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arXiv · hep-ph/0403144

Flipped Cryptons and the UHECRs

John Ellis·V. E. Mayes·D. V. Nanopoulos
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Abstract

Cryptons are metastable bound states of fractionally-charged particles that arise generically in the hidden sectors of models derived from heterotic string. We study their properties and decay modes in a specific flipped SU(5) model with long-lived four-particle spin-zero bound states called {\it tetrons}. We show that the neutral tetrons are metastable, and exhibit the tenth-order non-renormalizable superpotential operators responsible for their dominant decays. By analogy with QCD, we expect charged tetrons to be somewhat heavier, and to decay relatively rapidly via lower-order interactions that we also exhibit. The expected masses and lifetimes of the neutral tetrons make them good candidates for cold dark matter (CDM), and a potential source of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) which have been observed, whereas the charged tetrons would have decayed in the early Universe.

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John Ellis, V. E. Mayes, D. V. Nanopoulos. 2004-09-06. Flipped Cryptons and the UHECRs. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.70.075015

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