We explore the implications of electroweak baryogenesis for future searches for permanent electric dipole moments in the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). From a cosmological standpoint, we point out that regions of parameter space that over-produce relic lightest supersymmetric particles can be salvaged only by assuming a dilution of the particle relic density that makes it compatible with the dark matter density: this dilution must occur after dark matter freeze-out, which ordinarily takes place after electroweak baryogenesis, implying the same degree of dilution for the generated baryon number density as well. We expand on previous studies on the viable MSSM regions for baryogenesis, exploring for the first time an orthogonal slice of the relevant parameter space, namely the (tanβ, m_A) plane, and the case of non-universal relative gaugino-higgsino CP violating phases. The main result of our study is that in all cases lower limits on the size of the electric dipole moments exist, and are typically on the same order, or above, the expected sensitivity of the next generation of experimental searches, implying that MSSM electroweak baryogenesis will be soon conclusively tested.
We study electroweak baryogenesis and electric dipole moments in the presence of the two leading-order, non-renormalizable operators in the Higgs sector of the MSSM. Significant qualitative and quantitative differences from MSSM baryogenesis arise due to the presence of new CP-violating phases and to the relaxation of constraints on the supersymmetric spectrum (in particular, both stops can be light). We find: (1) spontaneous baryogenesis, driven by a change in the phase of the Higgs vevs across the bubble wall, becomes possible; (2) the top and stop CP-violating sources can become effective; …
We compare electroweak baryogenesis in the MSSM, nMSSM and NMSSM. We comment on the different sources of CP violation, the phase transition and constraints from EDM measurements.
We revisit the electroweak baryogenesis within the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), studying its potential collider signatures. We find that this mechanism of baryogenesis does not give a new CP violating signal at the $B$-factories. The first circumstantial evidence may come from enhanced $B_s$ or $B_d$ mixing. If a light right-handed scalar top and Higgs are found as required, a linear collider represents the best possibility for confirming the scenario.
We study electric dipole moment bounds on CP-violating phases in the MSSM with special emphasis on the cancelation scenario. We find that in the range favored by electroweak baryogenesis ({\it i.e.,} $|μ|\simeq M_1$ or $|μ|\simeq M_2$), $\sin [θ_μ+θ_{M_1}]$ can be as large as ${\cal O}(1)$, even for slepton masses below 500 GeV. Such large values of the phases promise a successful electroweak baryogenesis. We also discuss the possibility of large CP-odd effects at a linear collider.
We review the baryogenesis scenario in the MSSM at the perturbative level and, in particular, the impact of two-loop corrections on the strength of the phase transition and the amount of generated baryon asymmetry. We confirm the baryogenesis window, where m_H is less than 115GeV, for m_Q less than a few GeV, and the right-handed stop mass is constrained in the region between 100GeV and the top mass. This scenario will be tested at LEP and Tevatron colliders.
Taking the MSSM as an effective low-energy theory, with a cut-off scale of a few TeV, can make significant modifications to the predictions concerning the Higgs and stop sectors. We investigate the consequences of such a scenario for electroweak baryogenesis. We find that the window for MSSM baryogenesis is extended and, most important, can be made significantly more natural. Specifically, it is possible to have one stop lighter than the top and the other significantly lighter than TeV simultaneously with the Higgs mass above the LEP bound. In addition, various aspects concerning CP violation …
We show that, for all values of $Tan β$ and the light right-handed stop mass for which the electroweak phase transition is strong enough to avoid washout following electroweak baryogenesis, the electroweak vacuum is stable over the lifetime of the observed Universe. Cosmological stability of the electroweak vacuum is violated only if the light right-handed stop is lighter than 100-115GeV.
