Gravitino production in the primordial Universe is investigated into details. After briefly reviewing inflation, supersymmetry and supergravity, we first study the scattering of massive W bosons in the thermal bath of particles, during the period of reheating. It is found that the process generates in the cross section terms which eventually lead to unitarity breaking above a certain scale. This happens by virtue of the supergravity vertex. We show that the longitudinal polarizations of the on-shell W become strongly interacting in the high energy limit, and that the inclusion of diagrams with off-shell scalars of the MSSM does not cancel the divergences. Next, we consider the dynamics and the decay into gravitinos of a scalar field S, which starts oscillating in its potential at the end of inflation. We embed S in a model of gauge mediation with metastable vacua, where the hidden sector is of the O'Raifeartaigh type. By demanding that the gravitinos thus produced provide with the observed Cold Dark Matter density, we modify previous results in the literature, and find that it is easy to account for gravitino Dark Matter with an arbitrarily low reheating temperature.
We study non-thermal gravitino production in the minimal supergravity inflation. In this minimal model utilizing orthogonal nilpotent superfields, the particle spectrum includes only graviton, gravitino, inflaton, and goldstino. We find that a substantial fraction of the cosmic energy density can be transferred to the longitudinal gravitino due to non-trivial change of its sound speed. This implies either a breakdown of the effective theory during reheating or a serious gravitino problem.
We utilize a recently proposed cubic nilpotent superfield to realize inflation in supergravity with the minimal degrees of freedom: the inflaton, graviton, and massive gravitino. As an advantage, the resultant model is free from the catastrophic production of gravitinos due to its vanishing propagation speed. However, the model suffers from the standard gravitino problem, and its viability depends on the mass spectrum and the thermal history of the universe.
Supergravity embedding of the Standard Model of particle physics provides phenomenologically well-motivated and observationally viable inflationary scenarios. We investigate a class of inflationary models based on the superconformal framework of supergravity and discuss constraints from the reheating temperature, with the particular focus on the gravitino problem inherent in these scenarios. We point out that a large part of the parameter space within the latest BICEP/Keck 95\% confidence contour may have been excluded by the gravitino constraints, depending on the mass scale of the inflaton. …
We discuss the emergence of an inflationary phase in supergravity with the super-Higgs effect due to dynamical spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry, in which the role of the inflaton is played by the gravitino condensate. Realistic models compatible with the Planck satellite CMB data are found in conformal supergravity scenarios with dynamical gravitino masses that are small compared to the Planck mass, as could be induced by a non-trivial vacuum expectation value of the dilaton superfield of appropriate magnitude.
In the context of a conformal Supergravity (SUGRA) model in the Einstein frame, in which the (next to) minimal supersymmetric standard model can embedded naturally to produce chaotic inflation scenarios, we study properties of gravitino in the cases where it is stable or unstable. In the latter case, we demonstrate that for large dilaton scale factors there is an enhanced magnitude of the gravitino width, when it decays to neutralino dark matter, as compared with the standard SUGRA case. In this context, we discuss the associated consequences as far as Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints and …
Gravitinos are generically produced by inflaton decays, which place tight constraints on inflation models as well as supersymmetry breaking scale. We revisit the gravitino production from decays of the inflaton and the supersymmetry breaking field, based on a chaotic inflation model suggested by the recent BICEP2 result. We study cosmological constraints on thermally and non-thermally produced gravitinos for a wide range of the gravitino mass, and show that there are only three allowed regions of the gravitino mass: $m_{3/2}\lesssim 16$eV, $m_{3/2}\simeq 10$--$1000$TeV and $m_{3/2}\gtrsim 10^{…
The WW scattering into gravitino and gaugino is here investigated in the broken phase, by using both gauge and mass eigenstates. Differently from what is obtained for unbroken gauge symmetry, we find in the scattering amplitudes new structures, which can lead to violation of unitarity above a certain scale. This happens because, in the annihilation diagram, the longitudinal degrees of freedom in the propagator of the gauge bosons disappear from the amplitude, by virtue of the SUGRA vertex. We show that the longitudinal polarizations of the on-shell W become strongly interacting in the high ene…
We consider compactifications induced by the gravitino field of eleven dimensional supergravity. Such compactifications are not trivial in the sense that the gravitino profiles are not related to pure bosonic ones by means of a supersymmetry transformation. The basic property of such backgrounds is that they admit $ψ$-torsion although they have vanishing Riemann tensor. Thus, these backgrounds may be considered also as solutions of the teleparallel formulation of supergravity. We construct two classes of solutions, one with both antisymmetric three-form field, gravity and gravitino and one wit…
We review the phenomenology of gravitino dark matter within supergravity framework. Gravitino can be dark matter if it is the lightest supersymmetric particle, which is stable if R-parity is conserved. There are several distinct scenarios depending on what the next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) is. We discuss the constraints and summarize the phenomenology of neutralino, stau, stop and sneutrino NLSPs.
