We propose a solution to the mu/Bmu problem in gauge-mediated SUSY breaking, which does not suffer from the SUSY CP problem and is consistent with the solution to the strong CP problem. The model is based on Z_3-invariant NMSSM with additional vector-like matter charged under a hidden gauge group as well as the standard model gauge groups. The dynamical scale of the hidden gauge symmetry is set to be around 10 GeV. We show that this simple extension of the NMSSM resolves the domain wall problem and the mu/Bmu problem without a dangerous CP angle. The relative sign among gaugino masses and the mu parameter can be preferable in terms of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We also discuss cosmological issues of this model, especially the effects of long-lived particles in the hidden gauge sector. The hidden glueball may cause a late-time entropy production, which opens up a possibility that the light gravitino can be a dominant component of dark matter while leptogenesis scenarios work successfully. There is a region where the electroweak symmetry is successfully broken with ~10 TeV stops, and the Higgs mass of ~125 GeV can be explained.
We propose a natural solution to the mu problem in gauge mediation. It relies on the logarithmic dependence of the effective Kahler potential on the messenger threshold superfield X. Thus, mu and Bmu naturally arise at one and two loops, respectively. Moreover B has the same phase as the gaugino mass and the supersymmetric CP problem is solved as well.
We construct a model that naturally generates mu and B of the same order without producing large CP violating phases. This is easily accomplished once one permits these mass scales to be determined independently of the ordinary gauge-mediated soft masses. The alignment of phases is shown to emerge dynamically upon coupling to supergravity and is not unique to the model presented here.
We present a simple supersymmetric axion model that can naturally explain the origin of the Higgs mu and Bmu terms in gauge mediation while solving the strong CP problem. To stabilize the Peccei-Quinn scale, we consider mixing between the messenger fields that communicate the supersymmetry and Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking to the visible sector. Such mixing leads to the radiative stabilization of the Peccei-Quinn scale. In the model, a Higgs coupling to the axion superfield generates the B parameter at the soft mass scale while a small mu term is induced after the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaki…
We investigate O'Raifeartaigh-type models for F-term supersymmetry breaking in gauge mediation scenarios in the presence of gravity. It is pointed out that the vacuum structure of those models is such that in metastable vacua gravity mediation contribution to scalar masses is always suppressed to the level below 1 percent, almost sufficient for avoiding FCNC problem. Close to that limit, gravitino mass can be in the range 10-100 GeV, opening several interesting possibilities for gauge mediation models, including Giudice-Masiero mechanism for mu and Bmu generation. Gravity sector can include st…
We propose a new framework of low-scale gauge-mediated supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking with a gravitino mass of O(100) TeV. The usual 4D gauge mediation models predict a light gravitino and suffer from cosmological problems. In our framework, a heavy gravitino in gauge mediation is realized with a flat extra-dimension, whose compactification scale is around the grand unified theory scale. Superparticle masses of the visible sector from gravity/anomaly mediation are suppressed, and they are purely generated by usual gauge mediation on the visible brane. Importantly, the Higgs Bmu-term vanishes at…
We show that in gauge mediation models where heavy messenger masses are provided by the adjoint Higgs field of an underlying SU(5) theory, a generalized gauge mediation spectrum arises with the characteristic feature of having a neutralino LSP much lighter than in the standard gauge or gravity mediation schemes. This naturally fits in a hybrid scenario where gravity mediation, while subdominant with respect to gauge mediation, provides mu and Bmu parameters of the appropriate size for electroweak symmetry breaking.
