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Alejandra Melfo

Publications and source records attributed to Alejandra Melfo.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2003

The minimal supersymmetric grand unified theory

We show that the minimal renormalizable supersymmetric SO(10) GUT with the usual three generations of spinors has a Higgs sector consisting only of a "light" 10-dimensional and "heavy" 126, 126-bar and 210 supermultiplets. The theory has only two sets of Yukawa couplings with fifteen real parameters and ten real parameters in the Higgs superpotential. It accounts correctly for all the fermion masses and mixings. The theory predicts at low energies the MSSM with exact R-parity. It is arguably the minimal consistent supersymmetric grand unified theory.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Proton decay and fermion masses in supersymmetric grand unified theories

We briefly review the issues of proton decay and fermion masses and mixings in minimal supersymmetric grand unified theories. We argue that minimal SU(5), although tightly constrained by proton decay data, is still not ruled out. However, we outline the advantages of SO(10) unification, in particular in the model with renormalizable see-saw mechanism and its remarkable predictions of (a) exact R-parity at low energies, (b) large atmospheric neutrino angle as a consequence of b-tau unification and (c) 1-3 leptonic mixing angle close to its upper limit.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Minimal Supersymmetric Pati-Salam Theory: Determination of Physical Scales

We systematically study the minimal supersymmetric Pati-Salam theory, paying special attention to the unification constraints. We find that the SU(4)_c scale M_c and the Left-Right scale M_R lie in the range 10^{10} GeV < M_c < 10^{14} GeV, 10^{3} GeV < M_R <10^{10} GeV (with single-step breaking at 10^{10} GeV), giving a potentially accessible scale of parity breaking. The theory includes the possibility of having doubly-charged supermultiplets at the supersymmetry breaking scale; color octet states with mass of order M_R^2/M_c; magnetic monopoles of intermediate mass that do not conflict with cosmology, and a 'clean' (type I) form for the see-saw mechanism of neutrino mass.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2002

Thick domain wall spacetimes with and without reflection symmetry

We show that the spacetimes of domain wall solutions to the coupled Einstein-scalar field equations with a given scalar field potential fall into two classes, depending on whether or not reflection symmetry on the wall is imposed. Solutions with reflection symmetry are dynamic, while the asymmetric ones are static. Asymmetric walls are asymptotically flat on one side and reduce to the Taub spacetime on the other. Examples of asymmetric thick walls in D-dimensional spacetimes are given, and results on the thin-wall limit of the dynamic, symmetric walls are extended to the asymmetric case. The particular case of symmetric, static spacetimes is considered and a new family of solutions, including previously known BPS walls, is presented.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2002

Self-gravitating domain walls and the thin-wall limit

We analyse the distributional thin wall limit of self gravitating scalar field configurations representing thick domain wall geometries. We show that thick wall solutions can be generated by appropiate scaling of the thin wall ones, and obtain an exact solution for a domain wall that interpolates between AdS_4 asymptotic vacua and has a well-defined thin wall limit.Solutions representing scalar field configurations obtained via the same scaling but that do not have a thin wall limit are also presented.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2000

SO(10) theory of R-parity and neutrino mass

We study the Higgs sector of a SO(10) grand unified theory which predicts exact conservation of R-parity at all scales and incorporates the see-saw mechanism. We find possible intermediate scales and light states compatible with the constraints coming from the running of the gauge couplings. Such a pattern could lower the SO(10) breaking scale, allowing the d=6 proton decay operators to be comparable in magnitude to the d=5 ones.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

Intermediate Scales in Supersymmetric GUTs: the Survival of the Fittest

We show that intermediate scales in supersymmetric grand unified theories may exist naturally. Their origin is traced to the violation of the survival principle: in supersymmetry internal symmetries often forbid cubic couplings in the superpotential. This leads to a plethora of light supermultiplets whose masses are generated only by higher dimensional operators and thus suppressed by the cut-off scale. These new states often carry exotic quantum numbers and may be, in some cases, accessible to experiments in the near future.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1999

See-saw and Supersymmetry or Exact R-parity

We show how the renormalizable see-saw mechanism in the context of supersymmetry and spontaneously broken B-L symmetry implies exact R-parity at all energies. We argue that supersymmetry plays an important role in providing a "canonical" form for the see-saw, in particular in grand unified theories that solve the doublet-triplet splitting problem via the Dimopoulos-Wilczek mechanism.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1998