We have recently shown that, if the inflaton has a nonzero vacuum expectation value, it generically couples to any matter fields that appear in the superpotential at the tree level, and to any gauge sectors through anomalies in the supergravity. Through these processes, the inflaton decays into the supersymmetry breaking sector, producing many gravitinos. The inflaton also directly decays into a pair of the gravitinos. Taking account of these processes, we derive constraints on both inflation models and supersymmetry breaking scenarios for avoiding overproduction of the gravitinos.
We study production of gravitino and Polonyi particles in the minimal Starobinsky-Polonyi $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity with inflaton belonging to a massive vector supermultiplet. Our model has only one free parameter given by the scale of spontaneous SUSY breaking triggered by Polonyi chiral superfield. The vector supermultiplet generically enters the action non-minimally, via an arbitrary real function. This functon is chosen to generate the inflaton scalar potential of the Starobinsky model. Our supergravity model can be reformulated as an abelian supersymmetric gauge theory with the vector …
We investigate compatibility of the pure gravity mediation (or the minimal split supersymmetry) with chaotic inflation models in supergravity. We find that an approximate Z2 parity of the inflaton is useful to suppress gravitino production from thermal bath and to obtain consistent inflation dynamics. We discuss production of the lightest supersymmetric particle through the decay of the inflaton with the approximate Z2 symmetry and find that a large gravitino mass is favored to avoid the overproduction of the lightest supersymmetric particle, while a lower gravitino mass requires tuning of par…
We extend the swampland from effective field theories (EFTs) inconsistent with quantum gravity to EFTs inconsistent with quantum supergravity. This enlarges the swampland to include EFTs that become inconsistent when the gravitino is quantized. We propose the Gravitino Swampland Conjecture: the gravitino sound speed must be non-vanishing in all EFTs that are low energy limits of quantum supergravity. This seemingly simple statement has important consequences for both theories and observations. The conjecture is consistent with and supported by the KKLT and LVS scenarios for moduli stabilizatio…
We develop the formal tools needed to construct helicity amplitudes for massive gravitino in N=1 SUGRA. We start by considering the helicity states for massive spin-3/2 particles, which involves the solutions of Rarita-Schwinger equation. These solutions are written in terms of the helicity bra-ket notation and are used then to derive the interactions of gravitino with matter and gauge supermultiplets within N=1 Supergravity. The corresponding interactions of goldstinos are discussed too, relying on the goldstino-gravitino equivalence theorem. Finally to appreciate the power of our methods we …
Gravitinos and hidden sector fields often cause a cosmological disaster in supersymmetric models. We find that a model with gravitational gauge mediation solves such a problem quite naturally. The mu-problem is also absent in the model. Moreover, the abundance of gravitinos explains correct amount of dark matter of the universe. The dark matter abundance can be calculated without detailed information on the thermal history of the universe such as the reheating temperature after inflation.
The $N=1$ supersymmetric Born-Infeld theory coupled to $N=1$ supergravity in four spacetime dimensions is studied in the presence of a cosmological term with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. The consistency is achieved by compensating a negative contribution to the cosmological term from the Born-Infeld theory by a positive contribution originating from the gravitino condensate. This leads to an identification of the Born-Infeld scale with the supersymmetry breaking scale. The dynamical formation of the gravitino condensate in supergravity is reconsidered and the induced one-loop effective …
We investigate the superWIMP scenario in the framework of supersymmetry, in which the lightest supersymmetric particle is a stable gravitino. We consider slepton, sneutrino or neutralino being the next-lightest supersymmetric particle, and determine what superpartner masses are viable, applying cosmic-microwave background and electromagnetic and hadronic Big-Bang Nucleosythesis constraints.