Mirage mediation reduces the fine-tuning in the minimal supersymmetric standard model by dynamically arranging a cancellation between anomaly-mediated and modulus-mediated supersymmetry breaking. We explore the conditions under which a mirage "messenger scale" is generated near the weak scale and the little hierarchy problem is solved. We do this by explicitly including the dynamics of the SUSY-breaking sector needed to cancel the cosmological constant. The most plausible scenario for generating a low mirage scale does not readily admit an extra-dimensional interpretation. We also review the p…
We present a simple model that achieves $m_h\approx 126$ GeV in the MSSM with large $A$-terms and TeV-scale stops through a combination of gauge mediation and Higgs-messenger interactions. The $μ$/$B_μ$ and $A$/$m_H^2$ problems are both solved by a common mechanism -- partial sequestering from strong hidden sector dynamics. Using the framework of General Messenger Higgs Mediation, we explicitly calculate the soft masses in terms of the vacuum expectation values, operator dimensions and OPE coefficients of the strongly-coupled hidden sector. Along the way, we also present a general analysis of …
We explore the dark matter freeze-in mechanism within the gauge mediation framework, which involves a hidden Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP) coupling feebly with the messenger fields while the messengers are still in the thermal bath. The FIMP is the fermionic component of the pseudo-moduli in a generic metastable supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking model and resides in the hidden sector. The relic abundance and the mass of the FIMP are determined by the SUSY breaking scale and the feeble coupling. The gravitino, which is the canonical dark matter candidate in the gauge mediation framewor…
A problem of the gauge-mediated SUSY breaking model is its difficulty to generate a natural value of mu/Bmu, while the NMSSM is a natural framework to solve the mu/Bmu problem. The NMSSM in gauge-mediated SUSY breaking in its original form does not work well since the singlet field cannot develop a desired vacuum expectation value. It also suffers from the cosmological domain wall problem. We study an extension of the model to include additional vector-like matter, which is charged under the hidden QCD. It is shown that this simple extension solves both the problems. We study phenomenological …
The $Bμ/μ$ solution in GMSB via the hidden sector dynamics is simple and natural. However, it has some obstacles to be physical. To circumvent this situation, we introduce the visible and the hidden branes, each of which has its own U(1) symmetry, in a five dimensional setup. In the bulk we allow Chern-Simons coupling between the visible and the hidden U(1)s which gives an enhancement of the mass of bino. If this gives a considerable contribution to the mass of bino, we can get a proper radiative electro weak symmetry breaking with the boundary conditions, in which $Bμ$ and squared scalar mass…
We present a simple general framework for realistic models of supersymmetry breaking driven by anomaly mediation. We consider a 5-dimensional "brane universe" where the visible and hidden sectors are localized on different branes, and the standard model gauge bosons propagate in the bulk. In this framework there can be charged scalar messengers that have contact interactions with the hidden sector, either localized in the hidden sector or in the bulk. These scalars obtain soft masses that feed into visible sector scalar masses at two loop order via bulk gauge interactions. This contribution is…
I propose implementing General Gauge Mediation using the class of $SU(N) \times U(1)$ SUSY breaking models. As an existence proof, I have utilized the 4-1 model in building multi-parameter gauge mediation. These hidden sectors are relatively easy to use and avoid several model building pitfalls such as runaway directions. In addition models require no special tuning and may produce as many parameters as general gauge mediation allows.
We present a model of supersymmetry breaking mediated through a small extra dimension. Standard model matter multiplets and a supersymmetry-breaking (or ``hidden'') sector are confined to opposite four-dimensional boundaries while gauge multiplets live in the bulk. The hidden sector does not contain a singlet and the dominant contribution to gaugino masses is via anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking. Scalar masses get contributions from both anomaly mediation and a tiny hard breaking of supersymmetry by operators on the hidden-sector boundary. These operators contribute to scalar masses at …
In the gauge mediation mechanism, the effects of the hidden sector are characterized by a set of correlation functions of the global symmetry current of the hidden sector. We present methods to compute these correlators in cases with strongly coupled hidden sectors. Several examples are presented to demonstrate the technique explicitly.
