The principle of Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) provides a natural solution to the SUSY flavour problem, but does not solve the SUSY CP problem as it allows for the presence of new CP-violating phases. If the MFV principle is generalized by the assumption of CP conservation in the limit of flavour blindness, the SUSY CP problem can be solved, predicting at the same time interesting CP violating phenomenology.
We address the SUSY CP problem in the framework of Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV), where the SUSY flavor problem finds a natural solution. By contrast, the MFV principle does not solve the SUSY CP problem as it allows for the presence of new {\it flavor blind} CP-violating phases. Then, we generalize the MFV ansatz accounting for a natural solution of it. The phenomenological implications of the generalized MFV ansatz are explored for MFV scenarios defined both at the electroweak (EW) and at the GUT scales.
We study cosmological constraints in the context of $R$-parity violating MFV SUSY and find it is driven to $\tan(β)\approx1$. These constraints are from two sources: first from the requirement that baryon number violation not undo baryogenesis and second that the flux of decay products from gravitino dark matter not exceed that observed by experiments such as PAMELA and Fermi LAT. The latter discussion favors relatively low gravitino masses of a few GeV.
R-parity violating supersymmetry in a Minimal Flavor Violation paradigm can produce same-sign dilepton signals via direct sbottom-LSP pair production. Such signals arise when the sbottom hadronizes and the resulting mesino oscillates into an anti-mesino. The first bounds on the sbottom mass are placed in this scenario using current LHC results.
We present an alternative approach to low-energy supersymmetry. Instead of imposing R-parity we apply the minimal flavor violation (MFV) hypothesis to the R-parity violating MSSM. In this framework, which we call MFV SUSY, squarks can be light and the proton long lived without producing missing energy signals at the LHC. Our approach differs from that of Nikolidakis and Smith in that we impose holomorphy on the MFV spurions. The resulting model is highly constrained and R-parity emerges as an accidental approximate symmetry of the low-energy Lagrangian. The size of the small R-parity violating…
We show how approximate Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) can emerge from an SU(5) Supersymmetric Grand Unified Theory (SUSY GUT) supplemented by an S4 x U(1) family symmetry, which provides a good description of all quark and lepton (including neutrino) masses, mixings and CP violation. Assuming a SUSY breaking mechanism which respects the family symmetry, we calculate in full explicit detail the low energy mass insertion parameters in the super-CKM basis, including the effects of canonical normalisation and renormalisation group running. We find that the very simple family symmetry S4 x U(1) i…
The lack of observation of superpartners at the Large Hadron Collider so far has led to a renewed interest in supersymmetric models with R-parity violation (RPV). In particular, imposing the Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV) hypothesis on a general RPV model leads to a realistic and predictive framework. Naturalness suggests that stops and gluinos should appear at or below the TeV mass scale. We consider a simplified model with these two particles and MFV couplings. The model predicts a significant rate of events with same-sign dileptons and b-jets. We re-analyze a recent CMS search in this chann…
We discuss the characteristic low energy phenomenological implications of an SU(5) Supersymmetric Grand Unified Theory (SUSY GUT) whose flavour structure is controlled by the family symmetry S4 x U(1), which provides a good description of all quark and lepton masses, mixings as well as CP violation. Although the model closely mimics Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) as shown in arXiv:1511.07886, here we focus on the differences. We first present numerical estimates of the low energy mass insertion parameters, including canonical normalisation and renormalisation group running, for well-defined r…
We present a MSSM study of the b -> s gamma decay in a Minimal Flavor Violating (MFV) framework, where the form of the soft SUSY breaking terms is determined by the Standard Model Yukawa couplings. In particular, we address the role of gluino contributions, which are set to zero in most studies of the MFV MSSM. Gluino contributions can play an important role in the MFV MSSM whenever mu * tan(beta) is large. In fact, similarly to chargino contributions, gluino contributions are tan(beta) enhanced and can easily dominate charged Higgs contributions for large values of tan(beta). Even though each…
