We explore calculable models with low-energy supersymmetry where the flavor hierarchy is generated by quark and lepton compositeness, and where the composites emerge from the same sector that dynamically breaks supersymmetry. The observed pattern of Standard Model fermion masses and mixings is obtained by identifying the various generations with composites of different dimension in the ultraviolet. These "single-sector" supersymmetry breaking models give rise to various spectra of soft masses which are, in many cases, quite distinct from what is commonly found in models of gauge or gravity mediation. In typical models which satisfy all flavor-changing neutral current constraints, both the first and second generation sparticles have masses of order 20 TeV, while the stop mass is near 1 TeV. In other cases, all sparticles obtain masses of order 1 TeV predominantly from gauge mediation, even though the first two generations are composite.
We present a class of supersymmetric models which address the flavor puzzle and have an inverted hierarchy of sfermions. Their construction involves quiver-like models with link fields in generic representations. The magnitude of Standard-Model parameters is obtained naturally and a relatively heavy Higgs boson is allowed without fine tuning. Collider signatures of such models are possibly within the reach of LHC in the near future.
We review the subject of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. First we consider supersymmetry breaking in a semiclassical theory. We illustrate it with several examples, demonstrating different phenomena, including metastable supersymmetry breaking. Then we give a brief review of the dynamics of supersymmetric gauge theories. Finally, we use this dynamics to present various mechanisms for dynamical supersymmetry breaking. These notes are based on lectures given by the authors in 2007, at various schools.
This article reviews the subject of supersymmetry and its breaking. The emphasis is on recent developments in metastable, dynamical supersymmetry breaking, which permit the construction of promising models of particle physics.
I present a realistic model of dynamical supersymmetry breaking, in which a $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge interaction communicates supersymmetry breaking to the standard fields. A distinctive superpartner spectrum is predicted in this model.
We review mechanisms of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. Several observations that narrow the search for possible models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking are summarized. These observations include the necessary and sufficient conditions for supersymmetry breaking. The two conditions are based on non-rigorous arguments, and we show examples where they are too restrictive. Dynamical effects present in models with product gauge groups are given special attention.
Dynamical supersymmetry breaking is considered in models which admit descriptions in terms of electric, confined, or magnetic degrees of freedom in various limits. In this way, a variety of seemingly different theories which break supersymmetry are actually inter-related by confinement or duality. Specific examples are given in which there are two dual descriptions of the supersymmetry breaking ground state.
We consider supersymmetry breaking models with a purely constant superpotential in supergravity. The supersymmetry breaking is induced for the vanishing cosmological constant. As a hidden mediation sector of supersymmetry breaking, it naturally leads to a split spectrum in supersymmetric standard model. We also point out possible utility of our setup to construct nonlinear sigma model and/or Fayet-Iliopoulos-like term in broken supergravity.
We consider the idea of combining the supersymmetry breaking and messenger sectors in models of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. We discuss the advantages and problems of such models, and present an existence proof by constructing an explicit example. We explore in some detail the low-energy supersymmetry-breaking dynamics and the generation of supersymmetry-breaking soft masses of the standard model superpartners, and discuss many features which are likely to be shared by more realistic models with dynamical messengers.
We show that for the simplest models of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, including all existing models, the true vacuum will not preserve QCD if it communicates supersymmetry breaking to the visible sector. We show that the desired supersymmetry breaking color preserving vacuum can nonetheless be stable cosmologically, but only if certain couplings are sufficiently small. We also present simple modifications to the sector which communicates supersymmetry breaking in which the true vacuum is acceptable, suggesting desirable properties to be sought in dynamical models of supersymmetry brea…
In the Randall-Sundrum compactification of AdS$_5$ with detuned brane tensions, supersymmetry can be spontaneously broken by a non-trivial Wilson line for the graviphoton. The supersymmetry breaking vanishes in the tuned limit. This effect is equivalent to supersymmetry breaking by Scherk-Schwarz boundary conditions.
We study Seiberg duality for N=1 supersymmetric QCD with soft supersymmetry-breaking terms. We generate the soft terms through gauge mediation by coupling two theories related by Seiberg duality to the same supersymmetry-breaking sector. In this way, we know what a supersymmetry-breaking perturbation in one theory maps into in its ``dual''. Assuming a canonical Kahler potential we calculate the soft terms induced in the magnetic theory and find that some of the scalars acquire negative masses squared. If duality is still good for small supersymmetry breaking, this may imply some specific symme…
This is a review of basic ideas and mechanisms encountered in the supersymmetry breaking problem at the global level, in supergravity models, and in superstring theory.