We have analyzed baryogenesis in the MSSM for the light stop scenario, where the phase transition is strong enough first order. We have found that enough baryon asymmetry can be generated provided that the phase of $μ$ be $\simgt$ 0.01. Constraints from the electric dipole moment of the neutron enforce the first and second generation squarks to have masses O(few) TeV
We present an analysis of the thermalization rate of Higgsinos and winos based on the imaginary part of the two-point Green function in the {\it unbroken} phase of the MSSM. We use improved propagators including resummation of hard thermal loops and the thermalization rate is computed at the one-loop level in the high temperature approximation. We find that the damping is typically dominated by scattering with gauge bosons, resulting in a damping rate of about $γ_{\Ht}\simeq 0.025T$, $γ_{\Wt}\simeq 0.065T$. The contribution from scattering with scalars is relatively small. Implications for bar…
Non-minimal supersymmetric models that predict a tree-level Higgs mass above the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) bound are well motivated by naturalness considerations. Indirect constraints on the stop sector parameters of such models are significantly relaxed compared to the MSSM; in particular, both stops can have weak-scale masses. We revisit the stop-catalyzed electroweak baryogenesis (EWB) scenario in this context. We find that the LHC measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates already rule out the possibility of stop-catalyzed EWB. We also introduce a gauge-i…
Introducing heavy particles with strong couplings to the Higgs field can strengthen electroweak phase transition, through the entropy release mechanism from both bosons and fermions. We analyze the possibility of electroweak baryogenesis in the MSSM with new vector-like superfields. The new vector-like particles belong to the representation 5+5bar+10+10bar of SU(5). By analyzing in detail the effective potential at finite temperature, we show that a strongly first order electroweak phase transition in this model is ruled out by a combination of 125 GeV Higgs requirement, the bound for exotic q…
Electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG) in the MSSM can account for the cosmological baryon asymmetry, but only within a restricted region of the parameter space. In particular, MSSM EWBG requires a mostly right-handed stop that is lighter than the top quark and a standard model-like light Higgs boson. In the present work we investigate the effects of the light stop on Higgs boson production and decay. Relative to the standard model Higgs boson, we find a large enhancement of the Higgs production rate through gluon fusion and a suppression of the Higgs branching fraction into photon pairs. These modif…
A commonly accepted mechanism of generating baryon asymmetry in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) depends on the CP violating relative phase between the gaugino mass and the Higgsino mu term. The direct constraint on this phase comes from the limit of electric dipole moments (EDM) of various light fermions. To avoid such a constraint, a scheme which assumes the first two generation sfermions are very heavy is usually evoked to suppress the one-loop EDM contributions. We point out that under such a scheme the most severe constraint may come from a new contribution to the electric…
Electroweak baryogenesis depends on the profile of the bubble wall created in the first-order phase transition. It is pointed out that CP violation in the Higgs sector of the MSSM could become large enough to explain the baryon asymmetry. We confirm this by solving the equations of motion for the Higgs fields with the effective potential at the transition temperature. That is, we present an example such that the transitional CP violation is realized and show the possibility that the baryon asymmetry of the universe may be produced, if marginally, by the $τ$ lepton interacting with the wall, wh…
It is conventional wisdom that successful electroweak baryogenesis in the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) is in tension with the non-observation of electric dipole moments (EDMs), since the level of CP-violation responsible for electroweak baryogenesis is believed to generate unavoidably large EDMs. We show that CP-violation in the bino-Higgsino sector of the MSSM can account for successful electroweak baryogenesis without inducing large EDMs. This observation weakens the correlation between electroweak baryogenesis and EDMs, and makes the bino-driven electroweak …
Next-to-MSSM is a viable model which is equipped with two features suited for electroweak baryogensis (EWBG): first-order phase transition not restricted by the Higgs spectrum and tree-level CP violation in the Higgs sector free from the nEDM constraints. We study the model when the expectation value of the singlet scalar is of the weak scale. Then the vacuum stability condition puts a novel upper bound on the charged Higgs mass. We determined allowed parameter region by requiring that the each Higgs boson is heavier than 114GeV or its coupling to Z boson is smaller than 0.1.