We apply the effective field theory definition of Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) to the MSSM. We explicitly show how, by this definition, the new sources of flavour and CP violation present in the MSSM become functions of the SM Yukawa couplings, and cannot be simply set to zero, as is common wisdom in phenomenological MSSM studies that assume MFV. We apply our approach to the MSSM Delta B = 2 Hamiltonian at low tan(beta). The limit of MFV amounts to a striking increase in the predictivity of the model. In particular, SUSY corrections to meson-antimeson mass differences Delta M(d,s) are alway…
The SM predictions for CP violating effects in D meson systems are highly suppressed at the per mill level. Therefore, any experimental evidence for a sizable CP violation in D0-D0bar mixing would unambiguously point towards a New Physics (NP) signal. Within supersymmetric scenarios, the popular alignment models can naturally account for large, non-standard effects in D0-D0bar mixing. We demonstrate that, within alignment models, detectable CP violating effects in D0-D0bar mixing would unambiguously imply a lower bound for the electric dipole moment (EDM) of hadronic systems, like the neutron …
After a short introduction to the SUSY flavour problem, we focus the attention on the MSSM with MFV and large $\tanβ$. The theoretical motivations and the general features of this scenario are briefly reviewed. The possible signatures in low-energy flavour-violating observables are discussed, with particular attention to the role played by $\BR(P\to\ellν)$, $\BR(B_{s,d}\to \ell^+\ell^-)$ and $\BR(μ\to e γ)$
We study the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with minimal flavor violation (MFV), imposing constraints from flavor physics observables and MSSM Higgs searches, in light of the recent discovery of a 125 GeV Higgs boson by ATLAS and CMS. We analyze the electroweak vacuum stability conditions to further restrict the MSSM parameter space. In addition, a connection to ultraviolet physics is shown via an implementation of renormalization group running, which determines the TeV-scale spectrum from a small set of minimal supergravity parameters. Finally, we investigate the impact from dar…
We report on an extensive analysis of FCNC and CPV effects in SUSY theories. We present results for Delta F=2 and Delta F=1 processes governed by b --> s transitions both in the low and high tanbeta regime, focussing in particular on S_psi_phi, the phase of Bs mixing. We emphasize that while the MFV framework is not suited to explain potentially large effects in S_psi_phi as indicated by recent data from CDF and D0, models with large right-right mass insertions in the 32 sector provide natural frameworks to account for such effects. Exemplarily we consider two SUSY models based on an abelian a…
We provide a short account of the effects one expects on meson-antimeson oscillations in the context of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). This issue is largely dependent on the assumptions made on the MSSM parameter space. In this respect, we consider in closer detail the cases of the general MSSM, with completely free soft terms, and the Minimal Flavor Violating limit of the MSSM, providing a natural mechanism of near-flavor-conservation. For the case of meson oscillations in the Delta B = 2 sector, we show that this approach leads to a striking increase of the predictivity of…
The solution to the Strong CP problem is analysed within the Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) context. An Abelian factor of the complete flavour symmetry of the fermionic kinetic terms may play the role of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry in traditional axion models. Its spontaneous breaking, due to the addition of a complex scalar field to the Standard Model scalar spectrum, generates the MFV axion, which may redefine away the QCD theta parameter. It differs from the traditional QCD axion for its couplings that are governed by the fermion charges under the axial Abelian symmetry. It is also distinct …
Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) postulates that the only source of flavour changing neutral currents and CP violation, as in the Standard Model, is the CKM matrix. However it does not address the origin of fermion masses and mixing and models that do usually have a structure that goes well beyond the MFV framework. In this paper we compare the MFV predictions with those obtained in models based on spontaneously broken (horizontal) family symmetries, both Abelian and non-Abelian. The generic suppression of flavour changing processes in these models turns out to be weaker than in the MFV hypothe…
We present a complete model whose low energy effective theory is the R-parity violating NMSSM with a baryon number violating udd vertex of the MFV SUSY form, leading to prompt LSP decay and evading the ever stronger LHC bounds on low-scale R-parity conserving supersymmetry. MFV flavor structure is enforced by gauging an SU(3) flavor symmetry at high energies. After the flavor group is spontaneously broken, mass mixing between the standard model fields and heavy vector-like quarks and leptons induces hierarchical Yukawa couplings which depend on the mixing angles. The same mechanism generates t…
