the case in which some of the chiral fields are in a non-trivial representati…
A nonperturbative approach for spontaneous symmetry breaking is proposed. It is based on some properties of interacting field operators. As the consequences an additional terms like to m^2 A^2 appears in the initial Lagrangian.
We show how translational invariance can be broken by the vacuum that drives the spontaneous symmetry breaking of extra-dimensional extensions of the Standard Model, when delta-like interactions between brane and bulk scalar fields are present. We explicitly build some examples of vacuum configurations, which induce the spontaneous symmetry breaking, and have non trivial profile in the extra coordinate.
We present a new picture of global symmetry breaking in quantum field theory and propose a novel realization of symmetry breaking phenomena in terms of the conserved charge associated with its symmetry. In particular, the fermion condensate of the vacuum state is examined when the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking takes place. It is shown that the fermion condensate of the vacuum vanishes if the system is solved exactly, and therefore we cannot make use of the Goldstone theorem. As a perfect example, we present the Bethe ansatz vacuum of the Thirring model which shows the spontaneous chiral…
Non-Abelian discrete family symmetries play a pivotal role in the formulation of models with tri-bimaximal lepton mixing. We discuss how to obtain symmetries such as A4, semidirect product of Z7 and Z3, and Delta(27) from an underlying SU(3) gauge symmetry. Higher irreducible representations are required to achieve the spontaneous breaking of the continuous group. We present methods of identifying the required vacuum alignments and discuss in detail the symmetry breaking potentials.
We study the compatibility of spontaneous breaking of parity and successful cosmology in a left-right symmetric model where supersymmetry breaking is achieved in metastable vacua. We show that domain walls formed due to this breaking can be removed due to Planck scale suppressed terms, provided the parity breaking scale $M_R$ is constrained to remain smaller than $10^{10}-10^{11}$ GeV. Ensuring metastability is achieved naturally even if the entire mechanism operates at low scales, within a few orders of magnitude of the TeV scale. Taking $M_R$ as high as permitted, close to the acceptable reh…
The convexity of a scalar effective potential is a well known property, and, in the situation of spontaneous symmetry breaking, leads to the so-called Maxwell construction, characterised by a flat effective potential between the minima of the bare potential. Simple derivations are given here, which show how linear effective potentials arise from non-trivial saddles points which dominate the partition function, for a self-interacting scalar field and for a Yukawa model.
We consider the dynamics of the supersymmetry-breaking scalar field and the production of dark matter gravitinos via its decay in a gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking model with metastable vacuum. We find that the scalar field amplitude and gravitino density are extremely sensitive to the parameters of the hidden sector. For the case of an O'Raifeartaigh sector, we show that the observed dark matter density can be explained by gravitinos even for low reheating temperatures T_{R} < 10 GeV. Such low reheating temperatures may be implied by detection of the NLSP at the LHC if its thermal freez…
A very simple mechanism is proposed that stabilizes the orbifold geometry within the context of the Randall-Sundrum proposal for solving the hierarchy problem. The electroweak TeV scale is generated from the Planck scale by spontaneous breaking of the orbifold symmetry
We analyze several aspects of R-symmetry and supersymmetry breaking in generalized O'Raifeartaigh models with non-canonical Kahler potential. Some conditions on the Kahler potential are derived in order for the non-supersymmetric vacua to be degenerate. We calculate the Coleman-Weinberg (CW) effective potential for general quiral non-linear sigma models and then study the 1-loop quantum corrections to the pseudo-moduli space. For R-symmetric models, the quadratic dependence of the CW potential with the ultraviolet cutoff scale disappears. We also show that the conditions for R-symmetry breakin…
I summarize the development of the ideas of Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the 1960s with an outline of the Guralnik, Hagen, Kibble (GHK) paper and include comments on the relationship of this paper to those of Brout, Englert and Higgs. I include some pictures from my "physics family album which might be of some amusement value".
I discuss historical material about the beginning of the ideas of spontaneous symmetry breaking and particularly the role of the Guralnik, Hagen Kibble paper in this development. I do so adding a touch of some more modern ideas about the extended solution-space of quantum field theory resulting from the intrinsic nonlinearity of non-trivial interactions.
We study two-dimensional QED with unequal charges at finite temperature, and show that there is a phase with a spontaneously broken $Z_n$ symmetry. In spite of this, we were not able to establish the presence of domain walls. The relevance for QCD in higher dimensions is discussed.
For spontaneous breaking of global or gauge symmetry, it is superfluous to assume that the vacuum expectation value of the scalar field manifesting the symmetry is nonvanishing. The vacuum with spontaneous symmetry breaking simply corresponds to nonzero number of particles of one or more components of the real scalar field.
In non-Abelian field theories with q-symmetry groups the massive particles have a non-local interpretation with a stringlike spectrum. It is shown that a massless vector similarly acquires a tower of masses by spontaneous symmetry breaking.
The simple examples of spontaneous breaking of various symmetries for the scalar theory with fundamental mass have been considered. Higgs generalizations on "fundamental mass" were introduced into the theory on a basis of the five-dimensional de Sitter space.
The concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) generally lacks a simple and intuitive introduction in the literature. This gap is filled by defining SSB in a universal context beyond its usual applications in physics and by discussing some very simple, but stunning examples of the phenomenon.
We generalize the ISS model of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking to lower dimensions. We also comment on the dynamics of the corresponding brane systems in string theory, and on possible applications to gauge/gravity duality.
The personal and scientific history of the discovery of spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories is outlined and its scientific content is reviewed
We show that one can obtain naturally the Cornell confining potential from the spontaneous symmetry breaking of scale invariance in gauge theory. At the classical level a confining force is obtained and at the quantum level, using a gauge invariant but path-dependent variables formalism, the Cornell confining potential is explicitly obtained.
With the elements of the Doplicher, Fredenhagen and Roberts (DFR) noncommutative formalism, we have constructed the standard electroweak model. To accomplish this task we have begun with the WM-product basis group of symmetry. We have introduced the spontaneous symmetry breaking and the hypercharge in DFR framework. The electroweak symmetry breaking was analyzed and the masses of the new bosons were computed.
We study models of spontaneous N=2 -> N=1 supergravity breaking in three space-time dimensions and discuss the topological Higgs- and super-Higgs mechanism which generates the masses for the spin-3/2 gravitino multiplet. The resulting N=1 spectrum and its effective action is analysed.
We show that in supersymmetric pure Yang Mills theories with arbitrary simple gauge group, the spontaneous breaking of chiral fermionic and bosonic charge by the associated gaugino and gauge boson condensates implies the spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry by the condensate of the underlying Lagrangian density. The explicit breaking of the restricted fermionic charge through the chiral anomaly is deferred to a secondary stage in the elimination of infrared singularities or long range forces.
The theory of symmetry breaking in presence of gauge fields is presented, following the historical track. Particular emphasis is placed upon the underlying concepts.