We explore the phenomenology of the full General Gauge Mediation parameter space in the MSSM focusing on the consequences of having a fundamental Higgs around 125 GeV. Assuming GUT-complete structure of the hidden sector, we allow for deviations from the strict definition of gauge mediated SUSY-breaking coming from mild violations of messenger-parity and from extra couplings between the Higgs multiplets and the hidden sector. Relaxing the GUT assumption, our parameter space is defined by the property of having vanishing A-terms at the messenger scale. In this extended setup we focus on the pos…
We propose a solution to the mu/B_mu problem in gauge mediation. The novel feature of our solution is that it uses dynamics of the hidden sector, which is often present in models with dynamical supersymmetry breaking. We give an explicit example model of gauge mediation where a very simple messenger sector generates both mu and B_mu at one loop. The usual problem, that B_mu is then too large, is solved by strong renormalization effects from the hidden sector which suppress B_mu relative to mu. Our mechanism relies on an assumption about the signs of certain incalculable anomalous dimensions in…
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.
We discuss gauge mediation in the case where the hidden sector is strongly coupled but, via the gauge-gravity correspondence, admits a weakly-coupled description in terms of a warped higher-dimensional spacetime. In this framework, known as holographic gauge mediation, the visible-sector gauge group is realized in the gravitational description by probe D-branes and the non-supersymmetric state by normalizable perturbations to the geometry. Using the formalism of general gauge mediation, supersymmetry-breaking soft terms in the visible sector can be related to the two-point functions of the hid…
To obtain a SM-like Higgs boson around 125 GeV in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with minimal gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking (GMSB), a heavy stop at multi-TeV level is needed and incurs severe fine-tuning, which can be ameliorated in the framework of the deformed GMSB with visible-hidden direct Yukawa interactions (YGMSB). We examine some general features of the YGMSB and focus on the scenario with Higgs-messenger couplings (H-YGMSB) which can automatically maintain the minimal flavor violation (MFV). It turns out that such a Yukawa mediation scenario can give a large -A_…
We study the hidden sector effects to the mass renormalization of a simplest gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenario. We point out that possible hidden sector contributions render the soft scalar masses smaller, resulting in drastically different sparticle mass spectrum at low energy. In particular, in the ${\bf 5}+\bar{\bf 5}$ minimal gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking with high messenger scale (that is favored by the gravitino cold dark matter scenario), we show that stau can be the next lightest superparticle for moderate values of hidden sector self coupling. This provides a very…
We construct models of indirect gauge mediation where the dynamics responsible for breaking supersymmetry simultaneously generates a weakly coupled subsector of messengers. This provides a microscopic realization of messenger gauge mediation where the messenger and hidden sector fields are unified into a single sector. The UV theory is SQCD with massless and massive quarks plus singlets, and at low energies it flows to a weakly coupled quiver gauge theory. One node provides the primary source of supersymmetry breaking, which is then transmitted to the node giving rise to the messenger fields. …
Anomaly mediation mechanism of supersymmetry breaking is known to have an unsatisfactory aspect which is often referred to as the tachyonic slepton problem. A possible way out of this difficulty is investigated by considering the mediation mechanism not only of the super-Weyl but of K{\" a}hler part of anomaly. A new formula for the scalar mass squared is presented by including the effect of the K{\" a}hler anomaly. On the basis of the new formulae, the gauge non-singlet scalar mass squared is shown to be positive provided that the superpotential in the hidden sector satisfies a certain condit…
We study the mediation of supersymmetry breaking triggered by background fluxes in Type II string compactifications with N=1 supersymmetry. The mediation arises due to an U(1) vector multiplet coupling to both a hidden supersymmetry breaking flux sector and a visible D-brane sector. The required internal manifolds can be constructed by non-Kaehler resolutions of singular Calabi-Yau manifolds. The effective action encoding the U(1) coupling is then determined in terms of the global topological properties of the internal space. We investigate suitable local geometries for the hidden and visible …
We locate a supersymmetry breaking hidden sector and supersymmetric standard model on different lattice points of an orbifold moose. The hidden sector is encoded in a set of current correlators and the effects of the current correlators are mediated by the lattice site gauge groups with "lattice hopping" functions and through the bifundamental matter that links the lattice sites together. We show how the gaugino mass, scalar mass and Casimir energy of the lattice can be computed for a general set of current correlators and then give specific formulas when the hidden sector is specified to be a…
We propose a scenario of gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking (gravity mediation) in a supersymmetric Randall-Sundrum model. In our setup, both of the visible sector and the hidden sector co-exist on the infrared (IR) brane. We introduce the Polonyi model as a simple hidden sector. Due to the warped metric, the effective cutoff scale on the IR brane is ``warped down'', so that the gravity mediation occurs at a low scale. As a result, the gravitino is naturally the lightest superpartner (LSP) and contact interactions between the hidden and the visible sector fields become stronger. We addres…
We present a gauge mediation principle for BSM theories where exact UV scale invariance is broken in a hidden sector. The relevant configurations are those in which the Standard Model and a hidden sector emanate from a scale invariant pair of UV theories that communicate only via gauge interactions. We compute the radiatively induced Higgs potential which contains logarithmic mass-squared terms that lead to unusual Higgs self-couplings. Its other couplings are unchanged.