The recent tension between local and early measurements of the Hubble constant can be explained in a particle physics context. A mechanism is presented where this tension is alleviated due to the presence of a Majoron, arising from the spontaneous breaking of Lepton Number. The lightness of the active neutrinos is consistently explained. Moreover, this mechanism is shown to be embeddable in the Minimal (Lepton) Flavour Violating context, providing a correct description of fermion masses and mixings, and protecting the flavour sector from large deviations from the Standard Model predictions. A …
We revisit the formulation of the principle of minimal flavor violation (MFV) in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model, both at moderate and large tan(beta), and with or without new CP-violating phases. We introduce a counting rule which keeps track of the highly hierarchical structure of the Yukawa matrices. In this manner, we are able to control systematically which terms can be discarded in the soft SUSY breaking part of the Lagrangian. We argue that for the implementation of this counting rule, it is convenient to introduce a new basis of matrices in which both the squ…
Under the assumption of Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV), the Unitarity Triangle (UT) can be determined by using only angle measurements and tree-level observables. In this respect, the most accurate quantities today available are sin 2 beta_{psi Ks}, |Vcb| and |Vub|. Among the latter, |Vub| is at present the quantity suffering from largest systematic uncertainties, given the discrepancy between the inclusive and the exclusive determinations. We show with a numerical fit how sensitively the MFV-UT determination depends on the choice of |Vub|. In addition, we focus on the implications of the inc…
In 5D SUSY GUTs, wave-function localization permits to reproduce flavour hierarchy. As this mechanism also acts on SUSY breaking parameters, it can potentially solve the SUSY flavour problem. We carry out an analysis of the Holographic Grand Unification framework, where we take properly into account effects of matrix anarchy. In this contribution, we focus on brane-localized SUSY breaking and its consequences.
Models with an approximate U(2)^3 flavour symmetry represent simple non-MFV extensions of the SM. We compare correlations of Delta F = 2 observables in CMFV and in a minimal version of U(2)^3 models, MU(2)^3, where only the minimal set of spurions for breaking the symmetry is used and where only SM operators are relevant. Due to the different treatment of the third generation MU(2)^3 models avoid the Delta M_{s,d}-|epsilon_K| correlation of CMFV which precludes to solve the S_{psi K_S}- |epsilon_K| tension present in the flavour data. While the flavour structure in K meson system is the same f…
We discuss the decoupling solution to SUSY flavor problem in the fat brane scenario. We present a simple model to yield the decoupling sfermion spectrum in a five dimensional theory. Sfermion masses are generated by the overlap between the wave functions of the matter fields and the chiral superfields on the SUSY breaking brane. Two explicit examples of the spectrum are given.
We investigate whether the Affleck-Dine mechanism can produce sufficient baryon number of the universe in the gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models, while evading the cosmological moduli problem by late-time entropy production. We find that the Q-ball formation makes the scenario difficult, irrespective of the detail mechanism of the entropy production.
The generalization of the "custodial symmetry" mechanism which leads to the natural (without fine tuning) explanation of the doublet-triplet hierarchy is suggested in the frames of extended $SU(N\geq 8)$ SUSY GUTs. It is shown also that such type of SUSY GUT can predict the value of strong gauge coupling constant $α_S(M_Z)$ consistent with present experimental data.
We study a finite SU(5) grand unified model based on the non-Abelian discrete symmetry A_4. This model leads to the democratic structure of the mass matrices for the quarks and leptons. In the soft supersymmetry breaking sector, the scalar trilinear couplings are aligned and the soft scalar masses are degenerate, thus solving the SUSY flavor problem.
We investigate whether the Affleck-Dine mechanism can produce sufficient baryon number of the universe in the gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models, while evading the cosmological moduli problem by late-time entropy production. We find that the Q-ball formation renders the scenario very difficult to work, irrespective of the detail mechanism of the entropy production.