We consider supersymmetric theories where the gravitino is the lightest superparticle (LSP). Assuming that the long-lived next-to-lightest superparticle (NSP) is a charged slepton, we investigate two complementary ways to prove the existence of supergravity in nature. The first is based on the NSP lifetime which in supergravity depends only on the Planck scale and the NSP and gravitino masses. With the gravitino mass inferred from kinematics, the measurement of the NSP lifetime will test an unequivocal prediction of supergravity. The second way makes use of the 3-body NSP decay. The angular an…
We show that the gravitino contribution to (g-2)_μ is finite in many popular supergravity models, including no-scale supergravity and string and M-theory models. This contribution is greatly enhanced for very light gravitino masses, and leads to new upper bounds on the ratio of the smuon to the gravitino mass.
By using a string-inspired modular invariant supergravity, which was proved well to explain WMAP observations appropriately, a mechanism of supersymmetry breaking (SSB) and Gravitino Production just after the end of inflation are investigated. Supersymmetry is broken mainly by F-term of the inflaton superfield and the Goldstino is identified to be inflatino in this model, which fact is shown numerically. By using the canonically normalized and diagonalized scalars, the decay rates of these fields are calculated, for both the $T$ and $Y$ into gravitinos. Non-thermal production of gravitinos is …
We study reheating processes and its cosmological consequences in the Starobinsky model embedded in the old-minimal supergravity. First, we consider minimal coupling between the gravity and matter sectors in the higher curvature theory, and transform it to the equivalent standard supergravity coupled to additional matter superfields. We then discuss characteristic decay modes of the inflaton and the reheating temperature $T_{\rm R}$. Considering a simple model of supersymmetry breaking sector, we estimate gravitino abundance from inflaton decay, and obtain limits on the masses of gravitino and…
By using a No-Scale Supergravity model, which was proved to explain WMAP observations appropriately, a mechanism of supersymmetry breaking and a preheating just after the end of inflation are investigated. Non-thermal production rate of gravitino is estimated as well as supersymmetry breaking mechanism numerically. The supersymmetry breaking is triggered by the inflaton superfield alone and the interchange of supersymmetry breaking fields does not occur in our model. By the instant preheating mechanism, the preheating temperature is calculated through the process where the inflaton decays into…
We investigate supergravity models in which the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is a stable gravitino. We assume that the next-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) freezes out with its thermal relic density before decaying to the gravitino at time t ~ 10^4 s - 10^8 s. In contrast to studies that assume a fixed gravitino relic density, the thermal relic density assumption implies upper, not lower, bounds on superpartner masses, with important implications for particle colliders. We consider slepton, sneutrino, and neutralino NLSPs, and determine what superpartner masses are viable in …
As is well known, the gravitational degrees of freedom contained in $R+ζR^{2}$ (super)gravity lead to Starobinsky's potential, in a one-field setting for inflationary Cosmology that appears favored by Planck data. In this letter we discuss another interesting aspect of this model, related to gravitino production, with emphasis on the corresponding mass spectrum. Assuming that supersymmetry is broken at a very high scale, Super Heavy Gravitino Dark Matter (SHGDM) and Starobinsky's inflation can be coherently unified in a $R+ζR^{2}$ supergravity. Gravitinos are assumed to be the Lightest Supersy…
A new modified string-inspired modular invariant supergravity model is proposed and is applied to realize the slow roll inflation in Einstein frame, so that the model explains WMAP observations very well. Gravitino mass and their production rate from scalar fields are estimated at certain values of parameters in the model. Seven cases of parameter choices are discussed here, among which some examples show the possibility of observation of gauginos by LHC experiments, which will give some hints of identity of dark matters. The reheating temperature, which is estimated by the stability condition…
We review work on the formation of gravitino condensates via the super-Higgs effect in the early Universe. This is a scenario for both inflating the early universe and breaking local supersymmetry (supergravity), entirely independent of any coupling to external matter. The goldstino mode associated with the breaking of (global) supersymmetry is "eaten" by the gravitino field, which becomes massive (via its own vacuum condensation) and breaks the local supersymmetry (supergravity) dynamically. The most natural association of gravitino condensates with inflation proceeds in an indirect way, via …
We propose the gravitino dark matter in the gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking scenario. The mass hierarchies between the gravitino and other superparticles can be achieved by the nontrivial Kähler metric of the supersymmetry breaking field. As a concrete model, we consider the five-dimensional supergravity model in which moduli are stabilized, and then one of the moduli induces the slow-roll inflation. It is found that the relic abundance of the gravitino and the Higgs boson mass reside in the allowed range without a severe fine-tuning.