The spectrum of a class of gaugino mediation models with arbitrary hidden sector is considered. These models are defined by a diagonal breaking of the mediating gauge group, which places them outside the realm of General Gauge Mediation. While gauginos get masses as in ordinary gauge mediation, the scalar masses are screened.
We analyze a model of Semi-Direct Gauge Mediation in which the hidden sector is the 4-1 model and the messenger fields are charged under the U(1) gauge group. At tree level, the SUSY-breaking F-terms induce D-terms from which SUSY-split messenger masses arise. We calculate these masses by three complementary methods. Additionally, we compute the one-loop corrections to the masses. We consider this model both with and without a Fayet-Iliopoulos term for the hidden sector U(1). Finally, we write down a simple model of Minimal Gauge Mediation in which the only scale is dynamically generated.
An often-exploited feature of the operator product expansion (OPE) is that it incorporates a splitting of ultraviolet and infrared physics. In this paper we use this feature of the OPE to perform simple, approximate computations of soft masses in gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. The approximation amounts to truncating the OPEs for hidden-sector current-current operator products. Our method yields visible-sector superpartner spectra in terms of vacuum expectation values of a few hidden-sector IR elementary fields. We manage to obtain reasonable approximations to soft masses, even when the…
There is a growing appreciation that hidden sector dynamics may affect the supersymmetry breaking parameters in the visible sector (supersymmetric standard model), especially when the dynamics is strong and superconformal. We point out that there are effects that have not been previously discussed in the literature. For example, the gaugino masses are suppressed relative to the gravitino mass. We discuss their implications in the context of various mediation mechanisms. The issues discussed include anomaly mediation with singlets, the mu (B mu) problem in gauge and gaugino mediation, and disti…
We study gaugino mass generation in the context of semi-direct gauge mediation models, where the messengers are charged under both the hidden sector and the standard model gauge groups while they do not play important roles in dynamical supersymmetry breaking. We clarify the cancellation of the leading contributions of the supersymmetry breaking effects to the gaugino mass in this class of models in terms of the macroscopic effective theory of the hidden sector dynamics. We also consider how to retrofit the model so that we obtain the non-vanishing leading contribution to the gaugino mass.
We develop the formalism of "General gauge mediation" for five dimensional theories in a slice of AdS space. A set of current correlators encodes the effect of a supersymmetry breaking hidden sector localised on the IR brane. These current correlators provide a tree-level gaugino mass and loop-level sfermion masses on the UV brane. We also use this formalism to calculate the Casimir energy and masses for bulk hyperscalars. To illustrate this general construction we consider a perturbative hidden sector of generalised messengers coupled to a spurion. For models with large warping, we find that …
We provide, in a framework of vector-like gauge theories, concrete models for conformal sequestering of dynamical supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking in the hidden sector. If the sequestering is sufficiently strong, anomaly mediation of the SUSY breaking may give dominant contributions to the mass spectrum of SUSY standard-model particles, leading to negative slepton masses squared. Thus, we also consider a model with gravitational gauge mediation to circumvent the tachyonic slepton problem in pure anomaly mediation models.