I discuss some essential features of the electroweak hierarchy problem and the ensuing motivation for weak-scale supersymmetry. Taking the hierarchy problem seriously, null results in searches for SUSY at the LHC favor specific regions of SUSY parameter space. More broadly, they suggest investigating a variety of alternative approaches to the hierarchy problem with diverse experimental signatures.
It is explained why excessive mu to e gamma can be a problem in SUSY GUT see-saw models of neutrino mass, and ways that this problem might be avoided are discussed.
The SUSY CP problem in the framework of gauge mediated SUSY breaking model is considered. We first discuss the electric dipole moments of the electron and neutron, which are likely to be larger than the experimental upper bound if all the phases in the Lagrangian are O(1). We derive a constraint on the phases in the so-called $μ$- and $B_μ$-parameters and gaugino masses. Then, we discuss a model in which the CP violating phase can be adequately suppressed. If the $μ$- and $B_μ$-parameters originate from the same superpotential interaction as the SUSY breaking field, the CP violating phase vani…
This study indicates that in E6 grand unified theories (GUTs), once a hierarchical structure of up-quark-type Yukawa couplings is given as a basic structure of flavor, larger lepton mixings than the quark mixings and milder down-quark-type (and charged-lepton-type) mass hierarchies than up-quark-type mass hierarchy can generically be obtained under a few natural assumptions. The basic flavor structure is compatible with non-Abelian horizontal symmetry, which can solve the SUSY flavor problem. It is shown that in solving the SUSY flavor problem, the E6 structure, which realizes bi-large neutrin…
We show that the Polonyi problem is solved in the minimum SUSY-GUT model in which a self-coupling strength for a heavy Higgs $Σ$, $λΣ^{3}$, is very small $λ\sim 10^{-6}$. It is stressed that with this small $λ$ the mass of the physical $Σ$ becomes $m_Σ \sim 10^{12}\GEV$ and the unification scale is raised up to the gravitational one, $M\simeq 2\times 10^{18}\GEV$. A potential problem, however, is also pointed out in this GUT model.
We investigate the physical origins of multiple solutions to boundary value problems in the fully constrained MSSM and NMSSM. We derive mathematical criteria that formulate circumstances under which multiple solutions can appear. Finally, we study the validity of the exclusion of the CMSSM in the presence of multiple solutions.
A problem of the gauge-mediated SUSY breaking model is its difficulty to generate a natural value of mu/Bmu, while the NMSSM is a natural framework to solve the mu/Bmu problem. The NMSSM in gauge-mediated SUSY breaking in its original form does not work well since the singlet field cannot develop a desired vacuum expectation value. It also suffers from the cosmological domain wall problem. We study an extension of the model to include additional vector-like matter, which is charged under the hidden QCD. It is shown that this simple extension solves both the problems. We study phenomenological …
We comment on the power of the 'standard' solutions to the SUSY flavour and CP problem based on supergravity and its derivates like mSUGRA in comparison to the flavour symmetry approach. It is argued that flavour symmetries, and SU(3) in particular, can not only mimic the situation in supergravity frameworks in this respect, but sometimes do even better providing at the same time a further link between the soft and Yukawa sectors, that could be testable at future experimental facilities.
In this paper two things are done. First, we propose a simple model of dynamical gauge-mediated SUSY breaking. This model incorporates a dynamical relaxation mechanism which solves the μ-problem with no light fields beyond those of the MSSM. In the second part of the paper we show how this mechanism is generalized and give two more examples in which it is incorporated.