We review recent works on supersymmetry breaking and gauge mediation. We survey our current understanding of dynamical supersymmetry breaking mechanisms and describe new model building tools using duality, meta-stability, and stringy construction. We discuss phenomenological constraints and their solutions, paying attentions to issues with gaugino masses and electroweak symmetry breaking.
Neutralino dark matter is well motivated, but also suffers from two shortcomings: it requires gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking, which generically violates flavor constraints, and its thermal relic density Ωis typically too large. We propose a simple solution to both problems: neutralinos freezeout with Ω~10-100, but then decay to ~1 GeV gravitinos, which are simultaneously light enough to satisfy flavor constraints and heavy enough to be all of dark matter. This scenario is naturally realized in high-scale gauge-mediation models, ameliorates small scale structure problems, and implies t…
Strongly coupled supersymmetric theories can give rise to composite quarks and leptons at low energy. We show that the internal structure of these particles can explain the origin of three generations and provide a qualitative understanding of mass ratios and mixing angles between the different flavors of fermions, all within a renormalizable theory. The main point of the paper is to show how fermion masses and mixing angles can result from a ``dual'' Frogatt-Nielsen mechanism: fields neutral under $SU(3) \times SU(2) \times U(1)$ which carry flavor quantum numbers are confined within quarks a…
We show that small soft terms can create a supersymmetry breaking minimum along a pseudo-flat direction of a hidden sector which would otherwise be incapable of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. As this minimum lies along a pseudo-flat direction, with non-zero F- or D-terms, the resultant supersymmetry breaking in the hidden sector can be orders of magnitude greater than the soft terms which created the minimum. This opens new avenues for building models of gauge mediation, may have consequences for the cosmology of hidden sectors, and strengthens the case for multiple supersymmetry breaking…
We study the soft supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking terms due to the modulus F-term in the modular flavor models of leptons. It is found that the soft SUSY breaking terms are constrained by the modular forms, and specific patterns are derived. Those phenomenological implications are discussed in such as the lepton flavor violation, $μ\rightarrow e + γ$ decay. In order to examine numerically, two modular flavor $A_4$ models are taken. The SUSY breaking scale is significantly constrained by inputting the observed upper bound of the $μ\rightarrow e + γ$ decay. The SUSY mass scale is larger than aroun…
We propose a simple and natural model of dynamical supersymmetry breaking, which could be used as a mechanism for spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in a gravitationally coupled hidden sector. The gaugino masses in the visible sector are naturally of the same size as the squark, slepton, and gravitino masses.
We show how spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in the vacuum state of higher-derivative supergravity is transmitted, as explicit soft supersymmetry-breaking terms, to the effective Lagrangian of the standard electroweak model. The general structure of the soft supersymmetry breaking terms is presented and a new scenario for understanding the gauge hierarchy problem, based on the functional form of these terms, is discussed.
We propose a supersymmetric extension of the standard model whose Higgs sector induces a spontaneous supersymmetry breaking by itself. Unlike the minimal extension, the current Higgs mass bound can be evaded even at the tree-level without the help of the soft breaking terms due to the usual hidden sector, as is reminiscent of the next to minimal case. We also have a possibly light pseudo-goldstino in our visible sector in addition to extra Higgs particles, both of which stem from supersymmetry breaking dynamics. In such a setup of visible supersymmetry breaking, we may see a part of supersymme…
In this thesis we focus on the construction of models in which a supersymmetry breaking hidden sector is located on one fixed point of an extra dimensional interval and the effects are gauge mediated across this interval to the other fixed point where the supersymmetric standard model is located. We use the formalism of current correlators to encode supersymmetry breaking effects and explore flat, warped and deconstructed extra dimensions. We also apply these techniques to models of metastable supersymmetry breaking in N = 1 Supersymmetric Quantum Chromodynamics.
We discuss the spontaneous supersymetry breaking within the low-energy effective supergravity action of four-dimensional superstrings. In particular, we emphasize the non-universality of the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters, the $μ$-problem and the duality symmetries.
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.
We review the origin of soft supersymmetry-breaking terms in N=1 supergravity models of particle physics. We first consider general formulae for those terms in general models with a hidden sector breaking supersymmetry at an intermediate energy scale. The results for some simple models are given. We then consider the results obtained in some simple superstring models in which particular assumptions about the origin of supersymmetry breaking are made. These are models in which the seed of supersymmetry breaking is assumed to be originated in the dilaton/moduli sector of the theory.