We construct the low-energy effective lagrangian for a light gravitino coupled to the minimal supersymmetric standard model under the assumption that supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the observable sector dominantly through soft terms. Our effective lagrangian is written in terms of the spin-1/2 Goldstino (the longitudinal component of the gravitino) transforming under a non-linear realization of supersymmetry. In this lagrangian, the Goldstino is derivatively coupled and all couplings of the Goldstino to light fields are determined uniquely by the supersymmetry-breaking scale \sqrt{F…
We propose a supergravity model with a constrained curvature multiplet, which realizes the Starobinsky inflation and the de Sitter vacuum in the present universe simultaneously. Surprisingly, at the vacuum, the soft supersymmetry breaking scale for minimal supersymmetric standard model sector becomes the TeV scale, however, the gravitino mass scale becomes much higher than that of soft supersymmetry breaking. Such a hierarchical structure, which naturally avoids the gravitino problem, appears without introducing a new scale other than inflation scale.
We study the solution to the Polonyi problem where the Polonyi field weighs as $O(10{\rm TeV})$ and decays just before the primordial nucleosynthesis. It is shown that in spite of a large entropy production by the Polonyi field decay, one can naturally explain the present value of the baryon-to-entropy ratio, $n_B/s \sim (10^{-10}-10^{-11})$ if the Affleck-Dine mechanism for baryogenesis works. It is pointed out, however, that there is another cosmological problem related to the abundance of the lightest superparticles produced by the Polonyi decay.
We discuss inflaton decay in supergravity, taking account of the gravitational effects. It is shown that, if the inflaton has a nonzero vacuum expectation value, it generically couples to any matter fields that appear in the superpotential at the tree level, and to any gauge sectors through anomalies in the supergravity. Through these processes, the inflaton generically decays into the supersymmetry breaking sector, producing many gravitinos. The inflaton also directly decays into a pair of the gravitinos. We derive constraints on both inflation models and supersymmetry breaking scenarios for …
We study gravitational particle production of the massive spin-$3/2$ Rarita-Schwinger field, and its close relative, the gravitino, in FRW cosmological spacetimes. For masses lighter than the value of the Hubble expansion rate after inflation, $m_{3/2} \lesssim H$, we find catastrophic gravitational particle production, wherein the number of gravitationally produced particles is divergent, caused by a transient vanishing of the helicity-1/2 gravitino sound speed. In contrast with the conventional gravitino problem, the spectrum of produced particles is dominated by those with momentum at the U…
We review our recent results on dark matter from Starobinsky supergravity. In this context, a natural candidate for Cold Dark Matter is the gravitino. On the other hand, assuming the supersymmetry broken at scales much higher than the electroweak scale, gravitinos are super heavy particles. In this case, they may be non-thermally produced during inflation, in turn originated by the scalaron field with Starobinsky's potential.Assuming gravitinos as Lightest supersymmetric particles (LSSP), the non-thermal production naturally accounts for the right amount of cold dark matter. Metastability of t…
We describe the resulting phenomenology of string theory/supergravity models with strong moduli stabilization. The KL model with F-term uplifting, is one such example. Models of this type predict universal scalar masses equal to the gravitino mass. In contrast, A-terms receive highly suppressed gravity mediated contributions. Under certain conditions, the same conclusion is valid for gaugino masses, which like A-terms, are then determined by anomalies. In such models, we are forced to relatively large gravitino masses (30-1000 TeV). We compute the low energy spectrum as a function of m_{3/2}. …
We propose a consistent scenario of the evolution of the universe based on the large cutoff supergravity (LCSUGRA) hypothesis of supersymmetry breaking, where the gravitino and sfermion become as heavy a $\sim O(1-10 {\rm TeV})$. With such a heavy gravitino, baryon asymmetry of the universe can be generated by the non-thermal leptogenesis via an inflaton decay without conflicting the serious gravitino problem. We also see that, in the LCSUGRA scenario, relic density of the lightest superparticle becomes consistent with the WMAP value of the dark matter density in the parameter region required …