The SUSY flavour problem is deeply related to the origin of flavour and hence to the origin of the SM Yukawa couplings themselves. Since all CP-violation in the SM is restricted to the flavour sector, it is possible that the SUSY CP problem is related to the origin of flavour as well. In this work, we present three variations of an SU(3) flavour model with spontaneous CP violation. Such models explain the hierarchy in the fermion masses and mixings, and predict the structure of the flavoured soft SUSY breaking terms. In such a situation, both SUSY flavour and CP problems do not exist. We use e…
Although supersymmetry (SUSY) is thirty five years old, it is still one of the most attractive theories for physics beyond the standard model. Assuming that SUSY will be discovered at the LHC, the key question is: What SUSY model do we expect to be the correct one ? After reviewing briefly the advantages and problems of SUSY, several interesting models that have been proposed in the literature will be discussed. In particular, models such as the MSSM, BRpV, NMSSM, and possible extensions. We will also introduce the $μ\nuSSM$ whose interest resides in the fact that it generates a solution to th…
We consider the renormalization group approach to the SUSY flavor problem in the supersymmetric SU(5) model with one extra dimension. In higher dimensional SUSY gauge theories, it has been recently shown that power corrections due to the Kaluza-Klein states of gauge fields run the soft masses generated at the orbifold fixed point to flavor conserving values in the infra-red limit. In models with GUT breaking at the brane where the GUT scale can be larger than the compactification scale, we show that the addition of a bulk Higgs multiplet, which is necessary for the successful unification, is c…
We re-examine the constraints on continuous family symmetries coming from flavour changing neutral current limits on the D-term contributions to squark and slepton masses. We show that, for a restricted choice of the familon sector, continuous family symmetries are consistent with even the most conservative limits both for the case of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking and the case of gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking.
A solution of the doublet-triplet splitting problem in the supersymmetric $SU(6)$ gauge theory is suggested. The `missing doublet' multiplet -- 175-plet of the $SU(6)$ group as well as the custodial $SU(2)_{cus}$ global symmetry play crucial role for achieving the doublet-triplet hierarchy. Two examples in which the doublet-triplet splitting occurs naturally are presented.
The so-called supersymmetric flavour problem does not exist in isolation to the Standard Model flavour problem. We show that a realistic flavour symmetry can simultaneously solve both problems without ad hoc modifications of the SUSY model. Furthermore, departures from the SM expectations in these models can be used to discriminate among different possibilities. In particular we present the expected values for the electron EDM in a flavour model solving the supersymmetric flavour and CP problems.
We briefly review the GIFT (Goltstones instead of Fine Tuning) mechanism which provides a promising solution to the doublet-triplet splitting problem and some other puzzles of the supersymmetric grand unification as are the $μ$-problem, the fermion mass problem, etc. It can be naturally implemented by extending the minimal SUSY SU(5) model to the gauge SU(6) theory.
SUSY CP problem in the gauge mediation supersymmetry breaking model is reconsidered. We pay particular attention to two sources of CP violating phases whose effects were not seriously studied before; one is the effect of the breaking of the GUT relation among the gaugino masses due to the field esponsible for the GUT symmetry breaking, and the other is the supergravity effect on the supersymmetry breaking parameters, in particular, on the bi-linear supersymmetry breaking Higgs mass term. We show that both of them can induce too large electric dipole moments of electron, neutron, and so on, to …
In this talk I discuss the problems and virtues of SUSY GUTs in four dimensions. I then show how to solve some of these problems, without foregoing the virtues, by considering an SO(10) SUSY GUT in five dimensions. I discuss gauge coupling unification and neutrino masses. In particular, it is shown that the 5D compactification scale and cutoff scale are determined by fitting the low energy values of the three standard model gauge couplings. Neutrino masses can be accommodated.
We consider a supersymmetric extension of the standard model, which possess a family symmetry based on a binary dihedral group Q6, and investigate the consequences of the family symmetry on the mixing of fermions, FCNCs and the stability of proton.