In the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition (EWPT) is only possible in a confined parameter region where one of the scalar top quarks is lighter than the top quark and the other one is as heavy as the SUSY breaking scale. If the MSSM is enlarged to accommodate vector-like quarks and their superpartners, we find that the strongly first-order EWPT is possible without requiring light scalar top quark at the one-loop level, in the limit where the lightest scalar Higgs boson of the MSSM behaves like the Higgs boson of the standard model a…
We perform a comprehensive study of the dominant two- and higher-loop contributions to the $^{205}$Tl, neutron and muon electric dipole moments induced by Higgs bosons, third-generation quarks and squarks, charginos and gluinos in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). We find that strong correlations exist among the contributing CP-violating operators, for large stop, gluino and chargino phases, and for a wide range of values of $\tanβ$ and charged Higgs-boson masses, giving rise to large suppressions of the $^{205}$Tl and neutron electric dipole moments below their present experim…
Thermal two-loop QCD corrections associated with light stops have a dramatic effect on the strength of the MSSM electroweak phase transition, making it more strongly first order as required for the viability of electroweak baryogenesis. We perform a perturbative analysis of the transition strength in this model, including these important contributions, extending previous work to arbitrary values of the pseudoscalar Higgs boson mass, m_A. We find a strong enough transition in a region with 2< tan beta < 4 and m_A > 120 GeV, a light Higgs boson with nearly standard couplings, and mass below 85 G…
We show that Q-balls naturally exist in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with soft SUSY breaking terms of the minimal N=1 SUGRA type. These are associated with the F- and D-flat directions of the scalar potential once radiative corrections are taken into account. We consider two distinct cases, corresponding to the "H_u L" (slepton) direction with L-balls and the "udd" and "uude" (squark) directions with B-balls. The L-ball always has a small charge, typically of the order of 1000, whilst the B-ball can have an arbitrarily large charge, which, when created cosmologically by the…
We construct an effective three dimensional theory for the MSSM at high temperatures in the limit of large-$m_{A}$. We analyse the two-loop effective potential of the 3D theory for the case of a light right handed stop to determine the precise region in the $m_{h}$-$m_{\tilde{t}_{R}}$ plane for which the sphaleron constraint for preservation of the baryon asymmetry is satisfied. We also compare with results previously obtained usind 3D and 4D calculations of the effective potential. A two-stage phase transition still persists for a small range of values of $m_{\tilde{t}_{R}}$. The allowed regi…
We make use of the formalism developed in Ref. [1], and calculate the chargino mediated baryogenesis in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The formalism makes use of a gradient expansion of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for mixing fermions. For illustrative purposes, we first discuss the semiclassical transport equations for mixing bosons in a space-time dependent Higgs background. To calculate the baryon asymmetry, we solve a standard set of diffusion equations, according to which the chargino asymmetry is transported to the top sector, where it biases sphaleron transitions. At the end …
One of the most experimentally testable explanations for the origin of the baryon asymmetry of the universe is that it was created during the electroweak phase transition, in the minimal supersymmetric standard model. Previous efforts have focused on the current for the difference of the two Higgsino fields, $H_1-H_2$, as the source of biasing sphalerons to create the baryon asymmetry. We point out that the current for the orthogonal linear combination, $H_1+H_2$, is larger by several orders of magnitude. Although this increases the efficiency of electroweak baryogenesis, we nevertheless find …
We discuss the generation of the baryon asymmetry by a strong first order electroweak phase transition in the early universe, particularly in the context of the MSSM. This requires a thorough numerical treatment of the bubble wall profile in the case of two Higgs fields. CP violating complex particle masses varying with the Higgs field in the wall are essential. Since in the MSSM there is no indication of spontaneous CP violation around the critical temperature (contrary to the NMSSM) we have to rely on standard explicit CP violation. Using the WKB approximation for particles in the plasma we …
Electroweak baryogenesis provides an attractive explanation of the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry that relies on physics at the weak scale and thus it is testable at present and near future high-energy physics experiments. Although this scenario may not be realized within the Standard Model, it can be accommodated within the MSSM provided there are new CP-violating phases and the lightest stop mass is smaller than the top-quark mass. In this work we provide an evaluation of the values of the stop (m_{\tilde t}) and Higgs (m_H) masses consistent with the requirements of electroweak b…
Electroweak baryogenesis is an attractive scenario for the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the universe as its realization depends on the presence at the weak scale of new particles which may be searched for at high energy colliders. In the MSSM it may only be realized in the presence of light stops, and with moderate or small mixing between the left- and right-handed components. Consistency with the observed Higgs mass around 125 GeV demands the heavier stop mass to be much larger than the weak scale. Moreover the lighter stop leads to an increase of the gluon-gluon fusion Higgs product…
Modular cosmology is plagued by overproduction of unwanted relics, gravitinos and especially moduli, at relatively low energy scales. Thermal inflation provides a compelling solution to this moduli problem, but invalidates most baryogenesis scenarios. We propose a simple model in which the MSSM plus neutrino mass term $(LH_u)^2$ is supplemented by a minimal flaton sector to drive the thermal inflation, and make two crucial assumptions: the flaton vacuum expectation value generates the $μ$-term of the MSSM and $m_L^2 + m_{H_u}^2 < 0$. The second assumption is particularly interesting in that it…
We study the phenomenology of a supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with an $R$-symmetry under which $R$-charges correspond to the baryon number. This identification allows for the presence in the superpotential of the $R$-parity violating term $λ''U^c D^c D^c$ without breaking baryon number, which loosens several bounds on this operator while changing considerably the phenomenology. However, the $R$-symmetry cannot remain exact as it is at least broken by anomaly mediation. Under these conditions, we investigate the constraints coming from baryon number violating processes and flav…
We discuss various phenomenological aspects of supersymmetric models beyond the MSSM. A particular focus is on models which can correctly explain neutrino data and the possiblities of LHC to identify the underlying scenario.
