We discuss model building in tribrid inflation, which is a framework for realising inflation in the matter sector of supersymmetric particle physics models. The inflaton is a D-flat combination of matter fields, and inflation ends by a phase transition in which some Higgs field obtains a vacuum expectation value. We first describe the general procedure for implementing tribrid inflation in realistic models of particle physics that can be applied to a wide variety of BSM particle physics models around the GUT scale. We then demonstrate how the procedure works for an explicit lepton flavour model based on an A_4 family symmetry. The model is both predictive and phenomenologically viable, and illustrates how tribrid inflation connects cosmological and particle physics parameters. In particular, it predicts a relation between the neutrino Yukawa coupling and the running of the spectral index alpha_s. We also show how topological defects from the flavour symmetry breaking can be avoided automatically.
The flavour messenger sectors and their impact on the soft SUSY breaking terms are investigated in SUSY flavour models. In the case when the flavour scale M is below the SUSY breaking mediation scale M_S, the universality of soft terms, even if assumed at M_S, is radiatively broken. We estimate this effect in a broad class of models. In the CKM basis that effect gives flavour off-diagonal soft masses comparable to the tree-level estimate based on the flavour symmetry.
We reconsider the possibility that inflation was driven by a sneutrino - the scalar supersymmetric partner of a heavy singlet neutrino - in the minimal seesaw model of neutrino masses. We show that this model is consistent with data on the cosmic microwave background (CMB), including those from the WMAP satellite. We derive and implement the CMB constraints on sneutrino properties, calculate reheating and the cosmological baryon asymmetry arising via direct leptogenesis from sneutrino decays following sneutrino inflation, and relate them to light neutrino masses. We show that this scenario is …
We study the properties of coloured three particle s-wave quark clusters when flavour symmetry is broken. The relevance of such clusters for models of pentaquarks is shortly mentioned.
A new mechanism for spontaneous breaking of flavour symmetry is demonstrated. An exactly flavour symmetric model with degenerate bare nonets and with sufficiently strong tri-linear meson couplings is shown to lead to self-consistency equations which are unstable. Instead there exists a stable solution, which break flavour symmetry spontaneously in the mass spectrum. For a C-degenerate meson spectrum the stable mass spectrum obeys the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule and the approximate equal spacing rule.
After a brief review on flavour symmetry breaking (FSB) in the unpolarized nucleon sea, we discuss theoretical predications for FSB in the polarized nucleon sea from meson cloud and `Pauli blocking'.
I estimate the SU(3) flavour symmetry breaking in the ratio of penguin-to-tree ratios of the decays B_s\to K^+ K^- and B_d\toπ^+π^-, given an assumption on the flavour symmetry breaking of the hadronic input parameters. The decay amplitudes are calculated in QCD factorization. Implications for the determination of gamma are discussed.
We present predictions for flavour-violating charged-lepton decays induced by the seesaw mechanism implemented within the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM) with universal input soft supersymmetry breaking terms. We assume that one heavy singlet neutrino almost decouples from the see-saw mechanism, as suggested by the pattern of light neutrino masses and mixing angles. This is suggested independently by sneutrino inflation with a low reheating temperature, T(RH)<10^7 GeV, so as to avoid overproducing gravitinos. This requirement further fixes the mass of the weakly-coupl…
We discuss how flavour GUT models in the context of supergravity can be completed with a simple SUSY breaking sector, such that the flavour-dependent (non-universal) soft breaking terms can be calculated. As an example, we discuss a model based on an SU(5) GUT symmetry and $A_4$ family symmetry, plus additional discrete "shaping symmetries" and a $\mathbb{Z}_4^\mathrm{R}$ symmetry. We calculate the soft terms and identify the relevant high scale input parameters, and investigate the resulting predictions for the low scale observables, such as flavour violating processes, the sparticle spectrum…
The so-called supersymmetric flavour problem does not exist in isolation to the Standard Model flavour problem. We show that a realistic flavour symmetry can simultaneously solve both problems without ad hoc modifications of the SUSY model. Furthermore, departures from the SM expectations in these models can be used to discriminate among different possibilities. In particular we present the expected values for the electron EDM in a flavour model solving the supersymmetric flavour and CP problems.