In theories in which SUSY is broken on a brane separated from the MSSM matter fields, supersymmetry breaking is naturally mediated in a variety of ways. Absent other light fields in the theory, gravity will mediate supersymmetry breaking through the conformal anomaly. If gauge fields propagate in the extra dimension they, too, can mediate supersymmetry breaking effects. The presence of gauge fields in the bulk motivates us to consider the effects of new messenger fields with holomorphic and non-holomorphic couplings to the supersymmetry breaking sector. These can lead to contributions to the s…
It is known that one can add D-term contributions for U(1)_Y and U(1)_{B-L} to the anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking to make the superparticle spectrum phenomenologically viable. We point out that this can be done without spoiling its important virtue, namely the ultraviolet insensitivity. This framework can be derived from supersymmetry breaking and U(1)_{B-L} breaking on hidden brane(s).
In this paper we study dynamical supersymmetry breaking in absence of gravity with the matter content of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The hidden sector of the theory is a strongly coupled gauge theory, realized in terms of microscopic variables which condensate to form mesons. The supersymmetry breaking scalar potential combines F, D terms with instanton generated interactions in the Higgs-mesons sector. We show that for a large region in parameter space the vacuum breaks in addition to supersymmetry also electroweak gauge symmetry. We furthermore present local D-brane configurat…
We demonstrate that the supersymmetry is dynamically broken in the four-dimensional SU(N) gauge theory coupled to a strongly-coupled superconformal theory T_N. This is a direct generalization of the model of supersymmetry breaking on deformed moduli space in supersymmetric QCD with an SU(2) gauge group.
We examine the problem of supersymmetry breaking in realistic superstring standard--like models which are constructed in the free fermionic formulation. We impose a supersymmetric vacuum at the Planck scale by requiring vanishing F and D constraints at the cubic level of the superpotential. We then study possible scenarios for supersymmetry breaking by examining the role of nonrenormalizable terms and hidden sector gaugino and matter condensates. We argue that in some scenarios hierarchical supersymmetry breaking in the observable sector is possible.
We discuss the possibility of finding scenarios, within type IIB string theory compactified on Calabi-Yau orientifolds with fluxes, for realizing gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking. We find that while in principle such scenarios are not ruled out, in practice it is hard to get acceptable constructions, since typically, supersymmetry breaking cannot be separated from the stabilization of the light modulus.
We use string duality to describe instanton induced spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications with additional background fields. Dynamical supersymmetry breaking by space-time instantons in the heterotic string theory is mapped to a tree level breaking in the type II string which can be explicitly calculated by geometric methods. It is argued that the instanton corrections resurrect the no-go theorem on partial supersymmetry breaking. The point particle limit describes the non-perturbative scalar potential of a SYM theory localized on a hypersurface of space-time. The N=0 …
We discuss the question of what type and scale of supersymmetry breaking might be statistically favored among vacua of string/M theory, building on comments in Denef and Douglas, hep-th/0404116.
We show that supersymmetry breaking in a class of theories with SU(N) x SU(N-2) gauge symmetry can be studied in a calculable sigma model. We use the sigma model to show that the supersymmetry breaking vacuum in these theories leaves a large subgroup of flavor symmetries intact, and to calculate the masses of the low-lying states. By embedding the Standard Model gauge groups in the unbroken flavor symmetry group we construct a class of models in which supersymmetry breaking is communicated by both gravitational and gauge interactions. One distinguishing feature of these models is that the mess…
The effects of heavy mass thresholds on anomaly-mediated soft supersymmetry breaking terms are discussed. While heavy thresholds completely decouple to lowest order in the supersymmetry breaking, it is argued that they do affect the breaking terms at higher orders. The relevant contributions typically occur at lower order in the loop expansion compared to purely anomaly mediated contributions. The non decoupling contributions may be used to render models in which the only source of supersymmetry breaking is anomaly mediation viable, by generating positive contributions to the sleptons' masses …
We study the supersymmetric model with the A4 lepton flavor symmetry, in particular soft supersymmetry breaking terms, which are predicted from the A4 lepton flavor symmetry. We evaluate soft slepton masses and A-terms within the framework of supergravity theory. Constraints due to experiments of flavor changing neutral current processes are examined.