In a variety of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, the scalar partners of the quarks and leptons are predicted to be very heavy and beyond the reach of next-generation colliders. For instance, the realization of electroweak baryogenesis in supersymmetry requires new sources of CP-violation, which can only be naturally accommodated with electric dipole moment constraints if the first and second generation scalar fermions are beyond the TeV scale. Also in focus-point supersymmetry and split supersymmetry the scalar fermions are very heavy. In this work, the phenomenology of scenari…
In this work, we classify all the effective $U(1)$ symmetries and their associated Noether charges in the Standard Model (SM) and its minimal supersymmetric extension (MSSM) from the highest scale after inflation down to the weak scale. We then demonstrate that the discovery of the violation of baryon minus lepton number ($B-L$) which pinpoints to its violation in primordial Universe at any cosmic temperature above $30$ TeV will open up a new window of baryogenesis in these effective charges above this scale. While the fast SM baryon number violation in the early Universe could be the first pi…
We explore a new possibility of electroweak baryogenesis in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. In this model, a strong first-order electroweak phase transition can be achieved due to the additional singlet Higgs field. The new impact of its superpartner (singlino) on the baryon asymmetry is investigated by employing the closed-time-path formalism. We find that the CP violating source term fueled by the singlino could be large enough to generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe without any conflicts with the current constraints from the non-observation of the Thalli…
We study the electroweak phase transition and the critical bubble in the scale-invariant two Higgs doublet model taking the recent LHC data into account. The sphaleron energy in this model is evaluated for the first time. It is found that the strong first-order electroweak phase transition is the inevitable consequence to be consistent with the observed 125 GeV Higgs boson. In such a case, the signal strength of the Higgs decay to two gammas and the triple Higgs boson coupling could deviate from the SM values by $-10$% and $+82$%, respectively.
We study the implications for electroweak baryogenesis (EWB) within the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) of present and future searches for the permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron, for neutralino dark matter, and for supersymmetric particles at high energy colliders. We show that there exist regions of the MSSM parameter space that are consistent with both present two-loop EDM limits and the relic density and that allow for successful EWB through resonant chargino and neutralino processes at the electroweak phase transition. We also show that under certain condit…
We investigate the implications of the Higgs rate measurements from Run 1 of the LHC for the mass of the light scalar top partner (stop) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). We focus on light stop masses, and we decouple the second, heavy stop and the gluino to the multi-TeV range in order to obtain a Higgs mass of around 125 GeV. We derive lower mass limits for the light stop within various scenarios, taking into account the effects of a possibly light scalar tau partner (stau) or chargino on the Higgs rates, of additional Higgs decays to undetectable new physics, as well as o…
Light stops can give a strong first order electroweak phase transition in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) satisfying one of the necessary conditions for electroweak baryogenesis. I discuss the region of parameter space where this occurs using a perturbative analysis of the Higgs effective potential. Two-loop QCD corrections associated with stop loops are crucial to open this baryogenesis window, which corresponds to 2.25 < tan beta < 3.6, one stop not much heavier than the top quark, m_A > 120 GeV and a light Higgs boson with m_h < 85 GeV. This region will be explored by LEP I…
In the context of the MSSM the Light Stop Scenario (LSS) is the only region of parameter space that allows for successful Electroweak Baryogenesis (EWBG). This possibility is very phenomenologically attractive, since it allows for the direct production of light stops and could be tested at the LHC. The ATLAS and CMS experiments have recently supplied tantalizing hints for a Higgs boson with a mass of ~ 125 GeV. This Higgs mass severely restricts the parameter space of the LSS, and we discuss the specific predictions made for EWBG in the MSSM. Combining data from all the available ATLAS and CMS…
A short review of the theory and phenomenology of Higgs bosons is given, with focus on the Standard Model (SM) and the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). The potential for Higgs boson discovery at the Tevatron and LHC, and precision Higgs studies at the LHC and a future e+e- linear collider are briefly surveyed. The phenomenological challenge of the approach to the decoupling limit, where the properties of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson of the MSSM are nearly indistinguishable from those of the SM Higgs boson is emphasized.