The chromomagnetic interaction, with full account for flavour-symmetry breaking, is applied to S-wave configurations containing two quarks and two antiquarks. Phenomenological implications are discussed for light, charmed, charmed and strange, hidden-charm and double-charm mesons, and extended to their analogues with beauty.
We show how a specific sequential breaking pattern of a U(2) flavour symmetry occurs automatically in a broad framework. The relative orientation in U(2) space of the spurion fields that breaks the U(2) symmetry is uniquely fixed, thus determining the form of the fermion mass matrices in a predictive way.
A $SU(3)_Q \times SU(3)_u \times SU(3)_d$ invariant scalar potential breaking spontaneously the quark flavour symmetry can explain the standard model flavour puzzle. The approximate alignment in flavour space of the vacuum expectation values of the up and down `Yukawa fields' results as a dynamical effect. The observed quark mixing angles, the weak CP violating phase, and hierarchical quark masses can be all reproduced at the cost of introducing additional (auxiliary) scalar multiplets, but without the need of introducing hierarchical parameters.
It is shown that a simple breaking of the subnuclear democracy leads to a successful description of the mixing between the second and third family. In the lepton channel the $ν_{μ} - ν_{τ}$ oscillations are expected to be described by a mixing angle of $2.65^ {\circ }$ which might be observed soon in neutrino experiments.
A chiral Lagrangian with $ SU(3) $ breaking and higher resonances is proposed. In this model, the $ SU(3) $ breaking structure in vector-pseudoscalar sector is realized with the decay constants of pseudoscalar mesons and the masses of vector mesons used as inputs. We examine whether the resulting $ SU(3) $ breaking effect in the charge radii of pseudoscalar mesons is consistent with the experimental facts.
We present an extensive analysis of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models with minimal and non-minimal flavour violation. We first demonstrate that low-energy, precision electroweak, and cosmological constraints exclude large "collider-friendly" regions of the minimal parameter space. We then discuss various possibilities how flavour violation, although naturally suppressed, may still occur in gauge-mediation models. The introduction of non-minimal flavour violation at the electroweak scale is shown to relax the stringent experimental constraints, so that benchmark points, that are also…
The gauge sector of the Standard Model (SM) exhibits a flavour symmetry which allows for independent unitary transformations of the fermion multiplets. In the SM the flavour symmetry is broken by the Yukawa couplings to the Higgs boson, and the resulting fermion masses and mixing angles show a pronounced hierarchy. In this work we connect the observed hierarchy to a sequence of intermediate effective theories, where the flavour symmetries are broken in a step-wise fashion by vacuum expectation values of suitably constructed spurion fields. We identify the possible scenarios in the quark sector…
It is shown that the simplest breaking of the subnuclear democracy leads to a successful description of the mixing between the second and third family. In the lepton channel the $ν_{μ} - ν_{τ}$ oscillations are expected to be described by a mixing angle of $2.65^ {\circ }$ which might be observed soon in neutrino experiments.
A new class of particle physics models of inflation based on the phase transition associated with the spontaneous breaking of family symmetry is proposed. The Higgs fields responsible for the breaking of family symmetry, the flavons, are natural inflaton candidates or waterfall fields in hybrid inflation. This opens up a rich vein of possible inflation models, all linked to the physics of flavour, with several interesting cosmological implications.