It is generally believed that weak scale supersymmetry implies weak scale supergravity, in the sense that the masses of the gravitino and gravitationally coupled moduli have masses below 100 TeV. This paper presents a realistic framework for supersymmetry breaking in the hidden sector in which the masses of the gravitino and gravitational moduli can be much larger. This cleanly eliminates the cosmological problems of hidden sector models. Supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the visible sector by anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking. The framework is compatible with perturbative gauge …
In supergravity models, the evaporation of light Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) should be a source of gravitinos. By considering this process, new stringent limits are derived on the abundance of small black holes with initial masses less than 10^9 g. In minimal supergravity, the subsequent decay of evaporated gravitinos into cascades of non-equilibrium particles leads to the formation of elements whose abundance is constrained by observations. In gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking models, their density is required not to overclose the Universe. As a result, cosmological models with substant…
The Large Volume Scenario for getting a non-supersymmetric vacuum in type IIB string theory leads, through the Weyl anomaly and renormalization group running, to an interesting phenomenology. However, for gravitino masses below 500 TeV there are cosmological problems and the resulting Higgs mass is well below 124 GeV. Here we discuss the phenomenology and cosmology for gravitino masses which are $\gtrsim$ 500 TeV. We find that not only is the cosmological modulus problem alleviated and the right value for dark matter density obtained, but also the Higgs mass is in the 122-125 GeV range. Howeve…
We present a realistic supergravity inflation model which is free from the overproduction of potentially dangerous relics in cosmology, namely moduli and gravitinos which can lead to the inconsistencies with the predictions of baryon asymmetry and nucleosynthesis. The radiative correction turns out to play a crucial role in our analysis which raises the mass of supersymmetry breaking field to intermediate scale. We pay a particular attention to the non-thermal production of gravitinos using the non-minimal Kahler potential we obtained from loop correction. This non-thermal gravitino production…
We consider theories with a spontaneously broken gauged R-symmetry, which can only occur in supergravity models. These give rise to cosmic R-strings upon which gravitino zero modes can exist. We construct solutions to the Rarita-Schwinger spin-3/2 equation describing the gravitino in the field of these cosmic strings and show that under some conditions these solutions may give rise to gravitino currents on the string. We discuss further mathematical and physical questions associated with these solutions.
We construct a natural inflation model in supergravity where the inflaton is identified with a modulus field possessing a shift symmetry. The superpotential for the inflaton is generated by meson condensation due to strong dynamics with deformed moduli constraints. In contrast to models based on gaugino condensation, the inflaton potential is generated without $R$-symmetry breaking and hence does not depend on the gravitino mass. Thus, our model is compatible with low scale supersymmetry.
We introduce the general N=1 gauge theory superconformally coupled to supergravity. The theory has local SU(2,2|1) symmetry and no dimensional parameters. The superconformal origin of the Fayet-Iliopoulos terms is clarified. The phase of this theory with spontaneously broken conformal symmetry gives various formulations of N=1 supergravity interacting with matter, depending on the choice of the R-symmetry fixing. We have found that the locally superconformal theory is useful for describing the physics of the early universe with a conformally flat FRW metric. Few applications of superconformal …
We review some recent trends in the inflationary model building, the supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking, the gravitino Dark Matter (DM) and the Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) production in supergravity. The Starobinsky inflation can be embedded into supergravity when the inflaton belongs to the massive vector multiplet associated with a (spontaneously broken) $U(1)$ gauge symmetry. The SUSY and R-symmetry can be also spontaneously broken after inflation by the (standard) Polonyi mechanism. Polonyi particles and gravitinos are super heavy and can be copiously produced during inflation via the Schwing…
If the gravitino is sufficiently light and stable it will behave as an effective massless neutrino species at the time of nucleosynthesis. Depending on the temperature at which it decouples from the thermal bath in the early universe, the gravitino mass will be bounded by the primordial $^4$He abundance. Assuming a conservative estimate that the number of neutrino families, $N_ν< 3.6$, superlight gravitinos with a mass $m_{3/2} \lesssim 10^{-6}$eV are ruled out. This bound is weaker than previous estimates because the Goldstino annihilation cross section was overestimated.