In this article I review some aspects of flavour phenomenology in the MSSM. After an overview of various flavour observables I discuss the constraints on the off-diagonal elements of the squark mass matrices. In this context I present the Fortran code SUSY_FLAVOR which calculates these processes in the generic MSSM including the complete resummation of all chirally enhanced effects as a new feature of version 2. Than I discuss where large new physics effects in the MSSM are still possible. As an example of a model which can give large effects in flavour physics I review a model with "radiative…
We discuss aspects of the low energy phenomenology of the MSSM, in the large $\tan β $ regime. We explore the regions of the parameter space where the $h_t$ and $h_b$ Yukawa couplings exhibit a fixed point structure, using previous analytic solutions for these couplings. Expressions for the parameters $A_{t}$ and $A_{b}$ and the renormalised soft mass terms are also derived, making it possible to estimate analytically the sparticle loop -- corrections to the bottom mass, which are important in this limit.
We explore the connection between the strength of the electroweak phase transition and the properties of the Higgs boson. Our interest is in regions of parameter space that can realize electroweak baryogenesis. We do so in a simplified framework in which a single Higgs field couples to new scalar fields charged under SU(3)_c by way of the Higgs portal. Such new scalars can make the electroweak phase transition more strongly first-order, while contributing to the effective Higgs boson couplings to gluons and photons through loop effects. For Higgs boson masses in the range 115 GeV < m_h < 130 G…
We perform a study on the predictions of electric-dipole moments (EDMs) of neutron, Mercury (Hg), Thallium (Tl), deuteron, and Radium (Ra) in the framework of next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) with CP-violating parameters in the superpotential and soft-supersymmetry-breaking sector. We confine to the case in which only the physical tree-level CP phase $(ϕ'_λ- ϕ'_κ)$, associated with the couplings of the singlet terms in the superpotential and with the vacuum-expectation-values (VEVs), takes on a nonzero value. We found that the one-loop contributions from neutralinos are mo…
In this talk, electroweak baryogenesis in the nMSSM is discussed. We focus on differences compared to the MSSM. We conclude that electroweak baryogenesis in the nMSSM is rather generic. Still, sfermions of the first two generations are required to be heavy to evade constraints from electric dipole moments.
In the MSSM with complex SUSY parameters we consider a specific case where the second heaviest Higgs boson H_2 is SM like, while H_1 and H_3 are both strongly mixed states of CP odd and CP even scalar fields. Such a scenario could be probed at a Linear Collider via the mechanism e^+e^-\to H_1H_3.
We construct effective 3d field theories for the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, relevant for the thermodynamics of the cosmological electroweak phase transition. The effective theories include a 3d theory for the bosonic sector of the original 4d theory; a 3d two Higgs doublet model; and a 3d SU(2)+Higgs model. The integrations are made at 1-loop level. In integrals related to vacuum renormalization we take into account only quarks and squarks of the third generation. Using existing non-perturbative lattice results for the 3d SU(2)+Higgs model, we then derive infrared safe upper bounds…
The possibility of cancelation between different contributions to d_e, d_n and d_{Hg} has been reconsidered with special emphasis on the region that is phenomenologically interesting (intermediate values of \tan βand sub-TeV sfermion masses). It is found that in the range favored by electroweak baryogenesis (\it i.e., |μ|\simeq M_1 or |μ|\simeq M_2), \sin [θ_μ+θ_{M_1}]\sim 1 can be compatible with the EDM bounds even for slepton masses below 500 GeV. Such large values of the phases promise a successful electroweak baryogenesis. The possibility of large CP-odd effects at linear collider has als…
The E6SSM is a promising model based on the group E6, assumed to be broken at the GUT scale, leading to the group SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)\times U(1)' at the TeV scale. It gives a solution to the MSSM μ-problem without introducing massless axions, gauge anomalies or cosmological domain walls. The model contains three families of complete 27s of E6, giving a richer phenomenology than the MSSM. The E6SSM generically predicts gluino cascade decay chains which are about 2 steps longer than the MSSM's due to the presence of several light neutralino states. This implies less missing (and more vi…
This talk is based on work performed with Graham Ross and is a very concise summary of our soon to be published paper. Here we present a revision of the analysis of sphaleron baryon-number violating processes in the standard model including lepton-mass effects. We find the surprising result that a GUT-scale matter-asymmetry can survive the $B$ and $L$ violating sphaleron interactions even though ($B- L$) is conserved and equals zero for all temperatures. We extend the analysis to cover the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). As a new result we present the MSSM analysis below the temp…