We show how gauged flavour breaking and N = 1 supersymmetry breaking can be dynamically aligned to produce natural models. Supersymmetry is broken in a metastable vacuum, while a weakly gauged flavour symmetry is identified with an SU(3)_F subgroup of the global symmetry of the SQCD model. We find that alignment can easily occur either through strongly coupled flavour models, with SQCD bound states playing the role of flavons, or entirely weakly coupled and renormalizable models with elementary SU(3)_F adjoint flavons. In both cases it is essential that the SU(3)_F breaking, and hence all the …
Direct searches and the hints for the Higgs at ~125 GeV put increasing pressure on simple models of SUSY breaking, in particular (but not exclusively) on those that automatically solve the flavour problem, such as gauge mediation. SUSY-breaking parameters are pushed to higher and higher values, increasing the fine-tuning required to achieve electroweak symmetry breaking at the observed scale. In this note we consider the situation for models which do not attempt to solve the flavour problem. To treat them on equal footing, we consider the combined fine-tuning arising from electroweak symmetry …
We study squark flavour violation in the anomaly mediated supersymmetry broken (AMSB) minimal supersymmetric standard model. Analytical expressions for the three-generational squark mass matrices are derived. We show that the anomaly-induced soft breaking terms have a decreasing amount of squark flavour violation when running from the GUT to the weak scale. Taking into account inter-generational squark mixing, we work out non-trivial constraints from B -> Xs gamma and Bs -> mu mu, which complement each other, as well as B -> tau nu decays. We further identify a region of parameter space where …
In this article I review the consequences of radiative flavor violation (RFV) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). In this framework the trilinear supersymmetry (SUSY)-breaking terms are the only source of flavor violation. Constraints on the parameter space come from Kaon mixing and b->s+gamma and are satisfied for SUSY masses of the order of 1 TeV. In addition, neutral Higgs penguins significantly contribute to B_s->mu^+mu^- and are capable of explaining the observed CP phase in the B_s system.
Motivated by the possibility that it may be misleading to assume SU(3) symmetry in the analysis of hyperon β-decays, we study the sensitivity of the polarized parton densities, derived from the world data on inclusive polarized deep inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering, to variation of the value of the nonsinglet axial charge a_8 from its SU(3) value of 3F-D.
In a supersymmetric scenario, we study masses and mixings for leptons through the ${\bf Q}_{6}$ flavour symmetry. In the simplest case, the ${\bf M}_ν$ effective neutrino mass matrix, that comes from the type I see-saw mechanism, breaks the $μ\leftrightarrow τ$ interchange symmetry. As consequence, the reactor and atmospheric angles deviate from $0^{\circ}$ and $45^{\circ}$, respectively. At first glance, the model might accommodate very well the reactor and atmospheric angles in good agreement with the experimental data.
We consider dynamical models of supersymmetry breaking which naturally incorporate cosmological inflation. The inflaton plays an inevitable role in dynamical SUSY breaking and the hierarchical scales of inflation and SUSY breaking are simultaneously realized through a single dynamics.
We discuss how a $L_e-L_μ-L_τ$ flavour symmetry that is softly broken leads to keV sterile neutrinos, which are a prime candidate for Warm Dark Matter. This is to our knowledge the first model where flavour symmetries are applied simultaneously to active and sterile neutrinos explaining at the same time active neutrino properties and this peculiar Dark Matter scenario. The essential point is that different scales of the symmetry breaking and the symmetry preserving entries in the mass matrix lead to one right-handed neutrino which is nearly massless compared to the other two. Furthermore, we n…
We argue that fields responsible for inflation and supersymmetry breaking are connected by gravitational couplings. In view of the recent progress in studying supersymmetry breaking in a metastable vacuum, we have shown that in models of supersymmetric hybrid inflation, where R-symmetry plays an important role, the scale of supersymmetry breaking is generated dynamically at the end of inflation and turns out to be consistent with gravity mediation.
We re-examine the constraints on continuous family symmetries coming from flavour changing neutral current limits on the D-term contributions to squark and slepton masses. We show that, for a restricted choice of the familon sector, continuous family symmetries are consistent with even the most conservative limits both for the case of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking and the case of gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking.