Supersymmetry and Large Scale Left-Right Symmetry

We show that the low energy limit of the minimal supersymmetric Left-Right models is the supersymmetric standard model with an exact R-parity. The theory predicts a number of light Higgs scalars and fermions with masses much below the $B-L$ and $SU(2)_R$ breaking scales. The non-renormalizable version of the theory has a striking prediction of light doubly charged supermultiplets which may be accessible to experiment. Whereas in the renormalizable case the scale of parity breaking is undetermined, in the non-renormalizable one it must be bigger than about $10^{10} - 10^{12}$ GeV. The precise nature of the see-saw mechanism differs in the two versions, and has important implications for neutrino masses.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1997

Minimal Supersymmetric Left-Right Model

We construct the truly minimal left-right symmetric model by utilizing only the fields dictated by supersymmetry and automatic R-parity conservation. Allowing for non-renormalizable operators in the superpotential, we show that parity can be spontaneously broken while preserving electromagnetic gauge invariance. The scale of parity breakdown is predicted in the intermediate region: $M_R > 10^{10}- 10^{11} GeV$, and R-parity remains exact. The theory contains a number of charged and doubly charged Higgs scalars with a low mass of order $M_R^2/M_{Planck}$, accessible to experiment.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

On supersymmetry at high temperature

While it is possible to find examples of field theories with a spontaneously broken symmetry at high temperature, in renormalizable supersymmetric models any internal symmetry gets always restored. Recently, a counterexample was suggested in the context of nonrenormalizable supersymmetric theories. We show that non negligible higher loop effects actually restore the symmetry, without compromising the validity of perturbation theory. We give some arguments as to why the proposed mechanism should not work in general.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

Nonrestoration of spontaneously broken P, CP and PQ at high temperature

The possibility of P and CP violation at high temperature in models where these symmetries are spontaneously broken is investigated. It is found that in minimal models that include singlet fields, high T nonrestoration is possible for a wide range of parameters of the theory, in particular in models of CP violation with a CP-odd Higgs field. The same holds true for the invisible axion version of the Peccei-Quinn mechanism. This can provide both a way out for the domain wall problem in these theories and the CP violation required for baryogenesis. In the case of spontaneous P violation it turns out that high T nonrestoration requires going beyond the minimal model.The results are shown to hold true when next-to-leading order effects are considered.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

Is there a monopole problem?

We investigate the high temperature behavior of SU(5) in its minimal version. We show that there exists a range of parameters of the Higgs potential for which the symmetry remains broken at high temperature, thus avoiding the phase transition that gives rise to the overproduction of monopoles . We also show that in such scenario the thermal production of monopoles can be suppressed in a wide range of parameters, keeping their number density below the cosmological limits.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1995

Bubble Collisions and Defect Formation in a Damping Environment

Within the context of a first-order phase transition in the early Universe, we study the collision process for vacuum bubbles expanding in a plasma. The effects of the plasma are simulated by introducing a damping term in the equations of motion for a $U(1)$ global field. We find that Lorentz-contracted spherically symmetric domain walls adequately describe the overdamped motion of the bubbles in the thin wall approximation, and study the process of collision and phase equilibration both numerically and analytically. With an analytical model for the phase propagation in 1+1 dimensions, we prove that the phase waves generated in the bubble merging are reflected by the walls of the true vacuum cavity, giving rise to a long-lived oscillating state that delays the phase equilibration. The existence of such a state in the 3+1 dimensional model is then confirmed by numerical simulations, and the consequences for the formation of vortices in three-bubble collisions are considered.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1995

Formation of Vortices in First Order Phase Transitions

Using a toy model Lagrangian we investigate the formation of vortices in first order phase transitions. The evolution and interactions of vacuum bubbles are also studied using both analytical approximations and a numerical simulation of scalar field dynamics. A long lived bubble wall bound state is discovered and its existence is justified by using a simplified potential for the bubble wall interaction. The conditions that need to be satisfied for vortex formation by bubble collisions are also studied with particular emphasis placed on geometrical considerations. These conditions are then implemented in a Monte Carlo simulation for the study of the probability of defect formation. It is shown that the probability of vortex formation by collision of relativistically expanding bubbles gets reduced by about 10% due to the above mentioned geometric effects.

hep-ph↗