We study the collider phenomenology of the electroweak phase transition and electroweak baryogenesis in the framework of the effective field theory. Our study shows that the effective theory using the dimension-6 operators can enforce strong first order phase transition and provide sizable CP violation to realize a successful electroweak baryogenesis. Such dimension-6 operators can induce interesting Higgs phenomenology that can be verified at colliders such as the LHC and the planning CEPC. We then demonstrate that this effective theory can originate from vector-like quarks and the triplet Hi…
The Higgs sector of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) consists of five physical Higgs bosons, which offer a variety of channels for their experimental search. The present study aims to further our understanding of the Tevatron reach for MSSM Higgs bosons, addressing relevant theoretical issues related to the SUSY parameter space, with special emphasis on the radiative corrections to the down--quark and lepton couplings to the Higgs bosons for large $\tanβ$. We performed a computation of the signal and backgrounds for the production processes $Wϕ$ and $b \bar{b} ϕ$ at the upgrade…
Affleck-Dine (AD) baryogenesis along a d=6 flat direction in gauge-mediated supersymmetry-breaking (GMSB) models can produce unstable Q-balls which naturally have field strength similar to the messenger scale. In this case a new kind of Q-ball is formed, intermediate between gravity-mediated and gauge-mediated type. We study in detail these new Q-ball solutions, showing how their properties interpolate between standard gravity-mediated and gauge-mediated Q-balls as the AD field becomes larger than the messenger scale. It is shown that E/Q for the Q-balls can be greater than the nucleon mass bu…
We perform a detailed analysis of several mu-tau lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes, namely tau --> mu X (X = gamma, e+ e-, mu+ mu-, rho, pi, eta, eta'), Z --> mu tau and Higgs boson decays into mu tau. First we present a model independent operator analysis relevant to such decays, then we explicitly compute the LFV operator coefficients [and (g_μ-2)] in a general unconstrained MSSM framework, allowing slepton mass matrices to have large mu-tau entries. We systematically study the role and the interplay of dipole and non-dipole operators, showing how the rates and the mutual correlations…
One interpretation of proton stability is the existence of extra-flat directions of the MSSM, in particular $u^{c}u^{c}d^{c}e^{c}$ and $QQQL$, where the operators lifting the potential are suppressed by a mass scale $Λ$ which is much larger than the Planck mass, $ Λ\gae 10^{26} \GeV$. Using D-term hybrid inflation as an example, we show that such flat directions can serve as the inflaton in SUSY inflation models. The resulting model is a minimal version of D-term inflation which requires the smallest number of additional fields. In the case where $Q$-balls form from the extra-flat direction co…
A possible connection between the abundances of baryonic and dark matter (DM) has been explored so far mostly in the context of the so-called asymmetric DM. Recently, a very different mechanism, dubbed "WIMPy baryogenesis", has been proposed to relate the baryon asymmetry to DM annihilation. The DM candidate is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), and the usual WIMP scenario is slightly extended to accommodate baryogenesis, which is accomplished around the time of DM freeze-out. We construct an effective field theory that encompasses a quite general class of models which implement the…
I describe work done in collaboration with M. Joyce and K. Kainulainen on (1) the strength of the electroweak phase transition in the MSSM and (2) the mechanism for producing the baryon asymmetry during the phase transition. In the former we compare the effective potential and dimensional reduction methods for describing the phase transition and search the parameter space of the MSSM for those values where it is strong enough. In the latter we give a systematic computation of the baryon asymmetry due the CP-violating force acting on charginos in the vicinity of the bubble wall. We find that a …
We derive the contributions to the quantum transport equations for electroweak baryogenesis due to decays and inverse decays induced by tri-scalar and Yukawa interactions. In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), these contributions give rise to couplings between Higgs and fermion supermultiplet densities, thereby communicating the effects of CP-violation in the Higgs sector to the baryon sector. We show that the decay and inverse decay-induced contributions that arise at zeroth order in the strong coupling, α_s, can be substantially larger than the O(α_s) terms that are generated …
We have found that in the MSSM, the possibility for the lightest CP-even Higgs boson to be lighter than $Z$ boson (as low as about 60 GeV) is, contrary to the usual belief, not yet excluded by LEP2 Higgs search nor any direct searches for supersymmetric particles at high energy colliders. The Light Higgs boson scenario (LHS) is realised when the $ZZh$ coupling and the decay branching ratio ${\rm Br}(h/A\to b\bar{b})$ are simultaneously suppressed as a result of generic supersymmetric loop corrections. Consequently, the $W^\pm H^\mp h$ coupling has to be large due to the sum rule of Higgs coupl…