We propose measurements of weighted differences of the angular observables in the rare decays $B \to K^*\ell^+\ell^-$. The proposed observables are very sensitive to the difference between the Wilson coefficients $\mathcal{C}_9^{(e)}$ and $\mathcal{C}_9^{(μ)}$ for decays into electrons and muons, respectively. At the same time, the charm-induced hadronic contributions are kinematically suppressed to $\lesssim 7\% (4\%)$ in the region $1\,$GeV$^2 \leq q^2 \leq 6\,$GeV$^2$, as long as LFU breaking occurs only in $\mathcal{C}^{(\ell)}_{9}$. This suppression becomes stronger for the region of low …
We modify the first ISS model (hep-th/0602239) by gauging a diagonal flavour symmetry. We add additional multiplets transforming as fundamentals and anti-fundamentals under the gauged flavour group. Their number is chosen such that the microscopic theory is asymptotically free whereas in the Seiberg dual (w.r.t. the colour group) it changes to an infrared free theory. Non perturbative effects within the flavour group can correct the location of the supersymmetric vacuum. Statements about meta-stability of the susy breaking vacuum would require a two loop calculation. For general couplings, the…
We evaluate the decays $\ell_1^\pm \to \ell_2^\pm γ$, $Z \to \ell_1^+ \ell_2^-$, and $h \to \ell_1^+ \ell_2^-$, where $\ell_1$ and $\ell_2$ are charged leptons with different flavours and $h$ is the scalar particle with mass 125.25 GeV, in a two-Higgs-doublet model where all the Yukawa-coupling matrices conserve the lepton flavours but the Majorana mass terms of the right-handed neutrinos break the flavour lepton numbers. We find that (1) the decays $\ell_1^\pm \to \ell_2^\pm γ$ require large Yukawa couplings and very light right-handed neutrinos in order to be visible, (2) the decays $Z \to \…
We analyse the violations of lepton-flavour universality in the ratios B(P -> l nu)/B(P -> l' nu) using a general effective theory approach, discussing various flavour-symmetry breaking patterns of physics beyond the SM. We find that in models with Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation the effects are too small to be observed in the next generations of experiments in all relevant meson systems (P = Pi, K, B). In a Grand Unified framework with a minimal breaking of the flavour symmetry, the effects remain small in Pi and K decays while large violations of lepton-flavour universality are possible in …
The SU(3) flavour symmetry breaking expansion in up, down and strange quark masses is extended from hadron masses to meson decay constants. This allows a determination of the ratio of kaon to pion decay constants in QCD. Furthermore when using partially quenched valence quarks the expansion is such that SU(2) isospin breaking effects can also be determined. It is found that the lowest order SU(3) flavour symmetry breaking expansion (or Gell-Mann-Okubo expansion) works very well. Simulations are performed for 2+1 flavours of clover fermions at four lattice spacings.
The phase equivalence of the theoretical quark mixing matrix ${\bf V}^{th}$ derived from the breaking of the flavour permutational symmetry and the phenomenological parametrizations ${\bf V}^{PDG}$ and ${\bf V}^{KM}$ is explicitly exhibited. From here, we derive exact explicit expressions for the three mixing angles and the CP violating phase of the two phenomenological parametrizations in terms of the quark mass ratios $(m_{u}/m_{t}, m_{c}/m_{t}, m_{d}/m_{b}, m_{s}/m_{b})$ and the parameters $Z^{*1/2}$ and $Φ^*$ characterizing the preferred symmetry breaking pattern. The computed values for t…
We study models of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking with a gauged horizontal SU(3)_F symmetry acting on the quark superfields. If SU(3)_F is broken non-supersymmetrically by F-term vacuum expectation values, the massive gauge bosons and gauginos become messengers for SUSY breaking mediation. These gauge messenger fields induce a flavour-dependent, negative contribution to the soft masses of the squarks at one loop. In combination with the soft terms from standard gauge mediation, one obtains large and degenerate first- and second-generation squark masses, while the stops and sbottoms are …
The tree level potential for a scalar multiplet of `Yukawa fields' $Y$ for one type of quarks admits the promising vacuum configuration $<Y> \propto {\rm diag}(0,0,1)$ that breaks spontaneously $SU(3)_L\times SU(3)_R$ flavour symmetry. We investigate whether the vanishing entries could be lifted to nonvanishing values by slightly perturbing the potential, thus providing a mechanism to generate the Yukawa hierarchies. For theories where at the lowest order the only massless states are Nambu-Goldstone bosons we find, as a general result, that the structure of the tree-level vacuum is perturbativ…
Inflation arises in supersymmetric grand unified theories (susy GUTs) without fine tuning and cosmic strings usually form at the end of inflation. Hence both strings and inflation contribute to the density perturbations in the very early universe which lead to structure formation and to CMB anisotropies. This may give us a hint as to the $B-L$ breaking scale.