We propose a new class of models with gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, the cascade supersymmetry breaking. This class of models is consistent with the gravitino mass as low as O(1)eV without having suppressed gaugino masses, nor the Landau pole problems of the gauge coupling constants of the Standard Model below the scale of the grand unification. In particular, there is no supersymmetric vacuum in the vicinity of the supersymmetry breaking vacuum even for such a low gravitino mass. Thus, the model does not have a vacuum stability problem decaying into supersymmetric vacua.
We study the scenario that conformal dynamics leads to metastable supersymmetry breaking vacua. At a high energy scale, the superpotential is not R-symmetric, and has a supersymmetric minimum. However, conformal dynamics suppresses several operators along renormalization group flow toward the infrared fixed point. Then we can find an approximately R-symmetric superpotential, which has a metastable supersymmetry breaking vacuum, and the supersymmetric vacuum moves far away from the metastable supersymmetry breaking vacuum. We show a 4D simple model. Furthermore, we can construct 5D models with …
We study total and partial supersymmetry breaking by freely acting orbifolds, or equivalently by Scherk-Schwarz compactifications, in type I string theory. In particular, we describe a four-dimensional chiral compactification with spontaneously broken N=1 supersymmetry, some models with partial $N=4\to N=2$ and $N=4\to N=1$ supersymmetry breaking and their heterotic and M-theory duals. A generic feature of these models is that in the gravitational sector and in the spectrum of D-branes parallel to the breaking coordinate, all mass splittings are proportional to the compactification scale, whil…
Some formal aspects of supersymmetry breaking are reviewed. The classic "requirements" for supersymmetry breaking include chiral matter, a dynamical superpotential, and a classical superpotential which completely lifts the moduli space. These "requirements" may be evaded in theories with large matter representations. The mechanisms of supersymmetry breaking by confinement and quantum deformation of the moduli space are explained, with emphasis on the importance of identifying the relevant degrees of freedom in the ground state. Supersymmetry breaking and the behavior of the Witten index in non…
We consider supersymmetry breaking due to a Scherk-Schwarz twist or localized mass terms in 6d ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge theory compactified on the orbifold $T^2/Z_2$. We show that the Scherk-Schwarz breaking in 6d is equivalent to the localized breaking with mass terms along the lines in extra dimensions. In the presence of the considered supersymmetry breaking, we find that there arises a finite one-loop mass correction to a brane scalar due to the KK modes of bulk gauge fields.
We construct new examples of models of metastable D=4 N=1 supersymmetry breaking in which all scales are generated dynamically. Our models rely on Seiberg duality and on the ISS mechanism of supersymmetry breaking in massive SQCD. Some of the electric quark superfields arise as composites of a strongly coupled gauge sector. This allows us to start with a simple cubic superpotential and an asymptotically free gauge group in the ultraviolet, and end up with an infrared effective theory which breaks supersymmetry dynamically in a metastable state.
We point out that an anomalous gauge U(1) symmetry is a natural candidate for being the mediator and messenger of supersymmetry breaking. It facilitates dynamical supersymmetry breaking even in the flat limit. Soft masses are induced by both gravity and the U(1) gauge interactions giving an unusual mass hierarchy in the sparticle spectrum which suppresses flavor violations. This scenario does not suffer from the Polonyi problem.
Higher-dimensional theories provide a promising framework for unified extensions of the supersymmetric standard model. Compactifications to four dimensions often lead to U(1) symmetries beyond the standard model gauge group, whose breaking scale is classically undetermined. Without supersymmetry breaking, this is also the case for the size of the compact dimensions. Fayet-Iliopoulos terms generically fix the scale M of gauge symmetry breaking. The interplay with supersymmetry breaking can then stabilize the compact dimensions at a size 1/M, much smaller than the inverse supersymmetry breaking …
We consider a novel class of constraints on chiral superfields to obtain supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models in four spacetime dimensions, which strictly combine the internal symmetry breaking with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. The resultant massless modes can be exclusively Nambu-Goldstone bosons without their complex partners and the goldstino that is charged under the internal symmetry. The massive modes show a peculiar relation among their masses and the scales of symmetry breakings.
We estimate the Witten index for a supersymmetric gauge theory with or without massless matter. For pure supersymmetric Yang Mills our result reproduces the results in the literature. For the known theories with dynamical symmetry breaking the Witten index is determined to be exactly zero. Our calculation sheds light on the possibility of dynamical supersymmetry breaking for those theories considered up to now unsolvable.