We study the decay of the inflaton in no-scale supergravity and show that decay due to the gravitational interactions through supergravity effects is highly suppressed relative to the case in minimal supergravity or models with a generic Kahler potential. We also show that decay to gravitinos is suppressed. We demonstrate that decay and sufficient reheating are possible with the introduction of a non-trivial gauge kinetic term. This channel may be dominant in no-scale supergravity, yet yields a re-heating temperature which is low enough to avoid the gravitino problem while high enough for Big …
We consider the potential problems due to the production of inflatinos and gravitinos after inflation. Inflationary models with a single scale set by the microwave background anisotropies have a low enough reheat temperature to avoid problems with the thermal production of gravitinos. Moreover, the nonthermal production of gravitinos has been shown to be sufficiently small if the sector ultimately responsible for supersymmetry breaking is coupled only gravitationally to the inflationary sector. Still, in some models, inflatinos can be created during preheating with a substantial abundance. The…
In this talk recent developments of the theory of preheating after inflation are briefly reviewed. In inflationary cosmology, the particles constituting the Universe are created after inflation due to their interaction with moving inflaton field(s) in the process of reheating. In inflationary models motivated by supergravity, both bosons and fermions are created. In the bosonic sector, the leading channel of particle production is the non-perturbative regime of parametric resonance dominated by those bosons which are created exponentially fast with the largest characteristic exponent. In the f…
In Split Supersymmetry scenarios the possibility of having a very heavy gravitino opens the door to alleviate or completely solve the worrisome "gravitino problem'' in the context of supersymmetric baryogenesis models. Here we assume that the gravitino may indeed be heavy and that Majorana masses for neutrinos are forbidden as well as direct Higgs Yukawa couplings between left and right handed neutrinos. We investigate the viability of the mechansim known as Dirac leptogenesis (or neutrinogenesis), both in solving the baryogenesis puzzle and explaining the observed neutrino sector phenomenolog…
We extend our previous study of supersymmetric Higgs inflation in the context of no-scale supergravity and grand unification, to include models based on the flipped SU(5) and the Pati-Salam group. Like the previous SU(5) GUT model, these yield a class of inflation models whose inflation predictions interpolate between those of the quadratic chaotic inflation and Starobinsky-like inflation, while avoiding tension with proton decay limits. We further analyse the reheating process in these models, and derive the number of e-folds, which is independent of the reheating temperature. We derive the c…
We investigate the possibility of testing supergravity unified models with scalar masses in the range 50-100 TeV and much lighter gaugino masses at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis is carried out under the constraints that models produce the Higgs boson mass consistent with experiment and also produce dark matter consistent with WMAP and PLANCK experiments. A set of benchmarks in the supergravity parameter space are investigated using a combination of signal regions which are optimized for the model set. It is found that some of the models with scalar masses in the 50-100 TeV mass range…
We study the phenomenology of generic supergravity models in which gravity mediation naturally competes with gauge mediation as the origin of supergravity-breaking. This class of hybrid models has been recently motivated in string inspired constructions and differs from usual gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking models in having messenger masses of order of the GUT scale. In these scenarios the gravitino can be the lightest supersymmetric particle in wide regions of the parameter space and therefore a potential candidate for dark matter. We investigate this possibility, imposing the WMAP boun…
We discuss the highlights of recent developments in no-scale supergravity and flipped SU(5), especially in the context of a very light gravitino scenario that may explain the puzzling CDF e+e+gamma+gamma+E_T,miss event. We update the status of both subjects and discuss the impact of the latest experimental constraints from LEP and the Tevatron. We also comment on a new form of cold dark matter that may solve this phenomenological `problem' of light gravitino models. [Lecture presented by D. V. Nanopoulos at the 34th International School of Subnuclear Physics "Effective theories and fundamental…
We investigate non-thermal gravitino production after tribrid inflation in supergravity, which is a variant of supersymmetric hybrid inflation where three fields are involved in the inflationary model and where the inflaton field resides in the matter sector of the theory. In contrast to conventional supersymmetric hybrid inflation, where non-thermal gravitino production imposes severe constraints on the inflationary model, we find that the "non-thermal gravitino problem" is generically absent in models of tribrid inflation, mainly due to two effects: (i) With the inflaton in tribrid inflation…
This contribution to the proceedings collects new recent results on preheating after inflation. We discuss tachyonic preheating in the SUSY motivated hybrid inflation; development of equilibrium after preheating; theory of fermionic preheating and the problem of gravitino overproduction from preheating.
In supergravity theories with a very light gravitino, the gluino decays dominantly to a gluon and a gravitino. This results in a much larger missing $E_T$ for the multijet final states in hadronic colliders. We use the latest Tevatron data for the multijet final states to set a new absolute lower bound of 3.0 x 10^{-13} GeV for the light gravitino mass.