The phase equivalence of the theoretical mixing matrix ${\bf V}^{th}$ derived from the breaking of the flavour permutational symmetry and the standard parametrization ${\bf V}^{PDG}$ advocated by the Particle Data Group is explicitly exhibited. From here, we derive exact explicit expressions for the three mixing angles $θ_{12}$, $θ_{13}$, $θ_{23}$, and the CP violating phase $δ_{13}$ in terms of the quark mass ratios $(m_{u}/m_{t}, m_{c}/m_{t}, m_{d}/m_{b}, m_{s}/m_{b})$ and the parameters $Z^{*1/2}$ and $Φ^*$ characterizing the preferred symmetry breaking pattern. The computed values for the …
In minimal anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking models, tachyonic sleptons are avoided by introducing a common scalar mass similar to the one introduced in minimal supergravity. This may lead to non-minimal flavour-violating interactions, e.g., in the squark sector. In this paper, we analyze the viable anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking parameter space in the light of the latest limits on low-energy observables and LHC searches, complete our analytical calculations of flavour-violating supersymmetric particle production at hadron colliders with those related to gluino production, and s…
We investigate the possibility of obtaining a low scale of supersymmetry breaking within the ISS framework using a metastable vacuum. This is achieved by introducing an R-symmetry preserving gravitational coupling of the ISS sector to a relatively low scale inflationary sector. We find the allowed range for the supersymmetry breaking scale, 10^4 GeV < μ< 10^8 GeV, which is low enough to be amenable to gauge supersymmetry breaking mediation. This scenario is based upon a so-called hilltop inflation phase whose initial condition problem is also addressed.
A model of generalised hybrid inflation in a supersymmetric QCD theory is proposed whose parameters are the gauge coupling and quark masses. Its gravitational coupling to another SQCD sector induces a metastable supersymmetry breaking vacuum of the ISS type as ISS quarks become massive at the end of inflation. Using a known mechanism with a gravitational breaking of the baryon number and the gauging of flavour symmetries, we find that gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking is compatible with the dynamics of the inflation sector. Reheating proceeds via the thermalization of the ISS messenger…
We study a version of Starobinsky-like inflation in no-scale supergravity (SUGRA) where a Polonyi term in the hidden sector breaks supersymmetry (SUSY) after inflation, providing a link between the gravitino mass and inflation. We extend the theory to the visible sector and calculate the soft-SUSY breaking parameters depending on the modular weights in the superpotential and choice of Kähler potential. We are led to either no-scale SUGRA or pure gravity mediated SUSY breaking patterns, but with inflationary constraints on the Polonyi term setting a strict upper bound on the gravitino mass $m_…
The top condensate see-saw mechanism of Dobrescu and Hill allows electroweak symmetry to be broken while deferring the problem of flavour to an electroweak singlet, massive sector. We provide an extended version of the singlet sector that naturally accommodates realistic masses for all the standard model fermions, which play an equal role in breaking electroweak symmetry. The models result in a relatively light composite Higgs sector with masses typically in the range of (400-700)~GeV. In more complete models the dynamics will presumably be driven by a broken gauged family or flavour symmetry …
We consider the approximate U(2)^3 flavour symmetry exhibited by the quark sector of the Standard Model and all its possible breaking terms appearing in the quark Yukawa couplings. Taking an Effective Field Theory point of view, we determine the current bounds on these parameters, assumed to control the breaking of flavour in a generic extension of the Standard Model at a reference scale Lambda. In particular, a significant bound from epsilon'/epsilon is derived, which is relevant to Minimal Flavour Violation as well. In the up-quark sector, the recently observed CP violation in D -> pi+ pi-, …