Can a theory of flavour capable of describing the spectrum of fermion (including neutrino) masses and mixings also contain within it the seeds for a solution of the SUSY flavour and CP problems? We argue that supergravity together with a non-Abelian family symmetry can completely resolve the SUSY flavour and CP problems in a broad class of theories in which family symmetry and CP is spontaneously broken in the flavon sector. We show that a simple superpotential structure can suppresses the F-terms of the flavons and GUT scale Higgs fields and that, if this mechanism is implemented, the resulti…
We propose a simultaneous solution to the strong CP problem and the SUSY phase problem based on parity symmetry realized when the supersymmetric standard model is embedded into a left-right symmetric framework at a scale near 2 x 10^{16} GeV, as suggested by neutrino masses and gauge coupling unification. In this class of models, owing to parity, SUSY contributions to the muon anomalous magnetic moment can be naturally large without conflicting with the EDM of the electron and the neutron. The strong CP violation parameter θis zero at the tree level, also due to parity (P), but is induced due …
We present a variant of the warped extra dimension, Randall-Sundrum (RS), framework which is based on five dimensional (5D) minimal flavor violation (MFV), in which the only sources of flavor breaking are two 5D anarchic Yukawa matrices. The Yukawa matrices also control the bulk masses, which are responsible for the resulting flavor structure and mass hierarchy in the low energy theory. An interesting result of this set-up is that at low energies the theory flows to next to MFV model where flavor violation is dominantly coming from the third generation. Low energy flavor violation is further s…
Bilinear R-parity violation is a simple extension of the MSSM allowing for Majorana neutrino masses. One of the three neutrinos picks up mass by mixing with the neutralinos of the MSSM, while the other two neutrinos gain mass from 1-loop corrections. Once 1-loop corrections are carefully taken into account the model is able to explain solar and atmospheric neutrino data for specific though simple choices of the R-parity violating parameters.
In a fertile patch of the string landscape which includes the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) as the low energy effective theory, rather general arguments from Douglas suggest a power-law statistical selection of soft breaking terms (m(soft)^n where n=2n_F+n_D-1 with n_F the number of hidden sector F-SUSY breaking fields and n_D the number of D-term SUSY breaking fields). The statistical draw towards large soft terms must be tempered by requiring an appropriate breakdown of electroweak (EW) symmetry with no contributions to the weak scale larger than a factor 2-5 of its measured v…
The status of internal symmetry breaking at high temperature in supersymmetric models is reviewed. This phenomenon could solve some well known cosmological problems, such as the domain wall, monopole and false vacuum problems.
We consider an explicit effective field theory example based on the Bousso-Polchinski framework with a large number N of hidden sectors contributing to supersymmetry breaking. Each contribution comes from four form quantized fluxes, multiplied by random couplings. The soft terms in the observable sector in this case become random variables, with mean values and standard deviations which are computable. We show that this setup naturally leads to a solution of the flavor problem in low-energy supersymmetry if N is sufficiently large. We investigate the consequences for flavor violating processes…
Supersymmetric flavor models for the radiative generation of fermion masses offer an alternative way to solve the SUSY-CP problem. We assume that the supersymmetric theory is flavor and CP conserving. CP violating phases are associated to the vacuum expectation values of flavor violating susy-breaking fields. As a consequence, phases appear at tree level only in the soft supersymmetry breaking matrices. Using a U(2) flavor model as an example we show that it is possible to generate radiatively the first and second generation of quark masses and mixings as well as the CKM CP phase. The one-loop…
We present a solution to the $μ$ problem in an SO(10) supersymmetric grand unified (SUSY GUT) model with gauge mediated (GMSB) and D-term supersymmetry breaking. A Peccei-Quinn ({\bf PQ}) symmetry is broken at the messenger scale and enables the generation of the $μ$ term. The invisible axion (Goldstone boson of {\bf PQ} symmetry breaking) is a cold dark matter candidate. At low energy, our model leads to a phenomenologically acceptable version of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with novel particle phenomenology. Either the gluino or the gravitino is the lightest supersymmetri…
Recently, an interesting class of the direct gauge mediation supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking models are proposed, in which the minimum of the potential of the SUSY breaking field is determined by the inverted hierarchy mechanism. We consider their cosmological implications. In this class of models, SUSY breaking field has a very flat potential, which may have a cosmological importance. Assuming the initial amplitude of the SUSY breaking field to be of the order of the Planck scale, it can be a source of a large entropy production. A special attention is paid to the cosmological moduli problem, a…
The neutrino mass problem in $SU(4) \times SU(2)_{L} \times SU(2)_{R}$ SUSY GUT obtained from the compactification of $E_{8} \times E_{8}$ heterotic string is analyzed. The estimated values of the neutrino masses and mixing angles can explain the experimental data on solar neutrino flux.