We study gauge theories where quasi-hidden sectors are added to the MSSM for the sake of string consistency conditions which would otherwise not be satisfied. We focus on quiver gauge theories motivated by weakly coupled type II orientifold compactifications. Model independent features in this class include an anomalous U(1)_V symmetry which protects messenger masses and has strong consequences for superpotential couplings, a rich phenomenology of heavy and light Z' bosons, and axionic couplings required for anomaly cancellation via the Green-Schwarz mechanism. We discuss possibilities for dar…
We have studied $R$-symmetrc gauge mediation models with Fayet-Iliopoulos terms. We give a concrete example of hidden sector with an $U(1)_H$ gauge theory and a Fayet-Iliopoulos term, which can induce distinctive soft terms in the visible sector, and help solving fine tuning problems in models of $R$-symmetric gauge mediation.
Most generic models of hidden sector supersymmetry breaking do not feature singlets, and gauginos obtain masses from anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking. If one desires a natural model, then the dominant contribution to scalar masses should be of the same order, i.e. also from AMSB. However, pure AMSB models suffer from the tachyonic slepton problem. Moreover, there is a large splitting between the gluino and the wino LSP masses resulting in tight exclusion limits from typical superpartner searches. We introduce messenger fields into this framework to obtain a hybrid theory of gauge and an…
We present a general formalism for analyzing supersymmetric models where the Higgs sector directly couples to the messengers of supersymmetry breaking. Such Higgs-messenger interactions are strongly motivated by the discovery of a Higgs boson near 125 GeV, but they also raise the specter of the mu/B_mu and A/m_H^2 problems. Using our formalism, we identify new avenues to solving these problems through strong dynamics in the messenger sector or hidden sector. Although our formalism is entirely general, we show how it reproduces familiar results in two simplifying limits: one where the hidden se…
We consider using broken superconformal symmetry and the super operator product expansion (sOPE) to constrain and analyze hidden sector theories that couple to our gauge forces and are not necessarily weakly coupled. Conformal and supersymmetry breaking are IR effects, associated with field or spurion expectation values, whereas the sOPE is determined in the UV and hence does not notice the breaking. The broken superconformal symmetry relates OPE coefficients of superconformal descendant operators to those of the superconformal primaries. We apply these ideas to the current correlators of gene…
We consider a relative of semi-direct gauge mediation where the hidden sector exists at large 't Hooft coupling. Such scenarios can be difficult to describe using perturbative field theory methods but may fall into the class of holographic gauge mediation scenarios, meaning that they are amenable to the techniques of gauge/gravity duality. We use a recently found gravity solution to examine one such case where the hidden sector is a cascading gauge theory resulting in a confinement scale not much smaller than the messenger mass. In the original construction of holographic gauge mediation, as i…
In order to significantly reduce the fine-tuning associated with the electroweak symmetry breaking in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), we consider not only the minimal gravity mediation effects but also the minimal gauge mediation ones for a common supersymmetry breaking source at a hidden sector. In this "Minimal Mixed Mediation model," the minimal forms for the Kahler potential and the gauge kinetic function are employed at tree level. The MSSM gaugino masses are radiatively generated through the gauge mediation. Since a "focus point" of the soft Higgs mass parameter, m_{h_u…
Supersymmetric models with extended group structure beyond the standard model are revisited in the framework of general gauge mediation. Sum rules for sfermion masses are shown to depend genuinely on the group structure, which can serve as important probes for specific models. The left-right model and models with extra U(1) are worked out for illustrations. If the couplings of extra gauge groups are small, supersymmetric hidden valleys of the scale 10-100 GeV can be naturally constructed in companion of a TeV-scale supersymmetric visible sector.
We describe a framework for gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking in which the messengers are charged under the hidden sector gauge group but do not play a role in breaking supersymmetry. From this point of view, our framework is between ordinary gauge mediation and direct mediation. As an example, we consider the 3-2 model of dynamical supersymmetry breaking, and add to it massive messengers which are SU(2) doublets. We briefly discuss the phenomenology of this scenario.