We show that 1-loop quantum corrections to the potential energy density in supersymmetric hybrid inflation, outside the inflationary valley, can not be neglected. A method is presented to calculate these 1-loop corrections and they are applied to the case of D-term hybrid inflation, where a significant amount of inflation is shown to occur after spontaneous symmetry breaking. Taking this into account improves the agreement with WMAP measurements. A gauge coupling of up to 0.3 is still consistent with the CMB density perturbation. The spectral index is predicted in between 0.98 and 1.00 and the…
Different ansaetze for the breaking of the flavour permutational symmetry according to S(3)L X S(3)R in S(2)L X S(2) give different Hermitian mass matrices of the same modified Fritzsch type, which differ in the symmetry breaking pattern. In this work we obtain a clear and precise indication on the preferred symmetry breaking scheme from a fit of the predicted theoretical Vckm to the experimentally determined absolute values of the elements of the CKM matrix. The preferred scheme leads to simple mass textures and allows us to compute the CKM mixing matrix, the Jarlskog invariant J, and the thr…
An inflation model with inverse symmetry breaking of two scalar fields is proposed. Constraints on the parameters for a successful inflation are obtained. In general the inequality $λ_1\ll g <λ_2$ should be satisfied, where $λ_{1,2}$ and $g$ are the coupling constants for self interaction and mutual interaction of two scalar fields respectively. An example with $SU(5)$ GUTs phase transition and numerical study are presented. This model introduce a new mechanism for the onset of inflation.
We analyze the Higgs sector of the minimal $S(3)$-invariant extension of the Standard Model including CP violation arising from the spontaneous electroweak symmetry breaking. This extended Higgs sector includes three SU(2) doublets Higgs fields with complex vev's providing an interesting scenario to analyze the Higgs masses spectrum, trilinear Higgs self-couplings and CP violation. We present how the spontaneous electroweak symmetry breaking coming from three $S(3)$ Higgs fields gives an interesting scenario with nine physical Higgs and three Goldstone bosons when spontaneous CP violation aris…
We consider a supersymmetric hybrid inflation scenario in which the U(1) $R$-symmetry is explicitly broken by Planck scale suppressed operators in the superpotential. We provide an example with minimal Kähler potential, with the $R$-symmetry breaking term relevant during inflation being $αS^4$, where $S$ denotes the well-known gauge singlet inflaton superfield. The inflationary potential takes into account the radiative and supergravity corrections, as well as the soft supersymmetry breaking terms. For successful inflation, with the scalar spectral index in the currently preferred range, $n_s …
We study supersymmetric models with a GUT-sized extra dimension, where both the Higgs fields and the SUSY breaking hidden sector are localized on a 4D brane. Exponential wave function profiles of the matter fields give rise to hierarchical structures in the Yukawa couplings and soft terms. Such structures can naturally explain hierarchical fermion masses and mixings, while at the same time alleviating the supersymmetric flavour problem. We discuss two sources of supersymmetry breaking, radion mediation and brane fields, and perform a detailed numerical analysis, thoroughly taking into account …
Symmetry breaking in the Higgs field via a non-minimal coupling to gravity or higher-dimensional interactions with the inflaton can lead to condensation at a large vacuum expectation value (VEV) during inflation. After inflation is over, the Higgs field must relax to the minimum of its effective potential, creating an era in which the CPT is effectively broken by the time-depended VEV. We show that the matter-antimatter asymmetry can be generated during this relaxation epoch.