I put metastable supersymmetry breaking in a cosmological context. I argue that under reasonable assumptions, the cooling down early Universe favors metastable SUSY-breaking vacua over the stable supersymmetric vacua. To illustrate the general argument, I analyze the early-Universe history of the Intriligator-Seiberg-Shih model.
We describe local Calabi-Yau geometries with two isolated singularities at which systems of D3- and D7-branes are located, leading to chiral sectors corresponding to a semi-realistic visible sector and a hidden sector with dynamical supersymmetry breaking. We provide explicit models with a 3-family MSSM-like visible sector, and a hidden sector breaking supersymmetry at a meta-stable minimum. For singularities separated by a distance smaller than the string scale, this construction leads to a simple realization of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking in string theory. The models are simple eno…
We study the supersymmetric model with $D_4 \times Z_2$ lepton flavor symmetry. We evaluate soft supersymmetry breaking terms, i.e. soft slepton masses and A-terms, which are predicted in the $D_4$ flavor model. We consider constraints due to experiments of flavor changing neutral current processes.
An approach to solving the Strong CP Problem in supersymmetric theories is discussed which uses abelian family symmetries to align the mass matrices of the quarks and squarks. In this way both the Strong CP Problem and the characteristic flavor and CP problems of supersymmetry can be solved in a single way.
Talk presented at Rencontres de Moriond "Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories", March 15-22, 1997, based on work with F. Lepeintre and M. Schmaltz, hep-ph/9705411.
5D orbifold has two attractive features: quasi-localized matter fields can naturally reproduce hierarchical Yukawa coupling, while supersymmetry breaking is inherently built in by the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. We examine the consequence of this quasi-localization and the Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry breaking in low energy flavor violating processes, under the assumption that physics below the compactification scale is described by the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and find $BR(μ\to e,γ)$ and $ε_K$ impose stringent constraint on flavor structure of the Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetr…
We examine the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters induced by the Scherk-Schwarz (SS) boundary condition in 5-dimensional orbifold field theory in which the quark and lepton zero modes are quasi-localized at the orbifold fixed points to generate the hierarchical Yukawa couplings. In such theories, the radion corresponds to a flavon to generate the flavor hierarchy and at the same time plays the role of the messenger of supersymmetry breaking. As a consequence, the resulting soft scalar masses and trilinear $A$-parameters of matter zero modes at the compactification scale are highly flavor-d…
We address the question of the relation between supersymmetry breaking and the origin of flavor in the context of CP violating phenomena. We prove that, in the absence of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa phase, a general Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with all possible phases in the soft-breaking terms, but no new flavor structure beyond the usual Yukawa matrices, can never give a sizeable contribution to $ε_K$, $ε^\prime/ε$ or hadronic $B^0$ CP asymmetries. Observation of supersymmetric contributions to CP asymmetries in B decays would hint at a non-flavor blind mechanism of supersymmetry…
We discuss here some flavor structure aspects of the complete theory of supersymmetry without R-parity addressed from the perspective of fitting neutrino oscillation data based on the recent Super-Kamiokande result. The single-VEV parametrization of supersymmetry without R-parity is first reviewed, illustrating some important features not generally appreciated. For the flavor structure discussions, a naive, flavor model independent, analysis is presented, from which a few interesting things can be learned.
This review surveys the territory of supersymmetry beyond the vanilla MSSM. With a viewpoint guided by electroweak naturalness, the review focuses on constructions that weaken or bypass current LHC constraints. Models of SUSY containing Dirac gluinos, compressed spectra, flavor-violating squarks, R-parity violation, stealth sectors, exotic detector objects, and more are discussed. In addition to presenting ways of hiding SUSY, these models highlight a few opportunities to improve LHC coverage.
We summarized our report on leptonic flavor violating Higgs decay into mu + tau under the scheme of a generic supersymmetric standard model without R parity. With known experimental constraints imposed, important combinations of R-parity violating parameters which can give notable branching ratios are listed.
Gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking is known to greatly suppress flavor changing neutral current effects. However, we show that gauge mediation in the context of leptogenesis implies potentially large lepton flavor violating signals. If the heavy right-handed neutrinos that participate in leptogenesis are lighter than the messenger scale of gauge mediation, they will induce flavor off-diagonal masses to the sleptons which in turn can induce large effects in mu to e gamma, tau to mu gamma, and mu-e conversion in nuclei. We demonstrate this result and compute numerically the lepton-flavor viol…