We revisit the implications of naturalness and gauge unification in the MSSM. We find that precision unification of the couplings in connection with a small mu parameter requires a highly compressed gaugino pattern as it is realized in mirage mediation. Due to the small mass difference between gluino and LSP, collider limits on the gluino mass are drastically relaxed. Without further assumptions, the relic density of the LSP is very close to the observed dark matter density due to coannihilation effects.
We construct a gauge-mediation model with a D-term supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking. R-symmetry breaking necessary for generating the SUSY standard-model gaugino masses is given by gaugino condensation of a strongly coupled gauge theory in the hidden sector. The energy scale of the strong dynamics of the hidden sector gauge theory should be around the messenger mass scale M, or otherwise perturbative calculations would be reliable and would lead to negative soft mass squared for squarks and sleptons. Thus, all the mass scales are controlled by a virtually single parameter, \sqrt{D}/M. This model …
We present a simple and phenomenologically acceptable extension of the 4-1 model of dynamical supersymmetry breaking, in which messengers and MSSM superfields are directly coupled to the hidden sector without participating in the supersymmetry breaking mechanism; although parametrically suppressed by a loop factor, gaugino masses turn out to be comparable to sfermion masses because of the presence of enhancing factors ultimately due to the different origin of the gaugino and the sfermion mass terms. We also describe what can be considered the simplest realization of the Higgs sector and how el…
In a model-independent formalism of gauge mediation, Meade, Seiberg, and Shih have shown that hidden sector effects are captured by two-point correlation functions of the gauge current superfields and that, generically, many of the characteristic features of gauge mediated SUSY breaking do not survive. We review the general story, particularly the way that the correlators enter the low-energy effective action and give rise to soft-breaking terms. We then specialize to the case where there is a small parameter, F/m^2, where m is the mass scale characterizing the hidden sector, and F is the stre…
We use the "General Gauge Mediation" formalism to describe a 5D setup with an $S^{1}/Z_{2}$ orbifold. We first consider a model independent SUSY breaking hidden sector on one boundary and generic chiral matter on another. Using the definition of GGM, the effects of the hidden sector are contained in a set of global symmetry current correlator functions and is mediated through the bulk. We find the gaugino, sfermion and hyperscalar mass formulas for minimal and generalised messengers in different regimes of a large, small and intermediate extra dimension. Then we use the 5D GGM formalism to con…
We address the mu-problem in the context of General Gauge Mediation (GGM). We classify possible models depending on the way the Higgs fields couple to the supersymmetry breaking hidden-sector. The different types of models have distinct signatures in the MSSM parameters. We find concrete and surprisingly simple examples based on messengers in each class. These examples lead to all the soft masses and a consistent Higgs-sector.
Supersymmetry breaking in a metastable vacuum allows one to build simple and concrete models of gauge mediation. Generation of gaugino masses requires that R-symmetry be broken in this vacuum. In general, there are two possible ways to break R-symmetry, explicitly or spontaneously. We find that the MSSM phenomenology depends crucially on how this breaking occurs in the Hidden Sector. Explicit R-symmetry breaking models can lead to fairly standard gauge mediation, but we argue that in the context of ISS-type models this only makes sense if B=0 at the mediation scale, which leads to high tan(bet…
We give a general formulation of semi-direct gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking where the messengers interact with the hidden sector only through a weakly gauged group. Using this general formulation, we provide an explicit proof that the MSSM gaugino masses are vanishing to leading order in the gauge couplings. On the other hand, the MSSM sfermion masses have, generically, a non-vanishing leading contribution. We discuss how such a mechanism can successfully be combined with other mediation schemes which give tachyonic sfermions, such as sequestered anomaly mediation and some direct ga…
We extend the framework of general gauge mediation to cases where the mediating fields have a nontrivial spectral function, as might arise from strong dynamics. We demonstrate through examples that this setup describes a broad class of possible models of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking. A main emphasis is to give general formulas for cross sections for $σ(visible\rightarrow hidden)$ in these resonance models. We will also give formulas for soft masses, A-terms and demonstrate the framework with a holographic setup.