If there are a large number of vacua, multi-inflation may be a more mediocre phenomenon rather than a single inflation. In the multi-inflation scenario, new inflation is most likely the last inflation, since its energy scale is naturally low. Furthermore, it may explain the observed spectral index of the cosmic microwave background radiations. We show, in this letter, that a new inflation model proposed in supergravity accounts for all the present observations assuming anomaly mediation of supersymmetry breaking. As a result, we find that the relic density of the winos is consistent with the o…
In the framework of gauged flavour symmetries, new fermions in parity symmetric representations of the standard model are generically needed for the compensation of mixed anomalies. The key point is that their masses are also protected by flavour symmetries and some of them are expected to lie way below the flavour symmetry breaking scale(s), which has to occur many orders of magnitude above the electroweak scale to be compatible with the available data from flavour changing neutral currents and CP violation experiments. We argue that, actually, some of these fermions would plausibly get masse…
We study the implications of a large nu_mu - nu_tau mixing angle on flavour changing transitions of quarks and leptons in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. Two patterns of supersymmetry breaking are considered, models with modular invariance and the standard scenario of universal soft breaking terms at the GUT scale. The analysis is performed for two symmetry groups G x U(1)_F, with G=SU(5) and G=SU(3)^3, where U(1)_F is a family symmetry. Models with modular invariance are in agreement with observations only for restricted scalar quark and gaugino masses, (M_squark^2)/(m_gluino…
We propose renormalizable models of new physics that can explain various anomalies observed in decays of B-mesons to electron and muon pairs. The new physics states couple to linear combinations of Standard Model fermions, yielding a pattern of flavour violation that gives a consistent fit to the gamut of flavour data. Accidental symmetries prevent contributions to baryon- and lepton-number-violating processes, as well as enforcing a loop suppression of new physics contributions to flavour violating processes. Data require that the new flavour-breaking couplings are largely aligned with the Yu…
We study the connection between inflation and supersymmetry breaking in the context of an O'Raifeartaigh model which can account for both hybrid inflation and a true vacuum where supersymmetry is spontaneously broken. For a weakly coupled inflaton field, the dynamics during the inflationary phase can be determined by the supersymmetry breaking scale $M_S\sim 10^{10}$ GeV, even if $H_I >> m_{3/2}$. The spectrum of density fluctuations is then almost scale invariant, with a spectral index $n-1={\cal O}(M_G^2/M_P^2)$. The mass parameter $M_G$ of the O'Raifeartaigh model is determined by the COBE …
We propose a spontaneous A_4 flavour symmetry breaking scheme to understand the observed pattern of quark and neutrino mixing. The fermion mass eigenvalues are arbitrary, but the mixing angles are constrained in such a way that the overall patterns are explained while also leaving sufficient freedom to fit the detailed features of the observed values, including CP violating phases. The scheme realises the proposal of Low and Volkas to generate zero quark mixing and tribimaximal neutrino mixing at tree-level, with deviations from both arising from small corrections after spontaneous A_4 breakin…
Soft supersymmetry-breaking terms provide a wealth of new potential sources of flavour violation, which are tightly constrained by precision experiments. This has posed a challenge to construct flavour models which both explain the structure of the Standard Model Yukawa couplings and also predict soft-breaking patterns that are compatible with these constraints. While such models have been studied in great detail, the impact of flavour violating soft terms on the Higgs mass at the two-loop level has been assumed to be small or negligible. In this letter, we show that large flavour violation in…
We review the connection between inflationary models and observations and concentrate to describe models based on softly broken supersymmetry, in particular running mass models, and their predictions. We then present a fit of the spectral index of the curvature perturbation, assuming a flat $Λ$CDM cosmology.