The sequestering of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking parameters, which is induced by superconformal hidden sector, is one of the solutions for the mu/B_mu problem in gauge-mediated SUSY-breaking scenario. However, it is found that the minimal messenger model does not derive the correct electroweak symmetry breaking. In this paper we present a model which has the coupling of the messengers with the SO(10) GUT-symmetry breaking Higgs fields. The model is one of the realistic extensions of the gauge mediation model with superconformal hidden sector. It is shown that the extension is applicable for a…
We study models of "(extra)ordinary gauge mediation," which consist of taking ordinary gauge mediation and extending the messenger superpotential to include all renormalizable couplings consistent with SM gauge invariance and an R-symmetry. We classify all such models and find that their phenomenology can differ significantly from that of ordinary gauge mediation. Some highlights include: arbitrary modifications of the squark/slepton mass relations, small mu and Higgsino NLSP's, and the possibility of having fewer than one effective messenger. We also show how these models lead naturally to ex…
We show that supersymmetric "Dark Force" models with gravity mediation are viable. To this end, we analyse a simple string-inspired supersymmetric hidden sector model that interacts with the visible sector via kinetic mixing of a light Abelian gauge boson with the hypercharge. We include all induced interactions with the visible sector such as neutralino mass mixing and the Higgs portal term. We perform a detailed parameter space scan comparing the produced dark matter relic abundance and direct detection cross sections to current experiments.
We extend the results of Mirabelli and Peskin to supergravity. We study the compactification on S_1/Z_2 of Zucker's off-shell formulation of 5D supergravity and its coupling to matter at the fixed points. We clarify some issues related to the off-shell description of supersymmetry breaking a la Scherk-Schwarz (here employed only as a technical tool) discussing how to deal with singular gravitino wave functions. We then consider `visible' and `hidden' chiral superfields localized at the two different fixed points and communicating only through 5D supergravity. We compute the one-loop correction…
The appearance of a natural dark matter candidate, the neutralino, is among the principal successes of minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) and its descendents. In lieu of a suitable ultraviolet completion, however, theories of gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking such as mSUGRA suffer from arbitrary degrees of flavor violation. Though theories of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking are free from such prohibitive flavor violation, they typically lack natural neutralino dark matter candidates. Yet this conventional dichotomy breaks down when the hidden sector is strongly coupled; in models of gau…
Gravity mediation supersymmetry breaking become comparable to gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking contributions when messenger masses are close to the GUT scale. By suitably tuning the gravity contributions one can then modify the soft supersymmetry breaking sector to generate a large stop mixing parameter and a light higgs mass of 125 GeV. In this kind of hybrid models, however the nice features of gauge mediation like flavour conservation etc, are lost. To preserve the nice features, gravitational contributions should become important for lighter messenger masses and should be important on…
We construct explicit string theory models realizing the recently proposed "Stückelberg Portal" scenario, a framework for building Z' mediation models without the need to introduce unwanted exotic matter charged under the Standard Model. This scenario can be viewed purely field-theoretically, although it is particularly well motivated from string theory. By analyzing carefully the Stückelberg couplings between the Abelian gauge bosons and the RR axions, we construct the first global intersecting brane models which extend the Standard Model with a genuine hidden sector, to which it is nonethele…
We discuss mechanisms for naturally generating GeV-scale hidden sectors in the context of weak-scale supersymmetry. Such low mass scales can arise when hidden sectors are more weakly coupled to supersymmetry breaking than the visible sector, as happens when supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the visible sector by gauge interactions under which the hidden sector is uncharged, or if the hidden sector is sequestered from gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking. We study these mechanisms in detail in the context of gauge and gaugino mediation, and present specific models of Abelian GeV-scal…
